An Apple AirTag can make a huge difference in how you travel. The small $29 device makes it easy to track your luggage and other items that might get lost in transit.
Latifah Muhammad for Billboard:
AirTags have been flying off the shelves after Southwest canceled more than 13,000 flights over the holidays, leaving passengers stranded — sometimes for days at a time — and separated from their luggage.
The travel debacle ballooned into a travel nightmare that could cost Southwest upward of $800 million, and an unexpected sales win for Apple. Google searches for AirTags have spiked in the last few weeks and AirTags currently take up two spots on Amazon’s list of best-selling electronics.
AirTags have helped passengers find their bags when airlines either lost them or said they were at a different location.
AirTags are compatible with iPhone (iPhone SE and iPhones 6s or later), iPad and Mac devices. They’re water- and dust-resistant and equipped with a replaceable, coin cell battery.
MacDailyNews Take: Earlier this month, a woman used multiple locations of AirTags she placed in her luggage before traveling to reveal United Airlines was lying about her missing bags.
None of our bags every fly (or go anywhere) without their AirTags.
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Just picked up 2 4-packs, to track luggage, purse, and perhaps most importantly, the dog for when he runs away!
Curious to know: do luggage employees on airports get notifications of all “unknown” airtags close to them?
My mother has an AirTag in her purse. If I am at her house I get no notification of her AirTag. However, if I am in a car with my mother (and her purse), I get a notification: “AirTag Found Moving With you.” . . . So to answer your question. If someone at an airport is standing by luggage which has AirTags, he probably would not get a notification . . . How about the guy who drives the truck of bags out to the airplane? — I would guess that “trip” is 1 to 2 minutes, so probably no notification . . . I mention the “time” traveling with someone’s else’s AirTag, because in my experience, I am only notified if I have been driving with my Mom for 10 minutes or longer
Airtags may be an aid to forgetful people but practically useless to thwart any thief with a brain.
Put yourself in the shoes of an airline … you already have luggage tracking, you already train and evaluate your baggage handlers on their performance … you have to fight daily with antiquated airport layouts and awkward cargo handing and weather and everything else … is an annoying customer with an app going to make you drop everything to put a priority search on his one bag of dirty clothes, trinkets, and junk? Not bloody likely.
We just returned from a trip to Africa with a group of 15. Although our luggage was to be kept together, four of the 15 bags were separated as we flew from Botswana to Johannesburg SA. When they did not show up at the baggage claim area, because of my AirTag, I was able to tell that they had arrived in Johannesburg. Our tour guide then talked to the baggage people and was able to identify where they were in the airport complex. They were located and made the connection to Cape Town. I could also tell when they were added to our plane. Without my AirTag, I suspect I would have spent the next 12 days cruising without my luggage. I will not travel without an AirTag in each piece of our luggage!
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