Frequent flier Kelly Laing lost her luggage late last month while traveling from Toronto, Ontario, to Saint John, New Brunswick, but found some solace from being able to track her suitcase using an Apple AirTag she smartly stashed inside — reports Global News.
“It’s an hour and a half flight. I was there early, ready to go. I checked my one bag of luggage for that flight, got on the airline. It was again a little delayed. I landed in Saint John, got off right away, went to the baggage pick-up and my luggage wasn’t there,” said Laing.
She shared her story in a series of TikTok videos, and Laing wasn’t the only passenger on her flight who lost their checked luggage. Saint John was hosting the Memorial Cup at the time, and things in the city were busier than usual.
Unlike other affected passengers, however, Laing had placed an AirTag inside her luggage for “peace of mind.” The decision definitely saved her some distress.
Apple launched its AirTag for $29 USD ($39 CAD) in April 2021 to help customers keep track of their belongings and more. AirTags rely on the Find My network, which comprises over one billion Apple devices globally.
Airport officials couldn’t assist Laing with her luggage, and her airline wasn’t of much help either. “No notifications from Air Canada, no emails updating us on our luggage. The only thing I had was that tracker and if I didn’t have it, I would probably be worrying a lot more,” she said.
“First thing I did was flip open my phone, look for my AirTag to find my luggage, and I could see that its location was saying Toronto Pearson [Airport].”
Laing tracked her missing luggage for five days before airport authorities finally retrieved it.
“On the app on Find My Device, you can see exactly where your luggage is, where that AirTag is. So I was watching it for five days. Pearson day one: not moving; day two: not moving; day three: not moving … luckily enough, day five I saw it had gotten to Moncton and then it made its way to Saint John.”
She then drove to the airport, where she was reunited with her lost belongings upon presenting her ID. Even if you can’t immediately retrieve something you’ve lost, it helps to know where it is at all times.
Last month, a Toronto resident was able to track down and recover his stolen Range Rover using the AirTags he had left inside it.
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im defiantly going to get an airtag, just my luggage!
Have to go to Europe and Asia in sept/oct. Will definitely be sticking an AirTag in my checked bag.
Had an intercontinental flight in December, opened my phone as soon as we landed to check where the bags last were. They were still in the transfer airport.
Was able to tell the lost luggage people right away and not waste time waiting for a bag that wouldn’t come. There’s definitely piece of mind knowing they are on route and that they can be tracked.
Along with minimal time savings that matter when you have small children.
Would love to hear air Canada’s explanation for why the luggage for an entire plane full of people wasn’t with them on their plane. One or two people’s luggage not making it, I’ve seen. Forgetting to load everyone’s luggage?
My guess is the luggage handlers were too backed up to make it and they wanted to avoid the fines for late departure for each flier.
Good guess. Or, they loaded the plane full of backed-up luggage from previous flights; Memorial Cup and all…
How long before Pearson bans Air Tags for “security” reasons.
These days it’s funny how many times restrictions are imposed for “security and safety” when the real threat is embarrassing incompetent leadership.
Technically, it is already forbidden as you are not supposed to put a battery in your check-in luggage. But it is so small, they didn’t detect it.
I refuse to fly anymore unless I need to leave the continent for some reason
Glad it worked out. Doesn’t change the fact that these devices should be illegal, though.
Why they should be illegal? Please, explain.
You can track your belongings, sure. And if that’s all it could be used for then I’d be all for it. But you can also use it to track people. It can be used to learn people’s private addresses. Slip it on someone’s person when they aren’t looking and track them home. Or even worse, send it through the mail under the guise of fan mail to potentially expose the location and private information of someone with a sizable number of followers.
I am aware of many possibilities of abuse but that shouldn’t be and almost never was a reason to make things illegal. Following that logic scissors should be illegal. Kitchen knives too. Amateur telescopes in people’s homes as well. Should I mention alcohol and tobacco and their abuse, whose harm to society and individuals is far greater than that of AirTags. Yet they are not illegal. My point is, we shouldn’t criminalize the objects and thereby their legitimate use; we should criminalize harmful behaviour.
I can understand the “occasional” piece of luggage going missing. Out of the millions of pieces checked in, something is bound to happen. But this is ridiculous. They are in the air passenger business, with those passenger’s luggage being part of that business.
If it’s a lack of people applying to fill the positions to get a job done.. Then kick people off unemployment/welfare and force them into the workforce.
The article gives the situation a positive spin, but the reality is a bit more depressing – knowing where your missing item is often doesn’t help you. In this case knowing for 5 days where it was didn’t get her her luggage. When they finally got to it, they got to it – the AirTag didn’t help her get her bags. It took the same amount of time to get her bags whether she had the tracker or not.
In the event your item gets stolen, are you brave/foolish enough to knock on the door of where your tracker says your item is and risk confronting the thieves? They can just deny having it and not let you in to look around for yourself, or you might make them mad…
From what I’ve read, the police often don’t want to bother helping either – they “have more important things to do.”
Having said all that, I use several, but more for the cases of misplacing/losing an item.