My bag sent me a message that it had “left the Airport” before I even realised it was missing… this is how an Apple Airtag helped me track and get my luggage back!
Johannesburg, South Africa (20 June 2022) – I’ve always had a deep sense of anxiety while standing at the baggage carousel waiting for my luggage, I’ve never lost a bag, but I’ve always had a concern that this time it might just happen to me… and then it did.
According to “ClaimCompass”, around 5% of all airline baggage is lost every year. Gone. Poof. Only sometimes to be seen again.
In 2019, the total number of passengers carried on scheduled services was 4.5 billion, which means 225 million bags went missing that year too. That’s a lot of bags. There are many reasons that baggage goes missing, from transfer mishandling to loading errors, ticketing errors, theft and sometimes just innocent mistakes.
In my case, it was an innocent mistake, one of mistaken bag identity.
Last week I was sent to Seychelles to write a travel piece on the beautiful archipelagic island country consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. On arrival, a fellow traveller on the same flight as me saw my baggage, which had the same luggage cover as hers, took it off the carousel and made her way to the resort she had booked.
She must have only been a few minutes ahead of me, but after walking through passport control and seeing a bag on the carousel that looked like mine, I received a message from my bag that it had left the Airport. There wasn’t even time for my “bag anxiety” to kick in.
You see, I had an Apple Airtag in my luggage, and it literally sent me a message.
Apple AirTags have been around since 2021, and I bought a couple of them to put on car keys, in my car itself, on travel bags and even on my pups collars.
Last year when travelling to the UK, I decided to pop one in my luggage. Just for fun. And it was fun. There is a silly sense of excitement tracking your bag as it moves through OR Tambo International, or seeing it on the same flight as you or even knowing it will be on the carousel in 3, 2, 1…
But not this trip. On this trip, the little piece of technology would not just alert me that my luggage had been mistakenly taken; it would track where it had gone and even send a message to the other traveller that it was in their possession.
If an AirTag is separated from its owner and out of Bluetooth range, the “Find My network” can help track it down. Basically, the tag creates a network with any Apple product that has Bluetooth enabled and a cellular or wifi signal. The tag then relays the location back to its owner, all in the background, anonymously and privately.
As soon as I received the message from my baggage, I put the AirTag in “Lost Mode” with a message that I was on my way to Club Med, explained that their bag was still at the Airport with Air Seychelles, and also added in my mobile number. This message would be sent from my Airtag to any and all Apple devices within range.
It took about 20 minutes to get to my resort from the Airport, and as soon as I arrived and connected to wifi, I could see exactly where my bag was and also had a message from the fellow traveller.
She had already called Club Med and arranged for my bag to get to me. She explained that her hubby had grabbed the bag without thinking anyone would have the same cover – mistaken bag identity. The lovely, kind lady was so embarrassed that she also sent a hand-written apology note and the most delicious sweets when delivering my baggage back to me.
But the reality is that she didn’t need to be embarrassed at all. Mistakes happen.
And that little piece of technology not only got my baggage back to me, but it also gave me absolute peace of mind in the process. I tracked my bag the entire time and could have gone to fetch it if I needed to.
I have to also add that this is 100% not a sponsored post by Apple, but I believe it is a good travelling tip and could help millions of people who might find themselves in a lost luggage situation in the future.
So that’s it. Happy travels… and only good things!
by 