Fodor's article about an AirFrance customer's lost bag

AirTags have their purpose, but are not flawless. On the Camino, I could see my bag had been picked up or was already at my next stop (don't judge me, LOL). I find that when I'm at baggage claim, at least in the US, my bag has often still been in the prior airport, on the tarmac, per my AirTag. I've learned to just wait because that was the last iPhone with which it connected. It usually will appear on my phone about the time it is coming up to the baggage carousel.

The one time it would have helped on the first flight that I had it, the first time I used it. In Madrid, baggage claim did not have our Boston flight listed. The only B flight was Bogotá. I finally wandered over there and my bag was right there passing by. LOL. I would have wasted less time if I had remembered I had my AirTag in it. I don't think we can expect Baggage carriers to track down every bag individually with an AirTag, but rather handle their luggage issues as a bulk luggage issue. Pack light and don't check valuables.

I find they are just fun, another toy. They are also useful in crowds when not wanting to lose my grandchild, particularly in the Greasy Pole crowd at home during St Peter's Fiesta. :)

This story does not surprise me at all. I have posted on here recently of my brothers experience in September. He was doing the Camino and had all his stuff in a checked duffel bag. He is not an experienced international traveler, so he only had the clothes on his back and his work laptop bag. Thank goodness he was wearing trail runners because his bag never got to him. He had an AirTag in it, and kept trying to tell people exactly where it was in Dallas, to no avail. Then it went to Madrid, and then back to Dallas. Dallas was not where he started.

He had to borrow clothes from friends and buy underwear, lol. After 38 days he got the call that his bag was found and would he like to come get it. He lives 45 minutes from the airport. Needless to say he was not about to make that drive and he had them bring it to him. As it turns out, his bag spent more time in Madrid than he did.

He just got the bag back at the end of October, and he was on American.

We've been helped by Air Tags a few times.

We have one on my son's special needs stroller, which gets gate checked on flights. One time, it didn't show up when we got off the plane at our home airport late at night. We waited until the plane was empty and asked the gate agent, who told us to go out to baggage claim. I was able to show her from the FindMy app that the stroller was still actually on the plane. She was able to get it for us. Had we exited the gate area and gone to baggage claim, we couldn't have gotten back in because TSA was closed and it would have taken us forever to get the stroller back. And we needed it to get my son through the airport and out to the parking garage.

Just one example, we've had a couple other similar ones. We find that they do really help.

Interesting article, thanks for posting it.

I know articles of that ilk are to grab your attention as the person in question did not "travel across the world to find her lost luggage"...she traveled from Tenerife to Madrid. She is a digital nomad but seriously she should be experienced enough not to check things that are valuable to her (letter from her deceased dad, some kind of special clothing). And why would she need friends to Venmo her some money? What was she living on in Tenerife? And why is my brain stuck on these questions, lol!!

I did find it interesting that the Madrid airport employees completely fluffed her off when she had the AirTag showing her bag's location. And interesting that she thought the battery might be running low in the Air Tag. I guess replacing the battery before travel might be a good idea.

I've carried on since 2021 and particularly made sure my bags met airline requirements during the summer of 2022 meltdown at Schiphol and Heathrow. I'll keep doing that.

I do have AirTags but have never really had to use them. I do get the chime when I walk off from them though!

I left an AirTag in my hotel room in Venice; a great way to find my way back to the hotel!

The latest IOS 18.2 'Share Item Location' feature lets you share the location of lost AirTags (bag) with airlines; it creates a temporary webpage with a shareable link which you can send to your airlines. This means you will have a greater chance of finding lost bag.

After a few codeshare flights with AirFrance, we now choose them at
last resort

I've flown AF for many years b/c of convenient EU domestic connections. In many occasions AF changed their airplane type thus my selected seat without notification or reassignment, something that really annoyed me. Last September they canceled my AMS-CDG flight less than 24 hours from departure. And two weeks ago they canceled my SVQ-CDG flight; but at least this time it's five months in advance. Once I use up my remaining Flying Blue miles I likely will stop flying with them for good. I do really enjoy their onboard service and their 'A La Carte' paid meals are well worth the money!

I've reread my credit card's travel insurance coverage and was surprised to learn that they'll only cover me for $1000 maximum per lost luggage occurrence. And that's not per passenger, in a worst case scenario if both my wife and I lost our bags, the payout is still only $1000. Also, check your policy for exclusions. Things like golf clubs and jewelry is a maximum $500. Hearing aids, eye glasses, contact lenses, false teeth and limbs among other things are not covered at all.

this is, frankly, a horrible story - on the part of the PASSENGER. I mean, you're a digital nomad, writing for FODORs and you don't know your travel insurance has expired or what the meaning of 'necessary' is, only get refunded $100 but do zero additional research to get more back?
smh

I wouldn't consider this a horrible story. I appreciated knowing about the actions of the two airports and airline involved regardless of how well the passenger handled her travel arrangements and finances, which I felt was a secondary part of the article. It also reinforced my choice to avoid AirFrance.

I've been debating airtags for myself. Honestly, I think I'd rather use the airtags for other applications since I rarely check luggage. My Delta app does check in the luggage at various points so that I have a general idea where my luggage is on the rare occasions that I check.

I know articles of that ilk are to grab your attention as the person in question did not "travel across the world to find her lost luggage"...she traveled from Tenerife to Madrid.

Heck she didn’t even leave the country !

I received a couple apple air tags as a Christmas present this year under the notion that they would somehow be valuable if the tags were put on our two mini-bernadoodles. After googling folks who have tried to use that for that purpose, I concluded that it would very unlikely that they would ever be of any use. Vets recommended against the product.

Further, based on my reading, I am skeptical apple air tags have few real world uses. The Camino could be one I suppose and folks with memory issues for things like keys, of course, sure.

As I understand it, circa 1 in 20 checked bags are misplaced. And if they are temporarily lost, 97 in 100 are found and returned within a day to a week-- leaving 3 in 100 (of the 1 in 20) truly lost. And if they are truly lost, the airline typically pays you all of what you lost.

And then there is this: It is only roughly 1 in 2 of the times the air tags actually work (that is to say the find the lost item.)

So if I go this right I have 5% chance times 3% chance times a 50% chance of an air tag that costs me 30 bucks and I have to keep the battery up to snuff of saving me what? Nothing. The airline makes me whole. I suppose that's wrong. Maybe the airline short changes me 10% of the time. So 5% times 3% times 50% times 10% (where let's say that 10% is worth on average, oh, I dunno, 30 bucks) -- all of this minus 30 bucks. Did I forget to carry the four? No, my ciphering is spot on!

Heck, I'm still out the battery cost and of my time in learning to use the dang things.

All this is too say is that maybe it easier to just use carryons and get dogs that don't run away when you leave the door open when the amazon driver comes to deliver you a package of air tags.

If it is all the same, I gonna keep my bernadoodles tied to 50 pound sack of potatoes. They won't be able to runaway fast hauling a sack of spuds.

And now I read even if you tell the airline where you got a sighting from your air tag, they won't use it!! Maybe I should tie a 50 pound sack of taters to my luggage too.... but I suppose that's not a good idea. And my math could be wrong.... so, yeah, never mind.

Happy New Year! Happy travels!

David--We have them on our dogs and they do work! They did a jailbreak a few weeks ago when the front door did not get closed all the way and the wind blew it open. The dogs ran up and down the sidewalk, and a neighbor about 6 doors down found them. They have their names and our phone numbers woven into their collars, so the person that found them called me. I was not home though and was ignoring my phone, and at the same time my husband used his phone to track the tags and crisis was averted. The dogs had a grand old time for a few minutes though! Oh and our vet does recommend them. Edited to add, I just saw the type of dog you have. Our two dogs are golden retrievers, but our daughters is a Bernese/Golden. All three were running as fast as they could back and forth in front of the house. Watching it afterward on the cameras was funny, only because the outcome was good.