Airlines the world over have been losing a lot of checked bags lately.

The problems began in Easter, when Qantas had to send an entire Boeing 787 from Melbourne to Sydney without passengers as it was full of delayed baggage. Then, last month, there were reports last month that 1 in 10 bags weren’t making it onto Qantas flights at Sydney Airport. Things could get even worse if baggage handlers at three Australian international airports go on strike in the coming weeks.

At some European airports, the problem has become so bad that airlines including KLM have had to temporarily stop accepting checked bags completely and Heathrow Airport has imposed passenger caps for the next few months.

In most cases, the bags are just delayed and are eventually returned to their owner. But not always, and it doesn’t always happen as quickly as it could.

As a traveller, there are a few things that you can do to minimise the risk of your luggage going missing. The most obvious solution is not to check in a bag. In fact, many frequent flyers were already spruiking the benefits of travelling “HLO”, or hand luggage only well before the recent aviation industry meltdown. (This can also save you a lot of time, as well as money on checked bag fees.)

Booking non-stop flights and avoiding tight connections, where there is a higher risk your bag won’t make it onto your connecting flight, can also help.

But if you do need to check in luggage for your flights, Apple AirTags could at least save you a lot of stress by helping to track its location in real time.

How Apple AirTags work

An Apple AirTag is small round device that you can attach to valuables such as your keys – or for our purposes, place inside your checked baggage. It’s around the size of an Australian 20 cent coin.

It works in conjunction with Apple’s “Find My” App, utilising the same technology used to track Apple iPhones, iPads and MacBooks in case they are lost or stolen.

This is how the Apple website explains the technology:

Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth® signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the Find My network. These devices send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. And itʼs efficient, so thereʼs no need to worry about battery life or data usage.

In other words, you’ll be able to track the precise location of your AirTag at any time – as long as there’s at least one Apple device nearby which is turned on and has Bluetooth enabled. In general, there are lots of people with Apple iPhones or watches at airports so this would work most of the time while your bag is on the ground.

I recently gave this technology a try on a trip from Canberra to Melbourne. I could see my bag being loaded onto the plane:

I was also able to confirm that my bag had arrived in Melbourne, even before I could see it on the baggage carousel.

It costs $45 for one AirTag or $149 for a pack of four. When ordering online through Apple, you can also get a personal engraving on each of your tags.

There’s no ongoing cost involved in using AirTags, other than needing to change the battery every once in a while. They come with a replaceable CR2032 lithium coin battery which should last at least a year.

By the way, if you do decide to order some, you might as well click through to the Apple store from either the Qantas Shopping Online Mall or the Velocity eStore and earn 2 frequent flyer points per dollar as well. 😉

Can AirTags actually help if your luggage goes missing?

The key benefit of using AirTags is that you’ll have a reasonably good chance of knowing where your luggage is (assuming it’s within range of another Apple device with Bluetooth switched on). That way, you’re not completely relying on an airline which may or may not have any idea.

If the airline has truly lost your bag, and doesn’t know where it is, you could use this information to help them locate it. Although, this of course relies on the airline actually caring enough to use this information to try to help you!

As we discovered back in May, Qantas allowed an AFF member’s iPhone to remain stuck under a Business Class seat – where it could have posed a fire hazard – for several days while it flew to Hawaii and New Zealand. This was despite the AFF member knowing exactly where the phone was, as they were able to track its location in real time, and attempting multiple times to contact Qantas.

Just because you might happen to know that your bag is at a certain airport, doesn’t necessarily mean you can just go and pick it up if it’s being held in a secure location. But if you’re dealing with an airline that cares about customer service, and is willing to help you, this information could help to get your bag back more quickly.

Knowing that your baggage hasn’t made it onto your flight won’t help you to get it back immediately. You’ll still be without your bag when you arrive at your destination. So, the usual advice of never packing essentials like medication in your checked luggage and always packing a change of clothes in your carry-on still applies.

But one AFF member was still able to use this information to their advantage recently, saving a lot of time queueing up on arrival.

AirTags were useful a couple of weeks ago when Qantas was having a meltdown. Captain made an announcement that they were waiting for some more bags so I opened the Find My app and saw mine over the other side of the terminal well away from the gate I was departing from. It stayed there until we took off so I knew they hadn’t been loaded before we even departed. As soon as we landed, I went straight to baggage services – “I know the bags haven’t started coming out yet, but I have an AirTag on my bag and it’s still showing in Sydney”. Handed over my baggage receipt and a quick check confirmed this was able to create a report and leave before all the other passengers realised and without having to stand around the carousel waiting for nothing.

Also was able to keep tabs on it over the next couple of days — instead of wondering if it had been loaded on a flight I could see it sitting in the same spot until it moved over to another side of the airport and then a bit over an hour later finally showed up at my destination airport.
They work really well because the Find My network is so expansive with so many iPhones out in the wild.
– dylarr

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Apple Airtags

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.