What's Your Experience w/ AirTags in Checked Luggage

[snak-atak]

I am curious to know what has been your experience with AirTags in checked luggage? I don't want to leave it dangling on the handle. I'd rather tuck it away inside the suitcase. Will it track well like this? And can you monitor the location of your bag throughout the flight? I'd love to hear your experiences!

 

[triptolemus]

Bet if you Googled your thread title you'd have tons of articles on this subject.

 

[fischersd]

btw...not sure what algorithm Apple is using, but on a recent trip, our AirTags said that our bags were still 11,000 miles away (in Tokyo) 7 minutes ago - then showed up on the conveyor about 15 minutes later....so, yeah, there are some issues using these for luggage tracking. Others have documented their experiences tracking their bags here - just use the search function or scroll through the pages of threads.

 

[snak-atak]

Bet if you Googled your thread title you'd have tons of articles on this subject.

View attachment 2021521

Thanks, and yep, I did a google search first. I mostly got generic articles that didn't tell me a whole lot. I do appreciate the users on this forum. They usually provide a lot more insight than can be found on other websites.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I am curious to know what has been your experience with AirTags in checked luggage? I don't want to leave it dangling on the handle. I'd rather tuck it away inside the suitcase. Will it track well like this? And can you monitor the location of your bag throughout the flight? I'd love to hear your experiences!

I normally tuck it away inside the suitcase, all hidden. It tracks it just fine with having no issues. I'm sure you can monitor the location throughout the flight as long it's connected to your iPhone via Bluetooth. The connection may not be that stable and may not be that reliable until the connections pick up.

 

[wonderings]

I am curious to know what has been your experience with AirTags in checked luggage? I don't want to leave it dangling on the handle. I'd rather tuck it away inside the suitcase. Will it track well like this? And can you monitor the location of your bag throughout the flight? I'd love to hear your experiences!

I am curious, why would you want to monitor your bag throughout a flight? I am presuming you are flying with the luggage so don't you already know it is on the plane with you?

 

[iStorm]

There are lots of threads on this topic, with some saying it works and some saying it doesn't. I'm part of the latter. I put an AirTag inside my checked luggage, which works just fine, but tracking it throughout the airport didn't work. I mainly did it in case it got lost; but for kicks and giggles, I did open the Find My app occasionally just to see what's going on.

The 'last seen' location was pretty much where I dropped it off. It wasn't seen again until it was time to board the plane; but even then, it looked like it was on the plane at the next gate over. (Keep in mind, the location of the AirTag is actually the location of the phone it pinged off of, not the location of the AirTag itself.)

I suspect the checked bag went underground through their automated system after I dropped it off. Couple issues with this... 1) Probably not many people, if at all, down there for the tag to ping off of. 2) Even if there were people with iPhones down there, their phones probably didn't have a GPS signal.

I couldn't see the AirTag during the flight, which I expected. The location didn't update again until it came out on the baggage carousel to be picked up.

 

[axantas]

Almost the same experience as iStorm.
I used them on several flights now. Tracking works fine - you can follow it as long there is another iPhone near it. I always manage to do it until it is in the plane. Then signal gets lost, as there is no one "down there". You will not manage to have a bluetooth connection during the flight. But I always "saw" it again, when they started to unload the plane.

 

[snak-atak]

I am curious, why would you want to monitor your bag throughout a flight? I am presuming you are flying with the luggage so don't you already know it is on the plane with you?

Great question. I probably wouldn't need to track it while it's on the plane, but it's more peace of mind knowing it got on the plane before we take off. I mostly fly Delta just because I live near one of their hubs. When my wife and kids fly with me, Delta will tag my checked bags randomly to any one of us. If there's 8 checked bags and 4 of us, then only two bags will be tagged to me and the Delta app will notify me of it's location as it makes its way on and off the plane, but not the other bags that are tagged to other family members.

Last year after returning home from Orlando, we picked up our bags at the carrousel, all except one. Our bags came out pretty quickly, and then we waited and waited and waited while all the other bags were collected by other passengers. Finally when the carrousel stopped, we looked through the paper tags and manually punched in the code to figure out which bag didn't show up. We later learned that our bag never made it on the flight and was still sitting in Orlando. If I had an AirTag inside each of my bags, I probably would have known sooner, perhaps as soon as we landed, which of my bags didn't arrive and we wouldn't have wasted so much time waiting and searching for that bag.

 

[jwhite9185]

Generally works well when everything is on the ground. When on board, it can't find it. My bag turned up just fine at my destination... well, apart from the fact it took an hour for it to reach me, but that's another story.

 

[Yuukon]

Interesting to see all these different experiences, and mostly interesting to see how it works for some and not for others! I had honestly kinda expected it to be a one-size-fits-all kind of experience, where the AirTags would all behave similarly when in checked luggage. I'll be flying again for the first time in 3 years in about a month and I am also planning on putting one in my luggage, so I'm curious to see what's going to happen.

 

[Sayewhat]

I had one in my suitcase on a few trips. No issues. I could tell when to really expect to see my bag on the carousel.

 

[Coffee50]

I've used AirTags on a trip, and no issues. Performed as I expected.

 

[Sayewhat]

I also keep one in my vehicles in case one gets stolen. Easy to track.... If they have an iPhone and the AirTag pops up, it may discourage them from stealing it, plus they would have to find where it is.

 

[iGeneo]

Used AirTags on 25 trips or so. Always a great experience. I use the external Apple holder.

If you want to keep maximum range and have them outside, you could use something like this

Luggage Tag with Hidden Compartment for AirTag – The Most Discreet and Creative Way to Track Your Luggage [1-Pack]

Luggage Tag with Hidden Compartment for AirTag (1-pack)

www.amazon.com

 

[Yuukon]

I prefer to put them inside the actual case. A tag like that can be taken off easily and your luggage taken elsewhere.

 

[Toby Ziegler]

Did this on a recent trip to England. As others have stated, once it goes underground and into whatever sorting system is used, it’ll drop off the map. But it always showed up right as we were about to board our flight, so it was good for peace of mind.

We tucked it the AirTag into a pocket on the inside of the suitcase and that was that.

 

[AsherN]

Used them on my recent trip to Germany. Still tracking my suitcase that was late leaving home and is still showing at FRA. Useful to show the airline where it is. Somewhat accurate at the airport as it is dependent on being in the proximity of an iPhone that has signal.

 

[DoubleFlyaway]

I have them in mine. It’s particularly useful in oversized stuff that isn’t going to come out on the regular belt, like ski bags. We knew it had come out somewhere in Bluetooth range and were able to use the AirTag to find it.

 

[mmcneil]

I am curious to know what has been your experience with AirTags in checked luggage? I don't want to leave it dangling on the handle. I'd rather tuck it away inside the suitcase. Will it track well like this? And can you monitor the location of your bag throughout the flight? I'd love to hear your experiences!

Mine are inside and seem to work just fine, although sometime amusingly

 

[jazz1]

Used AirTags on 25 trips or so. Always a great experience. I use the external Apple holder.

If you want to keep maximum range and have them outside, you could use something like this

Luggage Tag with Hidden Compartment for AirTag – The Most Discreet and Creative Way to Track Your Luggage [1-Pack]

Luggage Tag with Hidden Compartment for AirTag (1-pack)

www.amazon.com

Yes, that is the AirTag holder I used on an overseas trip. While I never needed to find lost luggage, it was comforting to see my roller bag had made it to my return USA airport. In fact, it located the bag outside the gate where I was waiting for my plane to depart to my USA/home destination.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm surprised users would moan about not being able to see where their bag is every second. I'm considering getting a couple for our bags but for the "just in case" the airline/airport misplaces them.

 

[JCarmona]

Hey!

I'm going to be travelling in the upcoming months and I'd like to know if AirTags help to track checked-in luggage. I've heard of many issues of airlines misplacing luggage and I thought that AirTags could help.

Would really appreciate your thoughts.

 

[LeonPro]

I just came back from a trip. Brought my Pelican Travel check-in luggage with an AirTag inside. I was hesitant to see if it would pick up a signal through the plastic case, but it did. I was able to track it at the airport and airplane then through the carousel.

 

[rillrill]

Just got back from Disney world with the family. I used two airtags for our two checked bags. the AirTags didn’t update super often, but I was able to check if they were on the plane before we left, and I was able to check if they were in the airport when we landed. Don‘t expect constant surveillance, but for piece of mind they worked great.