Traveling during the holiday season is not easy. Long lines at airports coupled with changing flight schedules, cancellations due to weather and the risk of losing your luggage in the airport chaos are all real possibilities, as anyone who’s ever tried hopping on a Southwest Airlines flight recently can attest.
There’s not much you can do about sudden flight cancellations, but using some of the best tracking tools to keep tabs on your luggage can help at least keep some of your travel stress at bay. Believe me, I know.
I took a chance on buying myself an Apple AirTag during the Black Friday sale a couple of months ago. I was planning to travel from the US to India and I knew having a tracker would help me keep an eye on my luggage especially since I had to change planes during my travels.
Travel with AirTag
Setting up an AirTag with your iPhone is very simple, it just pops up on your iPhone’s home screen. I gave my AirTag a nickname with my name and “Luggage AirTag” just in case I decide to buy another one for my keys in the future. The Find My app on your iPhone shows you the exact location of your AirTag.
The Apple tracker has many very useful features. Firstly, it is small and somewhat inconspicuous so it can easily fit into a briefcase or travel bag. In fact, I left it inside my terribly large purse, ironically, I was almost worried I might lose it. Of course, my iPhone would make sure I didn’t.
AirTag can beep when you want to find the device around you. This is perfect for a set of keys, a purse, or even a handbag. However, it can be hard to hear a beep inside the bag. I put this to the test at home after packing my suitcase, just to check and was too faint to hear all my clothes on. There was no chance that I would have heard an AirTag alert in a noisy airport.
Find My also allows you to turn on notifications to let you know when your AirTag has been left behind. You can choose to turn this on or off within the app. I switched this one as I prepared for my trip.
If you have an iPhone 11 or later, you can take advantage of AirTag’s Precision Finding feature that pinpoints the exact location of your AirTag by providing directions towards it in augmented reality. This feature is very useful in noisy places where the whistling sound cannot be heard.
I was excited to try out all the features and see if I could track my bag’s location in real time while I was flying halfway across the world.
As soon as I checked my bag, I immediately got a notification that my AirTag was left behind. On my first flight, before take off, I opened my Find My app to see that my suitcase was around my location which meant it had arrived at the correct flight. I breathed a sigh of relief. Same thing happened when I took my second flight and saw the AirTag was around my site again.
This is what AirTag is missing
On my way back to the US from India, I realized that the Apple AirTag is missing a useful feature that I wish Apple had included. While waiting for my luggage in the airport carousel, I checked my AirTag. It was obviously at the airport, but I wasn’t able to use subtle precision to orient myself toward my bag. I had no choice but to wait for her to appear at the baggage carousel.
After waiting 20 minutes, I noticed that my bag had not moved. My iPhone battery was also about to die and I had to close the Find My app before my phone died.
After a 24-hour ride, I got tired and went and sat on a bench, where I thought I could observe the carousel, too. I wish there was a way for Apple to notify me when my bag was closer to me, and I would know when to go to the library to pick it up.
Considering that Apple has an option to notify you when the AirTag is not with you, it looks like this could be a minor update to notify the user when the tracker is now near you.
Exact search is a useful feature, but in my experience it is only useful when searching for a smaller object in a more contained space or if something is missing somewhere. People use trackers in their luggage now more than ever, and I wish Apple would bring travel-specific features to the AirTag to make it more useful.
I finally saw my bag from afar and walked over to it. When checking my iPhone, I noticed that the Find My app says my AirTag is now with me. But that was too little, too late.
AirTag Impressions
In general, AirTag is very useful for tracking bags or finding lost items in particular. Had my luggage been left at another airport or misplaced, I would have been able to track it down and even tell the airline exactly where it is. If you are planning any trip this year, I highly recommend using a good tracker to monitor your suitcases and travel without the stress of misplacing things.
Next: How to find a lost or stolen iPhone.
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