Need

But it does help. There are already many stories reporting that just on this forum. Those luggage are not "lost" just not getting there with the plane on time. But knowing where they are gave you some assurance that it is not "lost". You can keep track of it and see it got to the destination airport. And maybe even keep track of it on the truck in route to get to your hotel/home if the driver has an iPhone.

I think I read one story here where the owner saw the luggage came to the airport but the airline didn't truck it out. So he went to the airport and wait outside the place for it to open and told them the luggage was just a few feet into the place or something like that. Don't remember the exact story.

DYKWIA

It's useful to be able to see if your bag has travelled with you. There were reports of baggage taking 2-3 hours to appear at LHR earlier this year. Imagine waiting that long and then finding out your bag had not been loaded?

vsadda

For me, knowledge is power. To each his own ...

I didn't call the airline. I knew, as soon as I landed, that one of my bags stayed back at the airport I checked it in. I filed a complaint at the airlines baggage claims representative and showed her where my bag was. She handed me my compensation. Off I went. One hour later, I got an e-mail from the airline, telling me that they found a "possible match" for my bag and were "optimistic" that it will arrive next day. It did arrive the next day.

Honestly, I don't have a clue as to whether or not the Samsung Tag data, I showed them, played any role. However, knowing exactly where my bag was made me feel much better. That helped me believe their email about the possibility of the bag being delivered the next day.

In that case, it may not help. However, that doesn't sound like the way it goes for most. You first notice that you have bags missing at the airport itself. There, you are dealing with a real person. A real person understands and appreciates (at least in my case) when you show them the data from the tag.

der_saeufer

I've used it several times for this exact purpose--if the AirTag is still at the origin airport, I don't have to go hang out at the bag belt for 45 minutes only to be disappointed. I file my claim from the comfort of my apartment or hotel room, and/or know that they've loaded it on the next flight so I can go to the airport and grab it when it arrives.

It's nice for air cargo too; when the freight forwarder says the shipment is held up by customs in India and the AirTag was scanned 10 minutes ago at PTY I know they're lying.

Loren Pechtel

Got some Tile trackers just before the world blew up, we haven't flown since but I set them up tethered to the inside of the bag so they won't come out but will remain near the surface in case something interfering gets packed in the bag. If it's just clothing or the like it won't matter where in the bag they are but metallic objects could be an issue.

There are plenty of stories of people recovering bags due to putting a tracker in them. Including recovering from thieves.

GUWonder

The old “stuck with customs” excuse.

That said, the trackers may be removed/fall off during handling and thus provide potentially misleading info to the property owner as a result of separation from the accompanying property. To avoid the risk of the trackers falling off or being stolen — or even just targeted for battery theft by some lazy cheapskates — I find they work just fine even when secured inside in the middle or side pockets of my luggage.

StuckInYYZ

So was helping my neighbour with getting ready to go to HK. Convinced them to buy a set of airtags and some cheap holders. Went down to the dollar store and picked up a roll of DIY wire wrap twist things that you used to see in supermarkets... we just attached them to a button hole of one of their shirts in each of the suitcases. So far things work like a charm (they saw the airtags appear at my place as a test). Will have to see if they are detected on board (maybe) and at the airports when they leave and after checkin...

GUWonder

Beside the detection at airports, I’ve had some checked luggage even show up as detected over the ocean off the west coast of Ireland — I suspect it helped that the crew rest area was closer to the baggage hold space where the AirTagged+TilePro-tagged luggage was situated and that they may have been using inflight Wi-Fi for their Apple devices.

Need

That seems like a lot of work: AirTag -> Holder -> Wire Twist -> Shirt button hole. I would have just stick the naked AirTag inside a jeans' pocket or something LOL.

Need

Was it a 787? Wonder if the carbon fiber frame would made it easier for the low power BT signal to reach the passenger area to one of the passenger's iDevice connected to WiFi.

AirborneLocksmith

$75 for a 4-pack of AirTags at Amazon:

GUWonder

Could be flight crew devices? I am now also looking into whether something this also happened on a DL TATL flight earlier this month where passengers had no in-flight WiFi. It also happened on a DL A330-900NEO at that.

StuckInYYZ

Depending how far off the coast you were, it could actually be a cell tower. Signals (often) carry a little further off large bodies of water. And I'm pretty sure many people "forget" to turn on airplane mode...

The problem with that is that in a pocket, it could slip out if chosen for a random inspection. A wire twist and button hole (or if the holder is one of those keychain holders) ensures that the airtag or whatever is securely attached to something substantial inside the luggage. I don't know about other people, but I've had airport security (or whatever you want to call them) not put stuff back into my luggage the way it was before.... and it's entirely possible if there was an airtag, it would slip out. It adds on a few seconds and could save lots of work on the other end.

TheMadBrewer

This past spring on a DL 330 from SLC to AMS I had my bag as "with me" every time I checked. I figured my bag must have be loaded directly underneath me

GUWonder

Over waters over 100 miles west of Ireland.