A London baggage handler strike ahead of an upcoming trip caused me to add Apple AirTags to my checked luggage, here’s how easy they are to add.
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London Baggage Handler Strike
Over the last couple of days, London baggage handlers have been striking and will continue to do so through Sunday. All of the baggage handlers are unionized and work for Menzies.
The union stated the result of its industrial action would “lead to disruption, delays and cancellation for flights leaving Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 4” and would particularly affect Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air Portugal, American Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Egypt Air, Finnair, Lufthansa, Qantas and Swiss Air.” – Forbes.
Handlers are pushing back on inadeqate pay, requesting more than 14% to battle inflation costs in the UK. Early in the strike, just four flights had been reported as canceled though more could be expected. While my family is traveling to London, on the periphery of this action, we were more concerned about knock down effects rather than the a direct causation to this specific issue.
London/Europe’s Baggage Handling Performance Has Been Bad All Summer
London, and really, greater Europe has had an abysmal performance handling bags for most of the summer. In addition to the headlines posted on this very site and around the world, my travel agency has been helping clients as recently as last week track the location of their luggage, file claims, and attempt to recover.
Not all of those clients traversed London, the latest client (ten clients, actually) had their luggage go missing in Barcelona, Spain. Despite notifying the staff, pointing out where the luggage was located, and filing numerous complaints and spending hours on the phone, it still took IAG-owned Vueling more than a week to deliver the bags. I recognize that AirTags may not solve the problem, and further iritate travelers by knowing where their bags are but not being able to coax staff to walk down to their location, identify it and send it where it needs to go.
It seems to be a good idea to at least provide some peace of mind given the challenges European airports have experienced and especially with this industrial action looming.
Adding Apple AirTags
My family has other Apple devices so setting them up was easy, and painless. We bought a pack of (4) for $99 rather than just the three we needed individually for $87 total (3 @ $29.) We are only traveleing with two checked bags but inevitably come home with more than we take so it seemed like the smart idea was to buy four and be prepared.
When opening the package, the AirTags were attached to the inside and pulled out easily. A small plastic cover on the outside and separating the internal battery from contact keeps the battery life full until you’re ready to use them. Once the plastic is removed, a chime will sound and when held close to an Apple device, a setup screen appears. A dropdown menu of common uses to name the device appears or you can choose a custom name as I did.
Users are asked if they’d like to add an em0ji so I chose one from the available options. In future, I’d love to have an option to take a photo of the item instead of an emoji so that I can visually identify it not only for myself but also for lost luggage purposes and at baggage claim.
Upon completion, the tracking device was instantly available in the Find My app from Apple. I deposited my AirTag into my checked baggage and was ready to fly.
Conclusion
While I know that it’s not a perfect solution, I wanted to give it a try (and will report back.) I have zero confidence in London baggage handlers without the strike based on the summer we have experienced but at least with an AirTag, luggage is easier to find in theory even if not in reality.
What do you think? Have you tried AirTags? How was your experience? Do you trust baggage handlers and luggage systems in Europe right now?
TSA pulled out a fencing bag AFTER we cked the bag. They sent the hard case on without the fencing bag which was not tagged to be separate. The ONLY reason we knew where it was and got it by my kids tournament was it had an apple AirTag. We flew from our small town (5gates) airport and they answered phone and put it on next flight to us.
Amazon has them on sale 4 for $80 right now.
I bough 8 AirTags the day they were launched and have been using them every day since. I have them in all checked luggage as well as in all backpacks just to make sure we can track them in case of theft. They work really well but don’t expect perfection. Sometimes one or two take longer to update so it gives you the impression they were left behind but once you land in a different country you can see they are all there.
Now a piece of advice: although they use simple CR2032 batteries, not all brands work with AirTags. Yes, crazy but somehow Apple screwed up and some brands of CR2032 are not recognized when you put them on AirTags. Search online and you will see lots of references to this. I bought a pack of Duracell batteries at Costco and replaced them all after 1 years and no AirTags worked after that. Took them to Apple and was told batteries were bad. BS!!! Batteries were all good but they didn’t work with AirTags. Had to buy different brands online and they were back to life.
Just to say, other brands are available!
I’ve been using Tile for some time with success. On a recent holiday with multiple stops, my partner who is a big apple geek bought Airtags and just to try out what was best we put one of each in each checked bag.
The results were comparable though we saw slightly different things in some places, mostly the results were identical in each place.
So if you’re not a believer at the altar of Apple, there’s a great alternative!
Buying some for small holiday gifts. Beats another bottle of wine. And beyond luggage, I see the tags could be useful.
Used them on a recent trip into Paris and returning via London. They emit a ping which is picked up by Apple products (mostly iPhones) and forwarded on. Therefore, if none of the baggage handlers use Apple, it looks like the bags are still back at the departure gate. This happen to us as we taxied down the runway at EWR. Once we got thru Paris customs, we got an update that the bags had arrived at CDG (yea!!!!).
At Heathrow, it was funny to see the baggage bounce around the airport, become separated (loaded in separate LD2 containers), and then reappear in Houston. In fact, the bags had been offloaded from the conveyer belt and placed in the middle of a large cluster by the time we cleared IAH immigration. The tags guided us to each bag.
Now that I’m home, I get a message that I have left 2 airtags behind each time I drive away from my house. Wish I had kept the small plastic tabs which separate the battery from the tag. May try using part of a Walmart plastic bag or piece of paper to deactivate the tags.
AirTags are awesome and I bought them for my luggage this summer when the baggage handlers went on strike in London. I’ve also hidden one in my car to easily track it if it gets stolen.
I’m just surprised people continue to check bags. AirTags sound great, but carrying on is the best solution to baggage handling issues. You can do laundry and buy shampoo in Europe
You can’t fit all your scuba gear under the seat in an overhead bin. Even in business class.
You can fit your reg, and mask in a carry-on. Why wouldn’t you rent tanks and a BCD?