This is sad story, but also a brilliant display of cleverness that shows what the future of lost baggage looks like in a world of convenient tracking.
Lost Baggage Tracking – Passengers Empowered To Do The Detective Themselves Through Modern Technology
Elliot Sharod and his new wife Helen were returning to London from their wedding in South Africa. They had quite the itinerary to get home:
- Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi on Etihad
- Abu Dhabi to Frankfurt on Etihad
- Frankfurt to Dublin on Aer Lingus
- Dublin to London on Aer Lingus
Why the convoluted itinerary when they lived in London? They booked out of Dublin because it was significantly cheaper than starting in London. Originally, they were to fly from Abu Dhabi to London nonstop, but Etihad had scrapped that flight, blaming the pandemic.
The newlyweds checked three bags. Elliot had purchased Apple Airtags and placed one in each bag. During their journey home, they kept close eye on the bags and saw that the bags made it as far as Frankfurt.
But in Frankfurt, they noticed their bags were not loaded on their Aer Lingus flight. When they reached Dublin, they filed a report and arranged to have the bags sent directly to their house in Surrey, outside of London.
The following evening, a courrier arrived at 10:00PM with their bags.
The End?
Not quite. The courier had only two of their three bags.
Helen’s bag was still missing, which included their wedding cards, thank you notes, and other irreplaceable personal items.
To make matters worse, Aer Lingus stopped responding. So did Eagle Avation, the contractor who delivered the bags.
But the Apple Airtags did not stop responding. Quite the contrary, they showed that Helen’s bag was in central London, first at a church and later at a massage parlor (these’s tags are accurate within a few feet).
Without any progress from Aer Lingus, Elliot created a Powerpoint presentation and video and posted it to Twitter:
I’ve just been updated that it is at this location – which seems to be an address. You have delivered my bag to someone else’s property, and I have no way to get in contact with the courier. Please can you respond. This bag has things from our recent wedding in it. @AerLingus https://t.co/7AdORyRI3F pic.twitter.com/A08HN4uk7y
— AirTag Adventurer 🇬🇧🇿🇦🇹🇷🇰🇭 (@aviosAdventurer) April 19, 2022
Message to @AerLingus – give me my bag back. I’ve told you where it is. It’s now moved a few streets down. You’ve given my back to someone else. This is stolen. I have a police report with @metpoliceuk raised.
Your response to this is appalling pic.twitter.com/rGzQuIZSY8
— AirTag Adventurer 🇬🇧🇿🇦🇹🇷🇰🇭 (@aviosAdventurer) April 22, 2022
The tweets succinctly laid out the timeline of what occurred and where the bags currently stood, at least according to the Airtags.
A police report was also been filed.
Last night, the bag was finally delivered.
As the police are dealing with this – I won’t be posting any more regarding this on Twitter https://t.co/EKJaSbyeQS
— AirTag Adventurer 🇬🇧🇿🇦🇹🇷🇰🇭 (@aviosAdventurer) April 22, 2022
I realize that if the bag was stolen it may not have been advisable to knock on the door (especially after the bag moved a few streets away), but I’d be tempted to (my wife would probably bang on the door…).
I’m glad the bag has been returned…but Sharod’s use of Airtags marks the future of tracking baggage. No longer is the status and location of our bags in the hands of the airline. With modern technology, we can now know where our bags are before the airlines even do. That should help to hold airlines accountable in the future.
CONCLUSION
One bright side of modern technology is that it allows us to hold other accountable in ways that were never possible before. When he felt he was receiving the runaround, a witty passenger used social media and his Apple Airtags to do a lot more work than Aer Lingus did for him. Good for him. Going forward, I’m also not checking a bag without an Airtag.
I have AirTags and use them in all our luggage and carry on bags. They work really well and give you a peace of mind when you have complicated itineraries. It is not a very expensive item and it may avoid bigger headaches.
How come he didn’t question the driver where the 3rd bag was if his air tags showed bags were separated in London?
My guess is he probably did. The delivery person said I don’t know, but you can call customer service…
Correct.
Probably because he was just a delivery driver. Why should he know where the third bag was? He would just deliver what he was told to deliver.
How do airtags stay in touch with the owner? Can’t be gps, so they use the cell phone towers? Are they automatically roaming anywhere in the world?
They use the global iPhone network. Every time an iPhone passes by, signal is exchanged to triangulate the location. Pretty cool technology and my understanding is pretty secure as well.
Secure perhaps but not safe. Police Records Show Women Are Being Stalked With Apple AirTags Across the Country. Motherboard obtained reports of stalking, harassment, and abuse using AirTags, targeting victims of intimate partner violence: https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vj3y/apple-airtags-police-reports-stalking-harassment
I have airtags in my luggage too and they were very helpful in Marseille on day. They had delivered all (but the luggage of 6 people) and were telling us that the others must had stayed in Lisbon. The airtag showed my luggage was 90m away. Turns out they had forgotten some luggage in the plane’s cargo hold. They had to reopen it, get the bags out, and the return flight left with a 45mn delay.
I had some delayed luggage, and watched it to idle around London in some delivery van making hotel and other stops for 8 hours before getting to my hotel at midnight.
Airtags do sound useful. Does anyone know whether they can be paired up with an android device, or even a PC? Alternatively, is there a similar product for those of us outside of the Apple ecosystem?
very limited functionality for non-Apple users: You need an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to set up AirTags because they require the Find My app that’s only available for Apple devices. You also need an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to put AirTags into Lost Mode or find your AirTags on a map because both of those functions require the Find My app.
AirTag Alternatives For Android Users: If you’re primarily an Android user or use a mix of Android and Apple devices, the fact AirTags don’t really work with Android can be an issue. While AirTags work great with Apple devices, functionality is severely limited with Android phones. Other Bluetooth trackers, like Tile and Galaxy SmartTag, provide better Android integration than AirTag. These alternatives also work just as well with Apple devices as they do with Android, although they lack the Precision Finding feature that you get when you use an AirTag with an iPhone with the U1 chip. If you don’t have a newer iPhone, or you want to use your Bluetooth trackers with a variety of devices, then platform-agnostic options like Tile and Galaxy SmartTag will provide a better experience. https://www.lifewire.com/using-airtags-with-android-5188775
Thanks. I don’t have any Apple devices so I shall look into Bluetooth trackers!
“Originally, they were to fly from Abu Dhabi to London nonstop, but Etihad had scrapped that flight, blaming the pandemic.” — I thought Etihad never stopped flying the AUH – LHR route?? I’m lost here.
Do you really think he’s lying about that?