“Good luck bag, hope to see you in New York” were my parting words to my luggage upon checking in at London’s Heathrow airport.  The agent laughed and said “don’t worry” but I was worried.  Not only was the news filled with photos of luggage at Heathrow and other European airports, the baggage belt stopped working just as I arrived at the check in desk.  The agents were manually checking bags in and tagging them only to load them on the same trolleys passengers were using to roll through the terminal. I was told that staff would manually push the trolleys to the baggage area.  What could go wrong with that?

I checked in three hours early as one does in Europe but this time I was assisted by a quarter sized tech, the Apple Airtag. I had tagged my luggage (and all bags) with an Apple Airtag so I could track it’s journey at Heathrow (travel geek alert). This was my first international trip since 2019 and I had read about airtags (good, bad and ugly) and thought that using them with my luggage, backpack and handbag would be a good test.

 

I bought the four pack of airtags from the Apple store for $99 (Amazon generally has a lower cost and has them on sale now!) and a airtage luggage holder I didn’t want to spend over $100 for three more holders, so I bought these cheaper AirTag cases (a four pack) for much less.  You may choose to do that as well.  If you choose to put on the outside of the luggage and be stylish then the loop above may be of interest.  For those with a handbag/purse and you don’t want to throw the quarter sized disk inside, there is a nice alternative holder for your airtag holder for handbags

How to Set Up Apple Airtags for Travel 

Upon opening the box, the instructions were pretty easy to understand.  I had to pull the protective film off and upon doing that heard a beep.  Using my phone, I set up the tag and assigned it as “my luggage”, following the same quick procedure for “my backpack” and “my purse”. Apple’s “Find My” app has categories to pick from with standard photos.   I then inserted the coin sized orbs into the various holders and placed inside all the bags.

For my luggage, I chose an inside pocket so it would be harder to find as one would need to unbuckle the side belts then unzip open the main section and then unzip the additional two levels of pockets. I did the same with the other bags.  If you are a thief you are keen to find valuables, cash, credit cards and toss the rest, I doubt they have time to go search through all the zipped pockets for my airtag.

Five minutes later, I was ready to go as was “Find My”.  When I left the house to go to the store with my handbag (purse), I received a notification that my two bags (luggage and backpack) were left behind.  I was now ready to give these a spin on my whirlwind trip to Europe (London, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and New York).  My trip included planes, trains and automobiles to test out how well these airtags would work for travel.

Using Apple Airtags on Amtrak and at Newark Airport

On Amtrak, my bag was too big to go above my seat, so I used the luggage storage at the front of the car while my seat was further back out of view. I played with the “Find My” a few times to see that my luggage was still in the train car. At Newark, I checked the luggage in and kept my backpack and purse with me. The app showed we were separated –  with me at the gate and my luggage in the main terminal.  My luggage would eventually join me at the gate, on the plane.  I could see the photo on my phone.  Happy that my size 11 shoes and plus size clothing was on the way to London with me, I could relax.  Both my clothes and shoe size make replacing my packed luggage a bit more difficult depending on the country. l was good upon arrival in Heathrow.  I watched the updates from the plane to the baggage carousel.

Airtag Luggage Tracking – Crisis Averted

I continued to track my bags on the London Gatwick flight on Iberia to Madrid. London Gatwick has been in the news lately due to delayed and canceled flights as well as luggage issues.  Again happy the bag made the plane was stress reliever.  Upon arrival in Madrid, I was directed to baggage claim 3 by the airline,  TripIt app and airport screens. I eventually made it to bag claim 3 after more than an hour to clear immigration and my bag was not there. I watched the bags with LGW tags pass by so started to get a bit worried. I checked the monitor again to make sure LGW bags were scheduled to be at this claim area and they were.  Knowing that the bag made the flight, I looked at “Find My” and my luggage said “with you” so it was close enough to think it was with me.  I walked to baggage claim 2 as my luggage was passing by. I quickly picked it up, happily reunited. I didn’t need to turn on the beep function.  I have no idea how my luggage ended up on baggage claim 2. Without the apple airtag on my luggage, I might have thought the bag was lost, picked up in error or stolen and reported it to the airline.  Crisis averted, thank you airtag!

Airtags on European Trains

I would continue to play with the app during my train rides from Madrid to Barcelona, Barcelona to Paris and Paris to London.  Each time, the bag showed it was in the town we stopped in and the photos showed it on the train with me.  Traveling by train in Europe is always a bit tricky in my opinion.  There is ample space above your seat but it’s not enough for the Americans luggage (i.e. big bags) so you need to use the luggage racks at the end of each train car and the go find your seat. This causes anxiety even for seasoned travelers.  I’ve seen families assign the dad to stand watch over the luggage by sitting in the jump seat outside the car nearest the luggage.  I’ve seen people stand during the entire train ride to be near their luggage. I love my shoes too but am not standing for hours to be next to my bag. So there is definitely a fear of leaving luggage,  the air tags allayed my fears.

Apple Air Tag Luggage Tracking at London Heathrow 

So back to Heathrow and the flight home to New York JFK.  I checked in three hours early but the baggage belt was broken and my luggage along with others was loaded onto a trolley to manually be walked to the baggage department.  Now if you’ve ever seen the “behind the scenes at LHR baggage” you will know bypassing the front end starting point is a bit of a risk as the bags need to go thru security and then get sorted to the right terminal, gate, etc. So saying goodbye and good luck to my luggage seemed appropriate.

When we were assigned a remote stand which involved going to a gate to board a bus from the terminal to the plane, I knew we would be delayed (original flight at 11:40 am).  I was onboard by 11 am with my backpack and purse but my luggage was not as of 12:10 pm.  In fact, it was closer to the main terminal’s Wetherspoon Bar to be exact.  I asked the flight attendant about process if my bag doesn’t make the plane and he said “no worries, I’m sure your bag is on the plane”.  I said it wasn’t and explained I’m using airtags and my bag was last seen outside the bar on the tarmac an hour ago.  He said he would see if he could find someone to help.  For the next hour of our delay while I sat on the plane looking out at the petrol tanks in the farthest corner of Heathrow, my bag was still far away.  I resolved myself to the fact that my luggage wasn’t joining me on the flight home and would be delivered by British Airways within 72 hours to my home in Philadelphia.  I looked at my credit card travel insurance for delayed baggage as well as the British Airways website for the policy and expense limits.  While I didn’t relish having to buy stuff in NYC, at least I was prepared.

The last passengers boarded the plane and the captain said to close the doors that boarding was complete. The new departure time was 12:25 pm. I checked the “Find My” one more time and saw that my bag made it!  It was on the plane with me.  Woohoo!  I could now relax and enjoy the flight.   I updated the flight attendant and he said he had told someone and hoped that made a difference.  We won’t know if it did or not but when I arrived in JFK, my bag was the third piece of luggage to roll down onto the baggage chute which made me believe that it did load last.

Overall Review of Apple Airtags for Luggage Tracking

I traveled from the US to the UK, Spain and France over a two week span.  I flew three planes, rode five trains and stayed in six hotels.  I tracked all three pieces during that time with the Find My app.  Apple Airtags gave me comfort during my travels that my size 11 shoes would not be lost and if they were, I had information to help find them.

I highly recommend them for your travels all year long but especially this summer season given the number of delays, cancelations and missing bags. Hopefully they can relive stress for you, help you prepare alternatives if delayed and arm you with information.

 

Note: I may earn a small commission (enough to buy M&Ms) if you choose to click the amazon affiliate link(s) and buy the Apple Airtags and Airtag accessories noted.  This blog has stayed ad free to ensure a pleasant reader experience so when I do link something to buy, it’s something that I personally use so I thank you in advance if you choose to support my efforts via affiliate links.