A traveler used AirTag to track lost luggage for 5 days after flying from Toronto | Globalnews.ca

Frequent air traveler Kelly Laing was flying from Toronto to Saint John, NB, late last month on a flight she often takes between the two cities, but this time her checked luggage went missing.

“It’s an hour and a half flight. I was there early, ready to go. I checked my only bag of luggage for that flight, got on the airline. Again it was a little late. I landed in Saint John, got off immediately, went to baggage claim and my luggage was not there,” said Laing, who noted that she was not the only one whose luggage had not arrived.

“There were 30 to 50 of us that didn’t have their luggage… the Memorial Cup was taking place in Saint John, which is a big hockey tournament here in Canada and I know a lot of people on that flight were coming for the game. and even his luggage was lost,” he added.

Fortunately for Laing, he had thought ahead and put an Apple AirTag in his suitcase.

“The first thing I did was open my phone, look for my AirTag to find my luggage and I could see that their location said Toronto Pearson,” he said.

Laing is an avid golfer who travels frequently for the sport and has started putting Apple AirTags in her golf bags so she can track items.

“Golf equipment is quite expensive… Those items tend to go missing or get lost. They are just irregular items,” he said.

On this particular trip from Toronto to Saint John, Laing decided to put an AirTag in her suitcase for “peace of mind.”

“I thought about putting it in my own luggage due to all the delays and cancellations with domestic Canadian flights recently and I’m so glad I did,” she explained.

Laing made a series of videos and posted them on TikTok as he described his checked luggage’s nearly week-long journey from Toronto.

“So this is an Apple AirTag, I have it in this little holder with this little clip that keeps it secure, it’s also personalized with my initial. You can see here that it says Apple AirTag and it’s awesome and I basically wouldn’t travel without one,” Laing said in one of several TikTok videos.

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An Apple AirTag costs around $40, and tech expert Kris Abel explained exactly how they work.

“It’s occasionally emitting a wireless signal, a little beacon, as Apple calls it, just to let any nearby iPhones or smartphones know it’s nearby, and ideally, your phone is constantly listening just to let you know this thing is it’s fine,” he said.

Abel said AirTags can be especially valuable in giving users peace of mind knowing their belongings are safe.

“This is one of the big sources of anxiety: ‘Oh, do I have all my stuff? Do I have my passport? You know, that kind of thing. So it’s always kind of a reassurance of, ‘Oh, okay, yeah, I got it,’” she said.

The AirTags don’t need to be charged, Abel said, as they are powered by a battery that can last about a year.

“It will notify you when the battery runs out and you have to replace it. But a year is a long time for something that is sending out a signal. Of course, you don’t use that signal all the time like your phone does, but a year is a long time and that’s kind of reassuring,” he added.

When Laing landed in Saint John and discovered her luggage was missing, she said airport officials were unable to offer an explanation. Laing also said that he tried to contact Air Canada, but was met with a two-hour wait.

“There are no notifications from Air Canada, no emails to update us on our baggage. The only thing I had was that tracker and if I didn’t have it I would probably be a lot more concerned,” he said.

For five days, Laing said he tracked his luggage on his iPhone, thanks to AirTag.

“In the Find My Device app, you can see exactly where your luggage is, where that AirTag is. So I was watching it for five days. Pearson day one: not moving; day two: without moving; day three: not moving…luckily on day five I saw that he had made it to Moncton and then headed to Saint John,” he said.

Laing then drove to the airport, presented his identification to airport officials and collected his luggage.

“I was lucky to have a tracker there,” Laing said.

Global News has contacted Air Canada for comment on this story but has not received a response.