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Harry Campbell swears by putting tracking devices in his luggage.
“For the last few months (I’ve) been traveling a bit more, and I guess I have more valuables that I want to protect,” the 36-year-old who runs the blog Rideshare Guy told USA TODAY. “Everyone knows that traveling is a hassle, luggage can get lost,” and he feels that anyone who doesn’t use the latest technology to track his luggage bears some responsibility if it goes missing.
Campbell is not alone.
The last twelve months have been hard on travelers. Long lines in Europe, massive cancellations at Southwest and an hourly shutdown of a crucial homeland security system are just a few of the headaches travelers have encountered recently.
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A corollary of all those problems has been that airlines and airports struggle to keep people and their bags together.
Travel experts are increasingly recommending heeding Campbell’s advice and putting Apple AirTags, Tiles or other electronic tracking devices in your bags, especially checked luggage, before heading to the airport.
“It takes two to get your item back,” said Skyler Logsdon, chief executive of Boomerang, a technology company that helps users digitize their lost-and-found experience. “What it does is it allows you to confidently say you have my item… Now you know for sure it’s there.”
He added that location information from trackers can make it easier for travelers to navigate the lost and found claims process.
“I filed my claim, I took a screenshot of where exactly it is,” Logsdon said of his own experience with trackers.
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Why should I put a Tile tracker, Apple AirTag in my suitcase?
Campbell said that AirTags recently saved him additional headaches when his golf clubs went missing before a trip to Las Vegas.
He was using a service called Ship Sticks to get his sticks from his Los Angeles home to his Nevada getaway, but they were lost in transit when the tag he applied fell off.
“Most companies or airlines handle thousands or tens of thousands of bags,” he said. “If you have that AirTag, you can see the actual status,” so he knew when his clubs were still in storage or in transit.
They didn’t make it in time for his golf game, but Campbell said being able to track them gave him the peace of mind that they were located.
“There wasn’t much I could do about it,” he said. Eventually, her clubbing made its way to Las Vegas and then returned to her home in Los Angeles.
Social media is full of similar stories from travelers who say AirTags or similar devices have eased their stress over losing their bags.
However, not all travelers agree that trackers solve the problem of lost luggage. Some respondents on social media noted that they would find it frustrating to know where their bags are without a real way to retrieve them.
Will the airline compensate you for lost luggage?
For delayed baggage, airlines have to compensate passengers for “reasonable, verifiable, and actual incidental expenses they may incur while their bags are delayed,” within maximum liability limits, according to the US Department of Transportation. USA
For domestic flights, that amount is $3,800, although airlines may choose to pay more. For most international flights, that number is lower, around $1,780.
If the airlines discover that a bag has been lost, they must compensate you for its contents, taking into account depreciation and the same maximum amounts of liability.
Contribution: Nathan Diller, USA TODAY
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