Why You Should Never Fly Without an AirTag

Lost luggage is on the rise. After a decade of dwindling rates around mishandled baggage, the number of lost, delayed or simply damaged luggage nearly double after COVID-19, according to the most recent SITA report.

Even pre-pandemic, there was no guarantee that a checked bag would be waiting for you at your destination after you land. And the contents of your luggage aside, it’s not like suitcases themselves are exactly cheap.

The good news is that it’s both easy and affordable to add an extra layer of security. How? Use an AirTag, of course.

Why You Should Never Fly Without an AirTag

In 2024, plenty of airlines offer tools within their apps to track your bag(s) as you board, land and deplane. But can you trust them?

A couple years ago, aviation analyst and travel journalist Alex Macheras was able to track down his friends’ bag using an Apple AirTag. His friend, who’d flown to him from Paris, landed without luggage, but the airline insisted it had been loaded onto the plane.

Macheras, however, managed to prove the bag was left behind at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, a Twitter thread of his revealed. The airline overnighted the bag, and she received it the next day.

In this scenario, it wasn’t the attendant in her destination’s fault the bag was falsely reported as having arrived, and they couldn’t offer much assistance even if she insisted the bag never dropped onto a baggage claim belt.

Maybe another passenger took it by mistake. Or, perhaps it’s still circling a different station. Both are plausible scenarios, and if you don’t have an AirTag in your bag you’d never know the truth. You’d file a claim, fetch yourself a cab and wait for the airline to recoup your property.

Where should you put the AirTag?

To avoid this fate, order yourself an Apple AirTag ($29) and a case with some sort of chain like this $15 holder from Speck.

Amazon

Speck Presidio Sililoop AirTag Holder

• $15 at Amazon

Next, find something within your suitcase to attach it to. Don’t just throw it in or put it in the pocket of pants you packed. If your bag is randomly selected for a deeper security search, you run the risk of it falling out if the bag is emptied entirely or accidentally spilled. By latching it onto a handle or hook, you know it’ll stay in there even if TSA rummages through it before it’s loaded onto the plane.

In the event that your suitcase does go missing, you’ll be able to see its location on the FindMy app on an iPhone, assuming of course it’s near someone — anyone — else’s phone. Learn more about how AirTags work with our comprehensive guide.

Wait, what about the battery?

When you check in for a flight and plop your bag on the luggage scale, the attendant at the desk will ask about you having lithium batteries in your suitcase. Don’t worry: AirTags don’t have enough lithium to be worth mentioning.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, lithium metal batteries, non-rechargeable, are limited to two grams of lithium per battery. Apple’s Airtags use a CR2032 battery, which has about 0.109 lithium content— so yes, you can put an AirTag in your checked luggage.

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