'I'm Never Booking Checked Baggage Again': Couple Tracks Missing Luggage and Watches It Travel to the Beach, Private Homes One Toronto-based couple was in for a surprise when they tracked their missing suitcase around Portugal.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Traveling internationally can be an anxiety-inducing experience, and when you're checking a bag, there's always added risk — lost luggage has become a common issue facing travelers.
Tracking down bags can be a hassle, but one Canadian-based couple was ahead of the game when they put a tracking device in their bag, before, coincidentally the luggage did end up getting lost.
TikTok user Jenny Antunes is going viral for a video she posted about tracking down her boyfriend's lost luggage via Apple AirTag after the bag got left behind in the Toronto airport.
"When your luggage sees more of Portugal than you," the caption of the video, which has been viewed over 882,700 times, reads.
In the clip, the bag can be seen making its way through the airport and to Portugal where the bag begins to go on a journey involving a giant warehouse, the beach, someone's home, and random parts of the country — before eventually making it back to Canada five days later.
@jennyantuness when your luggage sees more of portugal than you… #portugal #airtag #fyp #luggage ♬ original sound - NostalgiaACS
The bag, which appeared to have a mind of its own, had the internet and commenters reeling with jokes and questions about what exactly was going on.
"I moved to Portugal a year ago and that suitcase saw more [than] me," one user joked.
"What the hell like how could they not put it on the same flight," another said concerned. "I'm never booking checked baggage again."
Others pointed out that the AirTag may have just been pinging to the closest location if it was traveling via air to get back to Canada.
"It was not at random people's houses it was in the air and pinging the closest iPhones in the vicinity," one user claimed.
Apple originally released the AirTag in April 2021 as a way for people to put mini tracking devices on important items so that users can track the movement of said items via their other Apple devices.
Though a good idea, in theory, the company faced mass scrutiny after multiple stories arose of people using AirTags to stalk and track women and children, as well as luxury items like cars that were later reported missing or stolen.
In February, Apple announced a comprehensive safety plan and guide to help mitigate the misuse of the technology.
"AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person's property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products. Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag," Apple said in a release. "Apple has been working closely with various safety groups and law enforcement agencies. Through our own evaluations and these discussions, we have identified even more ways we can update AirTag safety warnings and help guard against further unwanted tracking."
Still, the use of the AirTag in such situations as missing luggage has proven to be extremely helpful for those using the product as intended.
According to LuggageHero, a total of 1,241,209 luggage bags out of an estimated 220 million checked bags were "mishandled" by U.S. airlines from July 2021 to December 2021.
It was not reported how many of those bags used tracking devices or technology.
Apple was up around 14.5% in a one-year period as of Tuesday afternoon.
