I have a prediction: Airlines won't ackowlege that personal trackers as an effective means to track luggage becuase they're trying to figure out how to force you to buy their own trackers.
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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Frankly I’m trying to figure out how a system that even allows for luggage to be lost without any accountability is allowed to exist in two thousand twenty fucking three
Easy: doing so would cost too much money, for not enough profit gain.
Aka, there isn't enough competition between airlines
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Cause somehow we've been convinced that if something somehow works once, in one specific scenario - then it must in its entirety be ok for all eternity
(as long as it makes money of course lol)
I'm still trying to figure out why they don't already use trackers. RFID tags are dirt cheap and it's 20 years old technology. They already have a process where they add barcode stickers at checkin, slap some RFID in there too.
They certainly can and do use a tracking system.
I get notifications from Delta every time my bag moves once it's checked in - loaded, unloaded, what pickup.
There's nothing really wrong with barcodes. NFC/RFID would be a logical upgrade though, and just has to integrate into the existing system.
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Happened on a recent flight with me. Company told us luggage was still on the origin airport, someone had an air tag and vehemently asked them to do a double check, and they miraculously found where it was supposed to be in the first place..
On a recent trip we just went up to the youngest looking baggage worker, showed them, asked very nicely, and they walked back and found it. Tipped em 20 bucks for 5 minutes of effort. They were super nice.
The airline was less than helpful, actively saying the bag was lost.
Take photos of your luggage before checking them. That way you can show the employees exactly what they’re looking for.
Luckily our bag was a very distinctive color with a large brand logo but yep
Ugly luggage unite!!
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I've heard the fix for lost luggage (in the USA) is unironically to put a flare gun or starter pistol in checked luggage (note, you do have to declare it and ensure it's properly stored). Why? The airlines get their asses reamed by the ATF if they lose it. If I'm not mistaken, the same laws about firearms in checked luggage apply to a flaregun as they do a Browning M2. If they're lax enough about following firearm laws to lose a flaregun then they're lax enough to lose a high-caliber, fully automatic heavy machine gun.
It must be in a locked, hard sided case. You let TSA inspect it, then you get to keep the keys and they do not. It's a common(?) trick for photographers with thousands of dollars of camera equipment to put a starter pistol in the camera case.
I might be wrong, I'm not an expert here and every airline has their own rules on top of the federal ones. But I have flown with firearms and they always had to be in a separate, locked, hard sided case. I don't remember any part of the check in process where I would have been able to put the case back in with the rest of my luggage. I definitely do not recommend just plopping your suitcase up there and saying "hey there's a flare gun next to my socks" unless you have a lot of time to kill.
I probably should have been more specific by what I meant when I said, "properly stored". I think you can put anything into the hard-sided case with the flaregun as I've heard photographers (as someone else mentioned), musicians, tech enthusiasts, etc will get a pelican case, put their cameras, computers, instruments, etc into the case with the flaregun. You're right that you can't just dump it into a dufflebag and call it a day, and I'm pretty sure I've heard that you can't put a dufflebag inside the container with the flaregun, as I've heard they'll tell you that it needs to be independently checked and stored in the luggage compartment.
To put it another way, the case isn't transporting your clothes, it is transporting your flaregun and you've just happened to use any extra space to pack your clothes.
I flew American Airlines with a gun and it had to be in a hard locked case that I was able to put in my luggage to be checked. I had the keys. I had to pick up my luggage at the help center.
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I just wish airtags didn't require an apple device. Is there even an alternative to these tiny little things?
Samsung has its own "Smart Tags". They should be better than Tile, since they rely on the Galaxy network and many more people have Samsung phones than Tile devices, but it'd be nice if Google released one compatible with all Android devices, instead of being stupidly tied to a specific brand.
Google announced just that earlier in the year; a tracking platform backed by any device with Google Play Services. A number of companies have announced support - including Tile, Pebblebee and Chipolo - but in typical Google fashion it's not launched yet.
but in typical Google fashion it's not launched yet.
And is likely to get shut down in a year or two...
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Tile is the closest but it has a much smaller user base since it depends on people having the tile app installed. Airtags pickup on most iphones since most people have "Find My" enabled.
Tile is garbage. I had multiple die without warning or notification, so I switched to airtags even though I have to track those with my iPad.
If you're a tinkerer there's a project called OpenHaystack that lets you make your own tags that leech off Apple's Find My network. I've got a couple dozen of them at this point and they work flawlessly.
I'm a tinkerer but I have terrible tech skills. Do you think a project like that is beginner friendly?
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It will take a while, but once google launches its Find my device network. You will have plenty of alternatives that work on android.
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Chippolo is making one for Google's find my network that works just like Apple's network. Can't comment on the tracker itself because it's a preorder, but theoretically it could be just as strong with the amount of Android devices around
There are standalone GPS trackers that report its location via a cellular connection. Typically they are used to track pets and the elderly in case they get lost, you might be able to find them relatively cheap at pet supply stores, but they do require a continuous paid subscription to work. Though they do have the benefit of working anywhere that has a cellular connection without relying on having specific brands of devices nearby.
If you don't need remote tracking, GPS trackers that only log to internal memory also exist. Those don't require a subscription because they only need to listen for GPS signals and not transmit.
Oh I've looked for a while, as I am not a fan of apple software, but these things are amazing. True innovation. I think the only reason apple is the only ones with something out there like this is because they have the infrastructure for it. Samsung or internet providers are others in the position to do something like this, but I'm still waiting
They aren't some GPS tags, which would just gobble through the battery, they ping the nearest apple device. You can spoof an air tag with an esp if you are into that, but you still need an apple device. The real magic is again, the infrastructure. Luckily for me, my wife has a mac =P
So innovative it's just a Tile. They do have the advantage of having really good coverage in the US, but I don't see the innovation.
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Airlines are a disgrace to the gift of flight.
Nice job, you took human flight, something once hailed as breaking the chains imposed on our species by the gods above, and in the name of profit made it the most tedious and insufferable thing imaginable.
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Of Course, it's company policy to never imply ownership in the event of a dildo, we have to use the indefinite article "a" dildo, never "your" dildo.
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On my way home from Spain as I type this, AirTags in luggage as always.
Haven’t had to rely on them at all due to loss luckily but I do like having them in our luggage.
Fortune favors the prepared. Better to have them in your luggage and never need them than to need them and not have them.
my iPhone was telling me that my AirTag was showing [the luggage] live in Toronto," said Sih. "It would update every few minutes when it would ping off someone's phone."
The way this works creeps me out
It's not that as bad as it seems. The way it is set up is actually very privacy-minded with the use of cryptography. I would encourage you to read more about this.
The primary safety concern is stalking. For example when a stalker puts an AirTag on your belongings or vehicle. iPhones can detect unknown airtags moving with you. Android devices should gain this capability in the future.
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My wife will be flying quite a bit for the next few months and after reading this article I broke down and ordered some Tile Pro's for her to use.
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