Tag your bag: Travel experts share their thoughts on luggage trackers

By Michael Lee, CTVNews.ca Author

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Toronto, Canada (CTV Community) — With flight cancellations and delays leaving most Canadians nervous about air journey, several shortly-to-be travelers might be considering of techniques to avoid the airport problems other folks have seasoned.

For some, that may perhaps require preserving an eye on their baggage with the use of Bluetooth or GPS trackers, tiny gadgets at first developed to keep track of products these types of as misplaced keys and backpacks, but could verify practical when traveling by way of some of the world’s busiest airports, industry experts say.

“I believe suitable now it’s a intelligent alternative, in particular for flying by a single of these major hubs that have a connecting flight,” Jennifer Weatherhead, founder of travelandstyle.ca, instructed CTVNews.ca in a mobile phone job interview on Tuesday.

“Everyone has found individuals video clips — I have viewed the films and skilled them — of substantial piles of luggage at distinct airports that people have to kind by means of and root by way of.”

In the scenario of air travel, a person can location a tracker in their suitcase to assistance track down it in the pile of other luggage at their final location.

Common Bluetooth-based trackers include Apple’s AirTag, Samsung’s SmartTag and Tile, which use a cell app to help identify the product being tracked.

Some others use GPS, which could be handy if a bag has not remaining its destination quite yet.

Some trackers emit a audio when utilised or can display an item’s most modern place if outdoors of the Bluetooth range.

Possessing that tracker could deliver a minimal more “peace of mind” realizing exactly where your bag is, Weatherhead claims.

She says she would desire a GPS-based tracker, with Bluetooth not constantly connecting correctly dependent on particular expertise, but explained it in the long run arrives down to whichever brand name persons are most snug with.

Trackers might be precise to particular operating units these kinds of as iOS or Android, though people working with GPS may possibly demand a subscription.

Apple’s AirTag, in the meantime, utilizes other iPhones, iPads and Mac gadgets on the Discover My network to enable keep track of an merchandise.

“The a lot more security you can have in building positive you and your things get to the place you’re going, the improved,” journey pro Natalie Preddie explained to CTVNews.ca in a cellular phone job interview on Tuesday.

Acquiring a independent paper or leather luggage tag that includes your speak to facts such as an e mail or cellphone selection on the exterior of one’s bag, alongside with an electronic tracker, could be a handy blend when it comes to obtaining and retrieving your baggage, Preddie suggests.

Over all, professionals say if you can fly with just have-on only, do so.

“I would actually, truly advocate just flying with a have-on to stay away from this at the second, since at this position it seems to be like we’re hunting at a summer time of this,” Preddie stated.

Weatherhead also advises travellers to fly with just carry-on if they can.

For anybody concerned about privacy and safety, specifically with Bluetooth-dependent trackers, opting for a have-on could be a a lot more appropriate selection, as well.

The Apple AirTag has elevated privateness problems, with studies over the previous year demonstrating the tags can be slipped into people’s belongings, this kind of as a purse or vehicle, and utilised to observe men and women without the need of their information.

Apple states AirTags have a attribute to “guard in opposition to unwelcome tracking” and shares alerts if an unfamiliar tracker might be travelling with you.

Nevertheless, even if you do not have any checked bags, a flight might ask passengers to look at in their carry-on baggage if there is not plenty of overhead room.

“Even if you are doing have-on, it may possibly nevertheless be a great strategy to have a luggage tag just in circumstance that takes place,” Weatherhead explained.

If you do have to check out in your carry-on bag, she suggests to make absolutely sure you have all of your valuables with you, along with everything else you may perhaps need.

In the stop, specialists say to double check out the size and weight of your luggage to ensure it conforms with your aircraft’s carry-on rules, as properly as any other restrictions this kind of as liquid allowances.

With documents from CTVNews.ca Author Solarina Ho, CTV Nationwide News Associate Producer Christy Somos and The Canadian Push