An American couple – who used a digital hack to track their luggage as they traveled abroad for a European holiday – were frustrated with United Airlines when one of their bags did not arrive for them despite knowing exactly where it was.
The tech-savvy Dan Adams and his partner Curt were, they placed an Apple AirTag inside their four suitcases before they flew business class on their two-month flight to Barcelona.
The couple says they treated themselves a little because they wanted their vacation to be unforgettable.
“We've been planning this trip for a long time. It's been the trip of a lifetime,” Adams told KNBC.
“We get to Barcelona. Get off the plane, go to the airport. I pull out my phone. All four bags are there, so I'm like, 'Oh my God, they made it,'” Adams said.
Despite their brilliant efforts to keep their bags safe, they never saw one of them when they went to collect their luggage.
Adams' phone showed that the missing suitcase was a few feet away from him, and he was practically standing on the other side of the wall, but he thought one of the airline workers had simply forgotten to put it on the conveyor belt.
The couple raised their dilemma with a baggage agent and showed the location, but were told the bag had not been found.
“She came back and said, 'No, there's no sign of your bag.' Maybe someone took it. I said: No one took it. AirTag shows it there. “We don't rely on AirTags, we rely on our own system,” she said, recalling Adams with frustration.
The tired and travel-weary couple were told that the bag would be delivered to them later when they decided to leave the airport.
Not entirely convinced, Adams monitored the location of the bag and panicked when it started moving on his phone.
“He came to Barcelona and then kept leaving Barcelona,” he said.
The newspaper reported that the suitcase moved for 34 minutes out of town, where Adams practically watched his belongings disappear and suspected an airport employee had stolen his luggage.
“I knew at that point that I would never see that bag again and all the things that were in it,” he said.
Adams filed a lawsuit with United saying he had been a “really good customer for years and years” and was baffled by the way he had been treated.
The Post has reached out to United.
Travel expert Katie Natro told the outlet that travelers who use tracking devices like AirTag in their luggage should not leave the airport if they know where the bag is, and instead escalate the situation to airport police if the airline is not cooperative.
Although United will not use Adams' website to find baggage, future travelers may not have to worry about this rare situation.
Apple AirTag users will soon be able to give a third party access to tracking information.
This would allow airports and airlines to search for lost bags in real time.
Apple announced the “Share Item Location” feature as part of the new iOS 18.2 operating system, which will have the option to share with a third party.
The new feature is now available in most regions of the world as part of iOS 18.2 beta, which will soon be available to all iPhone Xs users and later as a software update.
The new feature in the Find My app will allow the user to share the location of a lost item with an “airline or trusted person.”
