Canadian man's wild quest to find lost luggage ends well thanks to AirTag
A Canadian man who experienced a wild goose chase to find his lost luggage credits his Apple AirTag for helping him locate it.
Winston Sih was supposed to fly from Chicago to Toronto on Monday, August 14, but his flight was cancelled. He was then diverted to Washington, DC, via United Airlines.
“Weather had been delayed and put back on a late-evening direct to Toronto again, and I was told United would transfer my suitcase to the correct flight,” Sih told Daily Hive via email.
When he landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport in the middle of the night, his bags were nowhere to be found.
Sih contacted the airlines, and they told him that his bags would be delivered to his home. But thanks to his AirTag, he saw that the bag remained at the Washington Dulles airport overnight.
Winston Sih/Instagram
Once again, he had to request that his bag be flown to Pearson, and United told him it was already in Toronto.
The AirTag came in handy again, as he could see the bag had not moved from the Washington airport at all.
United finally put the bag on an Air Canada flight to Toronto, and “that’s where it started to go wrong as there were multiple airplanes involved,” recalled Sih.
Because of the confusion and the airlines not coordinating who was supposed to drop the bag off at Sih’s home, the bag was taken off the baggage carousel at Pearson “presumably by staff,” he said, and then left in the baggage hall unattended for 24 hours.
When he tried to contact the airlines to let them know he still hadn’t received his bag, they told him that, according to their systems, it was still in Washington.
“But what I … told them was that my iPhone was telling me that my AirTag was showing [the bag] live in Toronto. It would update every few minutes when it would ping off someone’s phone,” said Sih.
Both airlines then assured him that someone would attend to his bag and get it to him as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately no one did,” said Sih, and he continued to watch his bag stay stationary at Pearson for another day.
He started to lose hope that he would get his bag at all, and he decided to go to Pearson himself.
“I bounced back and forth between United Airlines and Air Canada staff. They don’t have clear baggage offices after security/customs, which would be a good idea,” explained Sih.
Luckily he found an Air Canada staff member who authorized him to be escorted to the secured baggage hall. Sih used his iPhone 14 to locate his bag “thanks to [the] AirTag,” he added.
“It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but way easier with technology,” he said.
Sih said that with the persistent issue of lost bags at airports, he thinks there needs to be a better system.
“There are several points where I think airlines can better integrate bags with one another, including more frequent scans, but I would say, AirTags are a must if you’re travelling,” he said.
“I have them on my backpack, keys, and multiple suitcases. Android users can use Tile.”
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