 Poster: A snowHead
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My North Face duffels are pretty distinctive, but after reading some of the stories here since xmas i have gone and bought 4x tags for the outside (regretting getting black, albeit better than nothing) and 4x rainbow suitcase straps. The latter SURELY should stop people... famous. last. words.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Well I use the cheapie Chinese tags, which use precisely the same technology as everyone else and work great with Android/Google's FindHub. The ones I like have on-off switches, so you can power them down when not travelling. The batteries just last longer that way. Otherwise, here's the quiet side of my snowboarding bag (the other side's too rude for skool, but hat has a very large painted QR code amongst other stuff).
POSCA pens are water based, which is a concern as some airports have a habit of leaving bags in the rain. You can allegedly "fix" the ink with a hair dryer, which is what I did. We shall see.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Poogle wrote: |
Someone took our suitcase at Geneva Airport; and with the AirTag inside, we could see it had already left the airport.
We arrived at Val Thorens, and the suitcase arrived at a very fancy chalet in Courchevel. Apple’s “Find My” app showed us the exact address.
So we ordered a cab to collect it, and this all was saved.
Did the people who took the bag, try and contact us? No. Did they offer to pay for the cab? No. Can you contact the relevant luggage support number at Geneva Airport? No, it’s a premium rate number, and our EU mobile plan did not allow those.
And the moral of the story is?: Buy some AirTags and stick them in your luggage. You don’t need the expensive Apple ones, and you can buy four for around £15 on Amazon.
But a wonderful Ski holiday was had, so all’s well that ends  well |
Dont buy grey or black suitcases. Very bright colours avoid this issue.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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What happened to the old fashioned method of tying a ribbon to your bag?
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@johnE, ribbons work very well to identify one's own luggage. Will likely help with other people inadvertently picking up yours ...unless they are colour blind ...or actively looking to nick luggage!
But ribbons don't work out of line-of-sight & the electronic tags can make a noise in a big pile of bags ...or someone's hallway halfway across the world, hence our AirTags & USB-C rechargeable Pebblebees 
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We were back to Edinburgh last Saturday
Luggage reclaim was up to their usual standard 
Most skis out first and then nothing for half an hour or so.
With the tags we knew the bags were in the airport.
Nothing worse than standing wondering if you bags will appear or not.
If they were AWAL at least you have a head start getting the lost luggage forms filled in.
There is sometimes a delay updating if they are still in the plane hold though.
Battery life seems to vary a bit between brands but they are not hard to change.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| damanpunk wrote: |
| I’m now starting to think an AirTag and adddesses inside isn’t enough, there needs to be something on the outside big and bold enough that even a person with room temperature IQ will then realise it’s not their bag. It’s crazy how much of these stories I’ve seen this year! |
Nope can confirm this doesn’t work. I had someone pick up my bright blue suitcase a couple of years ago at LAX, luckily I spotted this and also spotted a second bright blue suitcase come out onto the conveyor. I had no identifying ribbon on my case BUT the offending passenger had put a huge garish coloured ribbon on the outside of theirs, they just didn’t bother to look for it before wandering off with my bag!!!. So I stormed over with their suitcase and gave them a piece of my mind, got some sheepish response along the lines of “I didn’t think anyone else would have a bag like this”
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Inspired, or perhaps terrified, by this thread and because we are taking two almost new pairs of skis with a combined list price over £1200 next year, I decided to invest in some budget(ish) tags from UGREEN (who have made decent stuff for a good few years). They seem to work, but I haven't tried to lose something yet. How good the Google Find Hub network is relative to Apple's Air Tag one, I have no idea but I'm not buying an iPhone to find out. Hopefully, I'll never need them in anger.
FWIW, the box and the tags identify themselves as "UGREEN Finder Pro", whereas they are sold as "UGREEN FineTrack Duo", although they look exactly like the pictures on Amazon.
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Before rushing out to get them, the extra range only works with the latest iPhones.
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You know it makes sense.
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Just to add to this thread we had an issue last year when BA offered to take my wife's cabin bag as hold luggage when she checked in her main bag at LHR. She agreed as its one less thing to carry around, but it didn't appear in Geneva when she arrived. Unfortunately she had forgotten to take out her house and car keys from the bag, as well as the spare car keys that she had with her by mistake - ironically she wasn't even driving and I was picking her up but she just happened to have both sets with her.
BA couldn't find the bag but thanks to the Airtag I could see it was still in T5 and every few days it moved a bit. BA (or their handlers) were useless in finding it, and then finally after a couple of weeks it moved to another location that I figured out was lost property. This isn't run by BA so again it took lots of communications back and forth before it was located after a week and then finally sent to our home near Geneva.
As well as the inconvenience, there was also the added deadline that her car was going back to the dealer as the lease was up and so we needed the keys back as soon as possible - luckily we got them back in the nick of time otherwise it would have been mega expensive to get a new set.
So were it not for the Airtag we wouldn't have had any idea where the bag was, so we make sure now we have them in everything - bags, keys, purses, etc - they've proved their worth on far too many occasions since too
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Whitters wrote: |
Just to add to this thread we had an issue last year when BA offered to take my wife's cabin bag as hold luggage when she checked in her main bag at LHR. She agreed as its one less thing to carry around, but it didn't appear in Geneva when she arrived. Unfortunately she had forgotten to take out her house and car keys from the bag, as well as the spare car keys that she had with her by mistake - ironically she wasn't even driving and I was picking her up but she just happened to have both sets with her.
BA couldn't find the bag but thanks to the Airtag I could see it was still in T5 and every few days it moved a bit. BA (or their handlers) were useless in finding it, and then finally after a couple of weeks it moved to another location that I figured out was lost property. This isn't run by BA so again it took lots of communications back and forth before it was located after a week and then finally sent to our home near Geneva.
As well as the inconvenience, there was also the added deadline that her car was going back to the dealer as the lease was up and so we needed the keys back as soon as possible - luckily we got them back in the nick of time otherwise it would have been mega expensive to get a new set.
So were it not for the Airtag we wouldn't have had any idea where the bag was, so we make sure now we have them in everything - bags, keys, purses, etc - they've proved their worth on far too many occasions since too |
This is where a simple piece of paper with your name and contact details would have been more useful than an AirTag. The first person to open your bag would have been able to match it to your missing report more or less straight away, or at the very least, contact you.
What people need to remember is that if a bag becomes tagless for whatever reason, there's normally somebody else trying to work out who it belongs to.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Thorney wrote: |
| KSH wrote: |
| Is there an equally good device for Android? |
Yes - Samsung do a "SmartTag" which links to the SmartThings App on your phone. |
Or Tile - which works on Android and iOS
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| eps wrote: |
| Or Tile - which works on Android and iOS |
I thought about Tile but...
- I read a review recently, which I can't find again, that said Tile were good but... historically they had sold people's location data and their revised privacy policy was a bit weasely
- Tile get 1.5 stars on TrustPilot
Android Find Hub is Google's equivalent and there are plenty of third party tags that are designed to work with it. Prices start from £30 for four from a "gone tomorrow" manufacturer on Amazon with a claimed battery life of a year from a CR2032. Ones that support iOS or Android (but not both at once) cost a bit more, as do rechargeable ones. I'm brand new at this malarkey so I don't know if Google Find Hub works but generally Google will invest in making their stuff competitive (at least) with Apple's equivalent.
Pebblebee are also iOS + Android but priced more like Apple AirTags.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| mikeycharlton wrote: |
This is where a simple piece of paper with your name and contact details would have been more useful than an AirTag. The first person to open your bag would have been able to match it to your missing report more or less straight away, or at the very least, contact you.
What people need to remember is that if a bag becomes tagless for whatever reason, there's normally somebody else trying to work out who it belongs to. |
Exterior and interior luggage labels/tags with contact details on them would indeed be essential. But alas, so many people, especially in low-wage jobs in airports are far from "useful". As George Carlin, the US comic remarked: "Imagine how stupid the average person is, and then remember that half the population is more stupid than that". Then add to that, that the airport and airlines don't really care about your bags at all; they are happy to pay the compensation where mandated by law, as that costs them considerably less than it would to fix the issues in the first place.
Note that it is possible to stop bags going missing, there is an airport in Japan, that has not lost 1 bag in 31 years:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2024/05/01/japans-kansai-airport-world-record-no-luggage-lost-in-30-years/
I have had bags go missing at airports, that are fully tagged and labeled; but it took weeks for anyone to contact me. If the airport has a huge backlog, then hundreds/thousands of bags just sit there for days.
Belt & Braces in the best policy:
Name, mobile number (with country code), email, home address, destination address, destination phone number: On the inside and outside of the luggage.
AirTag inside the luggage.
Bright coloured tape on the outside of the luggage to distinguish it from everyone else.
Photograph the luggage.
Note that it's good to put a local destination phone number on your tag/labels; as if a local finds your bag, or has taken it by mistake, they may not wish, or may not be able to, to make international calls/text from there mobile.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I've always had a view, rightly or wrongly, that having home address labels on your bags, particularly at your departure airport is a good way to tell people that your house is unoccupied.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| tsgsh wrote: |
| I've always had a view, rightly or wrongly, that having home address labels on your bags, particularly at your departure airport is a good way to tell people that your house is unoccupied. |
I could well imagine some baggage handler making good use of that info; but I think the chance is vanishingly small. And I always have lights on timers etc when I leave home.
Far more likely that your bag is going to get lost, or taken in error by some twit. And the easier you make it for someone to contact you, then better your chances of getting your bag back ASAP.
There are some tags that hide you address unless you unthread the cable loop etc; but again, that is just another hurdle for a person of limited intellectual ability to jump over.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Poogle, you do know that @mikeycharlton deals with lost luggage for a living?
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @Poogle, you do know that @mikeycharlton deals with lost luggage for a living? |
Great! I'd love to hear his advice and comments about my reply to him. I think it's all pretty sound stuff; I was not disagreeing with him at all. 
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@Poogle
| Quote: |
But alas, so many people, especially in low-wage jobs in airports are far from "useful". As George Carlin, the US comic remarked: "Imagine how stupid the average person is, and then remember that half the population is more stupid than that". Then add to that, that the airport and airlines don't really care about your bags at all;
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This might be considered to be a little bit offensive though.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
@Poogle
| Quote: |
But alas, so many people, especially in low-wage jobs in airports are far from "useful". As George Carlin, the US comic remarked: "Imagine how stupid the average person is, and then remember that half the population is more stupid than that". Then add to that, that the airport and airlines don't really care about your bags at all;
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This might be considered to be a little bit offensive though. |
I doubt if baggage handlers can be tarred as stupid. But I doubt they are paid enough or in fact the very likely subcontracted work is incentivised to care.
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@Poogle, search for his name - there is a separate thread on the subject where he is an absolute star
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @Poogle, search for his name - there is a separate thread on the subject where he is an absolute star |
I've deleted my comment, as I misunderstood the kind advice to look him up. Thanks!
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Wed 28-01-26 16:11; edited 1 time in total
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Poogle, You said "I'd love to hear his advice" - its all in that thread, nothing more than that intended
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @Poogle, You said "I'd love to hear his advice" - its all in that thread, nothing more than that intended |
Thanks. I misunderstood your comment. Apologies.
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You know it makes sense.
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No offence taken @Poogle
All of your advice is sound.
With reference to your comment "There are some tags that hide you address unless you unthread the cable loop etc; but again, that is just another hurdle for a person of limited intellectual ability to jump over".
It was only yesterday that I came across one of these tags. It took a couple of minutes to undo and slide the piece of paper out, which had the owner's phone number, contact details, (possibly address too, but I can't remember) written on the reverse side of the paper. Whilst undoing it, my thought process during those 2 minutes was that no baggage handler would bother doing any of this in the hope of finding out where you live, and then burglarising your house, which might not even be empty.
This particular bag had been found tagless in Tenerife and sent to me for tracing. By the time it reached my office, the owner had already been back home from his hols for a week. Ofcoarse bags can go missing on your outbound journey, but this one was inbound.
Even if only your name is displayed inside/outside your bag, WorldTracer will do the heavy lifting for me. It's absolutely paramount that you have an active PIR though, because without one, it essentially means that you haven't reported anything missing, and therefore WorldTracer is useless in finding you. This is why I recommend phone number/email somewhere in the bag too. In the event that the baggage desk is closed and you can't create a PIR, atleast those contact details will make you contactable.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@mikeycharlton, thanks, that all sounds like good advice!
So in addition to the AirTag/Pebblebee trackers, itseems we may need labels inside as well as outside the bags, though having a white-markered surname on them sounds like an effective start. However, won't there also be luggage tags attached which details flight info? Do they get detached frequently during handling?
BTW wozza PIReport ? (I could search the thread or t'internet, but it's late & maybe you have a proper submission link?)
EDIT: DuckAI says this: Property Irregularity Report (PIR) is a document you receive when you report lost or delayed luggage at the airport. It contains a reference number that allows you to track the status of your baggage claim.
And each airline has their own site - though the links are somewhat ropey on some of the one's I've had a squint at!
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Wed 28-01-26 16:57; edited 2 times in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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It's literally impossible for me (or anyone) to work out who a tagless, unreported missing bag belongs to if there are no contact details inside.
If you have an active PIR (with a list of contents in the bag), but no contact details, there's about an 80% chance I'll work it out and can get it back to you. That's just me though, I can't guarantee a similar success rate with other people who do this for a living.
If you have an active PIR AND contact details in your bag, your chances of getting it back increase to 99%. The only thing that can go wrong after that, is the delivery side of things, or sending it abroad.
If you have no PIR, but you've left me your phone number, you will get a call from me, and you'll get your bag back.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dylan_T42, PIR = Property Iregularity Report. It's what's created for you when you report a missing bag at an airport. WorldTracer will actively start searching for your bag as soon as your PIR is created.
Yes, airline tags do come off, and tags belonging to other passengers who are flying in the opposite direction to you can be put on by mistake.
Do not solely rely on the airline tag staying on, or even relating to you and your journey
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| mikeycharlton wrote: |
| @Dylan_T42, PIR = Property Iregularity Report. It's what's created for you when you report a missing bag at an airport. WorldTracer will actively start searching for your bag as soon as your PIR is created. |
Cheers - good to know someone cares!
| Quote: |
| Yes, airline tags do come off, and tags belonging to other passengers who are flying in the opposite direction to you can be put on by mistake. |
Surprised they can come off accidentally, given how robust they usually are against removal, but that's when things go awry, I'd guess  . Though for some years now, we have been putting our own tags on for outbound flights from London, Manchester, & Birmingham (IIRC).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Beware of the self-service machines. They have a habit of printing off somebody else's tag. Usually happens when the person in front of you in the queue checks in 1 less bag than they have paid for. If you assume the machine has printed off a tag that relates to your booking, and don't look at it, there's a chance you've just checked your bag in to Rejkyavik, whilst you're actually travelling to Marrakech!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| mikeycharlton wrote: |
| Beware of the self-service machines. They have a habit of printing off somebody else's tag. Usually happens when the person in front of you in the queue checks in 1 less bag than they have paid for. If you assume the machine has printed off a tag that relates to your booking, and don't look at it, there's a chance you've just checked your bag in to Rejkyavik, whilst you're actually travelling to Marrakech! |
Yikes! That's alarming. I will check the self-service printed tags have the right flight and destination in future. Thanks for the warning.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
@Poogle
| Quote: |
But alas, so many people, especially in low-wage jobs in airports are far from "useful". As George Carlin, the US comic remarked: "Imagine how stupid the average person is, and then remember that half the population is more stupid than that". Then add to that, that the airport and airlines don't really care about your bags at all;
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This might be considered to be a little bit offensive though. |
No offence taken. Unless there's a total poo-poo show like there was at GVA or TRN earlier this month (when I'll help out with the physical stuff), I only spend on average an hour or 2 hour a week inside an airport. It all gets brought to me off-site.
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Wow well done !! Thank goodness for the air tags . They have enabled me to retrieve my stolen car 3 times!!
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| tsgsh wrote: |
| Yikes! That's alarming. I will check the self-service printed tags have the right flight and destination in future. Thanks for the warning. |
Also if you have a particularly complicated multi-flight route, double check even if the desk staff have done it.
We were on a 4-leg journey Auckland>Shanghai>Zurich>Frankfurt>Innsbruck with 2 bags (flight consolidation, not my choice!). The self-service machines immediately said no chance, so the service desk had to print the labels. They put one on each bag, as normal, but luckily I noticed that the first bag was only going to Shanghai, and the second one only between the last destinations – one tag can show one layover, but three is right out, and two tags per bag are needed. They were still in the printer Luckily, all arrived as scheduled, though we did have to spend the night in Zurich with hand-luggage only because of snow!
And yes, the AirTags in the bags told me they had made it to Zurich, but the queue was too long to bother trying to retrieve them.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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All sorts of stuff can go wrong. Officially, there are about 60 different reasons/faults why a bag is delayed or doesn't appear on the carousel where you're waiting for it.
Tag related faults only account for a few of them, but they are potentially the most devastating. There are things that you, the owner, can do to minimise the risk of never seeing your luggage again.
I have travelled a lot, but prior to doing this job, it never even crossed my mind that my luggage might get delayed or lost. I'm now at the opposite end of the scale, and about as paranoid as you can get. Nowadays I pretty much leave an instruction manual inside my luggage on how to get my bag back to me should something go wrong
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| mikeycharlton wrote: |
| Nowadays I pretty much leave an instruction manual inside my luggage on how to get my bag back to me should something go wrong |
Good idea, but could one leave it in an outside pocket?
And has anyone got a decent template they could possibly share 
But what is the rate of lost luggage ... by airline and airport? Just asking for a nervous wife!
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FAQ
