How an Apple AirTag Tracked Lost Luggage Much Better Than United (cnn.com) 124
CNN tells the story of Sandra Shuster, who'd included an airtag with her daughter's $2,000 lacrosse kit on a flight to Denver (with a stop-over in Chicago's O'Hare airport):
When they arrived at Denver after midnight, the bag wasn't on the belt. United representatives at Denver gave them a case number and told them the bag should arrive on the 8.30 a.m. flight from Chicago in just a few hours. When it didn't, Shuster called the toll-free number for lost baggage that she'd been given. "They said, 'Your bag's going to come in later today on one of two flights.' I said 'OK, great,' but it never came. So I called later that afternoon and they said 'Your bag is still in Baltimore,'" says Shuster.
There was just one problem: she already knew it wasn't in Baltimore. Three months earlier, Shuster had bought an AirTag — Apple's tracking devices — to know where her daughter's bag was... [T]he AirTag was showing as being at baggage reclaim at O'Hare. "I told them I could see it at Terminal 1 baggage reclaim in Chicago, and they said 'We have no record of it.' I asked them to call Chicago, and they said 'No, we're not allowed.' They said they'd put notes in the system and the baggage team would take care of it."
The airline had mistakenly attached another customer's baggage-claim number to the luggage — so when it arrived at the stop-over in Chicago, baggage handlers couldn't know its ultimate destination, and it was moved to the "reclaim" belt. There were several more communication misfires — but fortunately, Shuster had more than 30,000 unused air miles...
"I jumped on the plane, flew to Chicago, got to baggage claim, and it took them 30 seconds to give me my bag..." Shuster tells CNN. "What was difficult to comprehend was that it would have taken one call to Chicago to locate it, and nobody seemed able to do that... You can't tell me in this day and age, with all the technology available, that they can't figure this stuff out. Airlines need to do better."
United later refunded Shuster's air miles, along with an apology "for the inconvenience you experienced on your recent trip with United."
There was just one problem: she already knew it wasn't in Baltimore. Three months earlier, Shuster had bought an AirTag — Apple's tracking devices — to know where her daughter's bag was... [T]he AirTag was showing as being at baggage reclaim at O'Hare. "I told them I could see it at Terminal 1 baggage reclaim in Chicago, and they said 'We have no record of it.' I asked them to call Chicago, and they said 'No, we're not allowed.' They said they'd put notes in the system and the baggage team would take care of it."
The airline had mistakenly attached another customer's baggage-claim number to the luggage — so when it arrived at the stop-over in Chicago, baggage handlers couldn't know its ultimate destination, and it was moved to the "reclaim" belt. There were several more communication misfires — but fortunately, Shuster had more than 30,000 unused air miles...
"I jumped on the plane, flew to Chicago, got to baggage claim, and it took them 30 seconds to give me my bag..." Shuster tells CNN. "What was difficult to comprehend was that it would have taken one call to Chicago to locate it, and nobody seemed able to do that... You can't tell me in this day and age, with all the technology available, that they can't figure this stuff out. Airlines need to do better."
United later refunded Shuster's air miles, along with an apology "for the inconvenience you experienced on your recent trip with United."
They do not make enough to care (Score:2, Troll)
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Re:They do not make enough to care (Score:4, Informative)
Airlines have to be at the bottom
OMG, what ISP do you have to think that?
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The only industry to compete with ISPs for the worst place is cable/sat TV.
Fortunately nobody needs them anymore.
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Nothing new for United.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:They do not make enough to care (Score:5, Insightful)
Group 1 looks back on the jobs they had as teenagers or in college with some sense of perspective. They come to recognize the extent to which their desperation for work was exploited by employers quite happy to pay them borderline slave wages in exchange for withstanding constant abuse, largely arising from their inability to do an amount of work that rightfully should require three times as many employees.
Group 2, once they escape this situation, or just didn't experience it in the first place, decide that this was perfectly acceptable. Those people in those shit jobs aren't overworked and underpaid, they are just ungrateful and incompetent. They should be thrilled to be compensated at *all* for their work, and be damned thankful that their generous benefactors have chosen to allow them the honor of generating profits through their labor. Generally, Group 2, now farther up the food chain, is either on the other side of this equation now, or aspires to it. Group 2 points to the fact that some people get out of this situation, and, willfully ignoring the concept of finite resources, claims that any of these people just needs to try harder and they too will definitely climb that ladder as well.
Group 1 posts things like this:
Yes they could call, but the counter people are all overworked and tired and get yelled at constantly.
Group 2 moderates them as 'Troll' and posts asinine shit like this in response:
It sounds like they deserve it too.
And you sounds like the type of person that gets yelled at for being incompetent too.
Kids, don't be in Group 2. Group 2 are the reason angry mobs occasionally set lots of things on fire. Group 2 are the reason that one of those mobs got so big it ruined an entire two-continent-spanning country in the twentieth century.
tl;dr: Don't be an asshole.
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There are generally two kinds of people.
Group 1 looks back on the jobs they had as teenagers or in college with some sense of perspective. They come to recognize the extent to which their desperation for work was exploited by employers quite happy to pay them borderline slave wages in exchange for withstanding constant abuse, largely arising from their inability to do an amount of work that rightfully should require three times as many employees.
Group 2, once they escape this situation, or just didn't experience it in the first place, decide that this was perfectly acceptable. Those people in those shit jobs aren't overworked and underpaid, they are just ungrateful and incompetent. They should be thrilled to be compensated at *all* for their work, and be damned thankful that their generous benefactors have chosen to allow them the honor of generating profits through their labor. Generally, Group 2, now farther up the food chain, is either on the other side of this equation now, or aspires to it. Group 2 points to the fact that some people get out of this situation, and, willfully ignoring the concept of finite resources, claims that any of these people just needs to try harder and they too will definitely climb that ladder as well.
Group 1 posts things like this:
Yes they could call, but the counter people are all overworked and tired and get yelled at constantly.
Group 2 moderates them as 'Troll' and posts asinine shit like this in response:
It sounds like they deserve it too.
And you sounds like the type of person that gets yelled at for being incompetent too.
Kids, don't be in Group 2. Group 2 are the reason angry mobs occasionally set lots of things on fire. Group 2 are the reason that one of those mobs got so big it ruined an entire two-continent-spanning country in the twentieth century.
tl;dr: Don't be an asshole.
This, Whilst airline staff are not the lowest paid in the world, they aren't millionaires and the amount of shit they have to put up with is astounding. Don't be a cunt.
That being said, the entire system for handling lost baggage is screwed six ways from Sunday.. For the most part once a bag is declared missing it's handed off to a third party company that deals with it. The 3rd party company is cheap and doesn't really care knowing that the airline will get it in the neck. Lost baggage is often sent to
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> This, Whilst airline staff are not the lowest paid in the
> world, they aren't millionaires and the amount of shit
> they have to put up with is astounding. Don't be a
> cunt.
Also, if you do lose your temper and do act like a cunt... and lets be real, it happens sometimes with all of us... APOLOGIZE! I had a really, REALLY bad experience at LAX this past weekend. I was angry and got bitchy with a check-in agent. But I caught myself, apologized profusely, connected with him over his EDC lany
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Agreed. I didn't spend too much time in the "front lines" as a teenager, but I recognize that that in vast majority of the cases, the lowest level peons in the front lines aren't the decision makers. They aren't given the authority to give the customer everything he wants (even if it is reasonable.) Berating them for bad policy that they have no control over helps no one. Being a jerk makes it even less likely that they'll help you even within their authority. You're more likely to get what you want if
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Group 2, once they escape this situation, or just didn't experience it in the first place, decide that this was perfectly acceptable. Those people in those shit jobs aren't overworked and underpaid, they are just ungrateful and incompetent. They should be thrilled to be compensated at *all* for their work, and be damned thankful that their generous benefactors have chosen to allow them the honor of generating profits through their labor. Generally, Group 2, now farther up the food chain, is either on the other side of this equation now, or aspires to it. Group 2 points to the fact that some people get out of this situation, and, willfully ignoring the concept of finite resources, claims that any of these people just needs to try harder and they too will definitely climb that ladder as well.
Case in point. Fran Lorenzo, CEO in process of taking over Continental airlines:
Phil Nash asked that many of them were single parents who couldn't afford to own homes, that the pay rates he was proposing. Lorenzo looked at Nash as if he were crazy. Quite frankly, I don't believe flight attendants ought to make enough money so they can own houses, Lorenzo told a flabbergasted Nash.
Page 89 of this book: https://www.google.cz/books/ed... [google.cz]
Yes the people responsible for your safety and comfort shouldn't be able to afford houses! But course any delay or issue with the flight is their fault and they have to deal with the mad passengers.
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They probably don't but since they are the first protective layer between the customer and the CEO they get the yelled at, let me speak to the moron that put their systems in place and I will be much happier.
Not a story dupe, a real life dupe (Score:5, Funny)
I had to check but it's actually a different person with pretty much the exact same story
68-Year-Old Uses AirTag (and Twitter) to Find the Bike His Airline Lost [slashdot.org]
The simulation is having problems.
Re:Not a story dupe, a real life dupe (Score:5, Funny)
No it's not. The bike story was a classic case of misplaced baggage which likely arrived completely without any care about the customer. The United story is a special case of incompetence where a baggage claim number was misassigned. Literally the act of asking about the lost luggage made it even more lost. This kind of customer service is unique to United.
No company handles baggage more poorly. Normally I'd quip about how bards will sing about United's incompetence for years, but ... they literally already are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Literally the act of asking about the lost luggage made it even more lost.
So, Heisenberg's Bag?
Not a simulation. (Score:4, Insightful)
When clickbait becomes a valid marketing stategy, the end result is profit by any means necessary. That includes selling hype and bullshit.
The "simulation" is functioning perfectly, because humans love clickbait. Or at least according to those selling marketing statistics.
What happens when you spend 100x more money? (Score:3)
You get incrementally better results. I mean seriously, AirTags are expensive compared to passive RFID and would be wasteful to scale to a disposable luggage tag system. Even active RFID is cheaper than a BLE, Wi-Fi or ultrawideband devices like AirTags, Tile, etc it's still 100 times the price of passive RFID tags. And while it may seem simple to attach tags to luggage at check in, not unlike the mechanical attachments used at many clothing stores. You will have a bit of a problem when it comes to remove and collect the tags. Sure there are solutions to every problem, but imagine doing it across an entire nation in a carrier agnostic way?
At the very least we could have passive RFID tags and sensors to ping luggage as it passed through various checkpoints. This might actually be more efficient to automate than the barcode system already used when crews load and unload luggage. But we can still end up with luggage shoved in some random corner without an easy way to track it down.
Re: What happens when you spend 100x more money? (Score:3)
Who says you have to remove it?
You make the RFID tag some very long number to ensure uniqueness. When you check in to your flight without a tag, a tag gets added and the tag # gets scanned and linked to your reservation, and scanned/released when you claim it and leave the airport with it. If you already have a tag, it gets reused.
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Who says you have to remove it?
The battery will be dead in an active RFID or semi-passive RFID by the time most people get around to taking another flight. Leaving tags in a closet for 2 or 3 years does it no favors. It's a valuable piece of equipment that is unutilized and by the time it is brought back it's due for replacement.
After reading this thread, I'm feeling that just putting a second barcode on the luggage makes sense. Even requirement a permanently affixed barcode/QR on all luggage would be cheap and then automatically scannin
Re:What happens when you spend 100x more money? (Score:4, Insightful)
Airlines have even cheaper technology, printed barcodes on the tags, and usually stuck somewhere else on the bag too. There are then laser scanners through the baggage system that lets the bag be tracked.
The problem is that the staff that have to deal with this just aren't paid enough to care.
So I always have an airtag in my suitcase as it lets me do their job for them, and make their lives easier.
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and make their lives easier.
You're not making anyone's life easier. Your external piece of information is not handled by the system / processes involved for finding lost baggage, a system which spans many airports and handling companies. They will literally ignore you if you share this information with them, or pretend to do something to make you feel better.
Airtags serve one purpose: make the owner even more upset that they know where their bag is and yet can do nothing about it.
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and make their lives easier.
You're not making anyone's life easier. Your external piece of information is not handled by the system / processes involved for finding lost baggage, a system which spans many airports and handling companies. They will literally ignore you if you share this information with them, or pretend to do something to make you feel better.
Airtags serve one purpose: make the owner even more upset that they know where their bag is and yet can do nothing about it.
So, who needs to improve their system to start including this data?
Seriously.
tie luggage tag to boarding pass @ checkin (Score:2)
You make the checking process intelligent.
You put your boarding-pass number on your luggage at check-in.
Now you guarantee right tracking number = same as number on boarding pass!
I.e. benefactor of tracking = responsible agent for ensuring proper asset tagging.
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You get incrementally better results. I mean seriously, AirTags are expensive compared to passive RFID and would be wasteful to scale to a disposable luggage tag system.
Better still, AirTag wouldn't have resolved this issue. This is a case of an incorrect number being assigned to an incorrect item of baggage, this can happen regardless of what technology you use to track baggage.
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What's missing is the traveler having that number and being able to look up its whereabouts themselves; the airline provides an API to be accessed by a webpage/app by users authenticated with an airline's website and with a current or recent flight.
You don't design APIs for customers to access something to handle an absurdly rare case. And this case is absurdly rare. The majority of mishandling events are just silly mistakes (outside the customers control), or scanning faults (wouldn't be handled by the API and customer would get the same misinformation).
I had a spider in my car once. I wouldn't suggest that every driver keeps a can of spider spray in their glovebox as a result.
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What's missing is the traveler having that number and being able to look up its whereabouts themselves; the airline provides an API to be accessed by a webpage/app by users authenticated with an airline's website and with a current or recent flight.
You don't design APIs for customers to access something to handle an absurdly rare case. And this case is absurdly rare. The majority of mishandling events are just silly mistakes (outside the customers control), or scanning faults (wouldn't be handled by the API and customer would get the same misinformation).
I had a spider in my car once. I wouldn't suggest that every driver keeps a can of spider spray in their glovebox as a result.
What data do you have that this is "absurdly rare"?
We've already had two published stories of AirTags finding Luggage that the Airline Lost/Misrouted in almost as many days. Doesn't sound like "absurdly rare" applies. . .
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What data do you have that this is "absurdly rare"?
We've already had two published stories of AirTags finding Luggage that the Airline Lost/Misrouted in almost as many days. Doesn't sound like "absurdly rare" applies. . .
Well first of all it's probably a dupe, and do you have any idea how much luggage is transported every day? Even if it did happen daily, it still means it happens on 0.00% of all journeys.
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> how much luggage is transported every day
I dunno. How many packages does Amazon ship every day? Their system lets me login and track my packages regardless of which carrier... even the USPS) they use. Increasingly, they've been rolling out the capacity to track where the trucks carrying my packages in real-time, including the number of stops before mine. And Amazon doesn't just stop at the nearest airport. They deliver all the way to my home, office, PO Box, or locker/pickup point of my choice.
So
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What data do you have that this is "absurdly rare"?
We've already had two published stories of AirTags finding Luggage that the Airline Lost/Misrouted in almost as many days. Doesn't sound like "absurdly rare" applies. . .
Well first of all it's probably a dupe, and do you have any idea how much luggage is transported every day? Even if it did happen daily, it still means it happens on 0.00% of all journeys.
If you mean a dupe of the lost bike story, no, it isn't.
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You get incrementally better results. I mean seriously, AirTags are expensive compared to passive RFID and would be wasteful to scale to a disposable luggage tag system.
Better still, AirTag wouldn't have resolved this issue. This is a case of an incorrect number being assigned to an incorrect item of baggage, this can happen regardless of what technology you use to track baggage.
Then how was the owner able to get someone track the package down in just a few minutes, once she was able to go to the place she knew (thanks to AirTag) which Airport (and Terminal) at it was actually located?
As she said, one (AirTag-Data-Assisted) single phone call could have solved this.
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This is a case of an incorrect number being assigned to an incorrect item of baggage, this can happen regardless of what technology you use to track baggage.
You could indeed put your Airtag in the wrong suitcase. Probably happens all the time.
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The way these systems work [youtube.com] is by isolating each package manually, (as in the person loading the baggage onto the belt only has to make certain space exists between baggage, which might seem obvious however multiple people often load a single belt).
From there the automated systems are fast enough to separate and load each piece of luggage onto a specific, individual 'platform' that moves along a track,
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Scanning radio frequencies small isn't as accurate as freaking laser beams, especially at high speed.
The way these systems work [youtube.com] is by isolating each package manually, (as in the person loading the baggage onto the belt only has to make certain space exists between baggage, which might seem obvious however multiple people often load a single belt).
From there the automated systems are fast enough to separate and load each piece of luggage onto a specific, individual 'platform' that moves along a track, and 'dumps' it down the precise ramp in order for someone else to re-load it, (manually) into a larger container for it's next destination.
The automated 'sorter' is a large box shooting lasers from all angles, (it looks spectacular!), so as not to miss the bar-coded tag the human loaders are required to make clear to the laser scanner borg. There are a lot(!) of, (calculating), lasers involved actually, to ensure package dimensions are within specification and belt-system sensor stuff.
I am not disagreeing with your post or premise, only I am trying to explain how we got here.
All very impressive.
But, it all falls down if:
1. A human sticks the wrong barcode on a piece of baggage.
2. "Customer Service" Droids (ostensibly human) can't be arsed to help a Customer who actually, um, needs Service.
When that happens, then it looks like someone's best friend is their AirTag, and over a billion iPhone Owners, one of which will walk past it.
Think of it as Six Degrees of Separation for Baggage.
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That mostly aligns with my basic understanding of what they are currently doing in airports, I have no insider knowledge and I'm basically making an educated guess on how this stuff works.
Passive RFID is pretty reliable when you already have a whole network of conveyer belts and automated sorting so that one item goes through your sensors at a time, marching along in a nice orderly single file. It's debatable if passive RFID is better than a giant barcode though. But you can also do both with RFID, both bar
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But you can also do both with RFID, both bar code scanners and radio frequency in a single tag.
We are in agreement, 100%.
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You get incrementally better results. I mean seriously, AirTags are expensive compared to passive RFID and would be wasteful to scale to a disposable luggage tag system. Even active RFID is cheaper than a BLE, Wi-Fi or ultrawideband devices like AirTags, Tile, etc it's still 100 times the price of passive RFID tags. And while it may seem simple to attach tags to luggage at check in, not unlike the mechanical attachments used at many clothing stores. You will have a bit of a problem when it comes to remove and collect the tags. Sure there are solutions to every problem, but imagine doing it across an entire nation in a carrier agnostic way?
At the very least we could have passive RFID tags and sensors to ping luggage as it passed through various checkpoints. This might actually be more efficient to automate than the barcode system already used when crews load and unload luggage. But we can still end up with luggage shoved in some random corner without an easy way to track it down.
Fine.
But you can go to Walmart to buy AirTags today.
And puh-lenty of people have iPhones for them to pass-by.
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The price of airtags should come down dramatically once Google release the update for Android to enable support for them. There will finally be competition in the market and I expect that fairly quickly prices will fall dramatically.
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That's not gonna happen.
They've made it easier for android users to discover if they are being followed via airtag- and there is a large update to that on the way- but there is no plan in place to setup/own usefully airtags via android
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Some Google partners have already announced compatible tags, which can be set up on Android phones. They are other networks already, like Tile and Samsung's, which will probably become compatible in time.
Android will presumably have a standard interface for adding tags to your account, as the communication protocol is defined in the spec. It also has a standard way to make the tag emit a sound. Disabling the tag has to be done manually, but the tag should send you a URL leading to instructions on how to do
Two questions (Score:2)
Re:Two questions (Score:5, Interesting)
How did the airline figure out she had the wrong tag number? If they looked it up and found a different name, why didn't anyone notice that passenger was ALSO MISSING A BAG?
I pointed out in the last discussion about this that checked baggage getting on a plane without its corresponding passenger is generally considered a security risk (think Air India 182). These stories about lost baggage suggest to me that it probably happens all the time, so not just bad customer service, but bad security processes as well.
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These stories about lost baggage suggest to me that it probably happens all the time, so not just bad customer service, but bad security processes as well.
Not really. The same system which controls baggage also controls passenger. The fact that sometimes the system erroneously breaks down with items being misplaced (either not on the plane, or on the wrong plane) doesn't suggest that this features can be usefully used to target a specific plane.
If anything the terrorist may end up blowing up the wrong plane, or the lost baggage reclamation room. :-)
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The fact that sometimes the system erroneously breaks down with items being misplaced (either not on the plane, or on the wrong plane) doesn't suggest that this features can be usefully used to target a specific plane.
It suggests that not getting on the plane with your checked bomb has a significant chance of not being noticed.
If anything the terrorist may end up blowing up the wrong plane, or the lost baggage reclamation room. :-)
The second bomb the Air India terrorists planted in their suitcases killed a couple of baggage handlers on the ground, which probably saved a plane from the same fate.
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It suggests that not getting on the plane with your checked bomb has a significant chance of not being noticed.
No it doesn't. Baggage mishandling occurs in about a 1-7 in 1000 cases. No terrorists are stupid enough to go through something so risky only for it to have such a low chance of success.
Maybe we're talking past each other, I'm not saying that the concept of a bag being on the plane without the passenger isn't a security risk. I'm saying the idea that you need to make an additional check for these bags at the time of loading just to catch the exceedingly rare cases where bags are mishandled isn't a security
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These stories about lost baggage suggest to me that it probably happens all the time, so not just bad customer service, but bad security processes as well.
Not really. The same system which controls baggage also controls passenger. The fact that sometimes the system erroneously breaks down with items being misplaced (either not on the plane, or on the wrong plane) doesn't suggest that this features can be usefully used to target a specific plane.
If anything the terrorist may end up blowing up the wrong plane, or the lost baggage reclamation room. :-)
"Sometimes" sounds more like "more often than you would believe".
The lesson is... (Score:4, Insightful)
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DTW (Score:3)
At Detroit Metro, you *have* to tag your luggage yourself. I'd rather do it anyways. I've had agents tag the handles together on a bag, only to have a TSA agent tear the tag apart to open the bag and search it. I have no idea how the bag ended up on the correct plane. I know people whose luggage was immediately routed to lost luggage after the TSA took the tag off their bag (the only way they knew it was TSA was they had a relative who worked at the airline and could look up where it was last scanned - the
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The Atlanta airport now has kiosks where you can print your own luggage tag and attach it before entering the line; of course you still have to go through the line to have an agent check your ID, weigh the bag, etc, but it really speeds up that process. I'm not sure if that's becoming standard anywhere else because I almost never check bags these days.
That's a great idea!
Saves time, and cut the mistagged bag problem significantly.
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Even better is in Japan, where ANA integrates the bag drop into the check-in kiosk [futuretrav...rience.com]. It automatically weighs the bag, and once you've tagged it, the door closes and sends it off to security to be scanned. No lugging it past a bunch of counters or showing ID.
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The lesson is to avoid United Airlines I avoid them like the plague. The last time I booked a flight with them, they canceled the flight which had an arrival time of 6 PM and replaced it with a midnight arrival time. I canceled the flight and went with Southwest.
United is a crappy airline. So bad their CEO charters a flight vs. flying United. He actually wants to arrive on time.
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...always carefully watch the agent attach the tag to your luggage. Make sure it's your tag, and especially make sure it's tagged with the right destination airport.
Unfortunately, they tend to attach those tags after they put the bags on their platform, after you can't really see them.
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They hand you a claim check/tag from the baggage tag attached to your bag. There's a small amount of responsibility on the passenger to confirm that the claim check has the correct name and destination before walking away. The blame goes to the counter agent for tagging the bag incorrectly; part of their job is making sure the bag matches the traveler's identity and their boarding pass.
Malice (Score:5, Insightful)
> You can't tell me ... that they can't figure this stuff out.
Of course they can.
They don't give a fuck.
Once they have your money your calls are a liability and they want you to go away with minimal effort.
As a regulated cartel they are incentivized to actively not care. Only true competition could change that.
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Only true competition could change that.
Baggage handling is already pretty damn good with less than 1% of bags ever mishandled, and an insanely tiny fraction of that actually not returned to the customer within a couple of days.
But your comment about competition is quite frankly ignorant. I can't speak for United or the airport in question, but baggage handling and airlines inherently have a lot of competition. For any given destination I typically have 2-4 carriers to choose from (not codeshare, but actually 4 different flying options). At any g
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Baggage handling is already pretty damn good with less than 1% of bags ever mishandled, and an insanely tiny fraction of that actually not returned to the customer within a couple of days.
Speaking of fractions, 1% of the 835 million people who fly in the US airlines each year is still 8 million mishandled bags per year. Of course, that makes the huge assumption that everyone traveled with a checked bag. They do not, but many people check more than one bag, so it is plausible that evens it out.
On slashdot, we know 99% uptime isn't as great as it sounds.
Why is this news? (Score:2)
Is there anyone that didn't know that locating objects with a radio transmitter and receiver is much easier than locating objects with a bar code and scanner? How is this even marginally interesting?
Airlines are not likely to change their "as cheap as possible" policies as long as most people prefer to buy the "as cheap as possible" tickets, so speculation of a better system is pointless until enough customers are willing to pay more for a marginal improvement of the current 0.48% delayed, lost, or damaged
How a blind sloth (deceased) tracked lost luggage (Score:3, Interesting)
â¦much better than United
Once an airline decides they don't have your stuff, no force on earth can convince them to look. I definitely think Apple and Google need to address the stalking/tracking problem, but AirTags have suddenly made all sorts of companies and organizations more accountable than they used to be.
Airport workers (Score:2)
Re:Airport workers (Score:4, Insightful)
Absolutely.
I had this happen to me a couple of times. Was arriving home in Vancouver after a flight via Toronto. Got off the plane, fired up "Find My" and noticed that my bag had been seen in Toronto 5 minutes previous.
Got down to the baggage hall, walked straight to the desk, smiled, was friendly, and said "Hi there, just arrived from Toronto, and it looks like my bag is still in Toronto." "how do you know that? they haven't come out yet." just held up the "Find my" screen and she goes "Ahh, I see." They gave me an amenity kit (t-shirt, charging cable, and so forth), took the report, and sent me on my way.
Got the bag a couple days later.
But yes, absolutely, being pleasant, smiling, non-confrontational... That's the secret. If you're that island of serenity in the midst of the storm, they'll often go to bat for you, because it means they don't have to deal with the shitheads that are going to yell at them.
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Absolutely.
I had this happen to me a couple of times. Was arriving home in Vancouver after a flight via Toronto. Got off the plane, fired up "Find My" and noticed that my bag had been seen in Toronto 5 minutes previous.
Got down to the baggage hall, walked straight to the desk, smiled, was friendly, and said "Hi there, just arrived from Toronto, and it looks like my bag is still in Toronto." "how do you know that? they haven't come out yet." just held up the "Find my" screen and she goes "Ahh, I see." They gave me an amenity kit (t-shirt, charging cable, and so forth), took the report, and sent me on my way.
Got the bag a couple days later.
But yes, absolutely, being pleasant, smiling, non-confrontational... That's the secret. If you're that island of serenity in the midst of the storm, they'll often go to bat for you, because it means they don't have to deal with the shitheads that are going to yell at them.
Shocking news, being polite and kind tends to yield better results that bluster and shouting "Do You Know Who I Am".
That being said, I've generally had good experiences with US carriers, far more polite than most European ones. If you really want to be treated like shit, fly Lufthansa. You're not even permitted to talk to anyone about a problem (yes, they literally said I had to make a complaint online, which was subsequently ignored). Point in short, dont fly Lufthansa (including Brussels, Swiss, Austri
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Airlines should use Air Tags (Score:2)
Airlines should talk to Apple and work out a system where they scan any lost luggage for Air Tags. If they find one, they should be able to contact the owner and get the luggage returned. But airlines just don't seem to care.
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It would actually be a lot better if the airlines tagged luggage with their own RFID tags and the check-in counter and luggage handlers all had readers. Have the reader give an alert if they handle luggage that shouldn't be passing through their hands. Have another monitor that shows an alert if luggage that was loaded with a passenger isn't unloaded when the passenger disembarks. Give passengers RFID wristbands they can scan at baggage claim that will tell them if they're standing at the correct carouse
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Sadly Alaska Airlines is the leader in this space, and the best they could come up with was an E-Ink version of a real-life baggage tag [thepointsguy.com]. Of course, you use Bluetooth and NFC on your phone to transmit the tag info and enable the device, but the tag itself can't transmit a signal AirTag-style.
Yours for the low low price of $70...
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That's pathetic. Bulk RFID stickers are ~$0.03 each. An RFID reader - which you'd only replace if it broke, can be had for a few hundred.
Asset tracking software designed for check-in / check-out and last checkpoint tracking isn't free (well, not that I know of anyway) but it's also old hat now.
Designing a database with local and global components isn't something I've ever done, but I'm willing to bet it's also a truly well-solved problem.
Who in their right mind says, "Hey, there's an essentially free syst
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Apple already does the same: they ask you to switch off "Find my Iphone" when you send yours in for repair.
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Sadly, I think it's more likely that airlines will soon forbid people from using Airtags on checked luggage.
Apple already does the same: they ask you to switch off "Find my Iphone" when you send yours in for repair.
That must be something new.
I helped a friend a couple of months ago to send his iPhone in for repair. No mention of "Turn off FindMy" that I saw.
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Here are some internet threads from 2021 discussing this practice: https://forums.macrumors.com/t... [macrumors.com] https://apple.stackexchange.co... [stackexchange.com] . Of course, they do it "for your safety".
I think it's because all the iPhones in for repair eat up all the BT bandwidth trying to announce their locations.
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Airlines should talk to Apple and work out a system where they scan any lost luggage for Air Tags.
And you want to pay $200 more for your ticket, for the cost of the hardware, software, and changing an international standard system used all over the world?
Why would you want to pay that much more? Most people on average will never have their luggage lost in by an airline in their lifetimes. There's a reason airlines don't care, because people who actually think this through have other priorities and would rather a cheaper flight than money spent on closing an risk that is unlikely to happen and likely to
Sooo why didn't she call? (Score:2)
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Yes it would have taken one call to chicago. But the number is available online why didn't she just call them herself?
Probably because she figured that the person behind the counter would have the right phone number to call to actually reach someone who could actually help; rather than being put on hold for 60 minutes just to speak to someone who would just tell them how to file an online Claim?
Just like Ukrainians track their stolen property (Score:4, Interesting)
Within two months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the people of Ukraine were using Airpods to figure out where their stolen property went. Obviously the Russian soldiers stole whatever wasn't bolted down, but where all that propery went to was the question. Thanks to Airpods, many people know exactly where their stuff is [businessinsider.com].
They also used Find My to track Russian troop movements [cultofmac.com] because the phones and other items were on the Russian soldiers.
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I think it is a safe bet both sides are leaving airtags or similar in places for the enemy to pick up. Both sides are using conscripted people against their will to fight, very hard to make such soldiers behave well, hell it is a problem even with modern professional armies.
Liar.
Ukraine doesn't have to use Conscripts. They are fighting to repel Invaders. Most are more than happy to fight.
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I think it is a safe bet both sides are leaving airtags or similar in places for the enemy to pick up. Both sides are using conscripted people against their will to fight, very hard to make such soldiers behave well, hell it is a problem even with modern professional armies.
Liar.
Ukraine doesn't have to use Conscripts. They are fighting to repel Invaders. Most are more than happy to fight.
Yea, when a grandmother comes up to you offering seeds so sunflowers will grow from your rotting copse you know you are in for a tough fight.
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I think it is a safe bet both sides are leaving airtags or similar in places for the enemy to pick up. Both sides are using conscripted people against their will to fight, very hard to make such soldiers behave well, hell it is a problem even with modern professional armies.
Liar.
Ukraine doesn't have to use Conscripts. They are fighting to repel Invaders. Most are more than happy to fight.
Yea, when a grandmother comes up to you offering seeds so sunflowers will grow from your rotting copse you know you are in for a tough fight.
Yeah, I loved that one!
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Ukraine doesn't have to use Conscripts. They are fighting to repel Invaders. Most are more than happy to fight.
When you don't allow your military aged men to leave the country at the start of hostilities, that's conscription wither you want to call it that or not.
I must admit, I had forgotten about that.
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How do you steal stuff in your own country from people who are there illegally?
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You come out with pastries to welcome them, when they get out of their tank to eat the pies your husband steals their tank.
After he shoots them.
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Well, there was that Ukrainian farmer who stole a Russian tank by towing it away with his tractor.
Wow, she actually had to go get the bag herself! (Score:2)
United later refunded Shuster's air miles, along with an apology "for the inconvenience you experienced on your recent trip with United."
Lucky woman. When I've been fucked by United, I didn't get a refund. But that's what you get for flying with the cheapest/worst major airline.
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Obviously they only cared because it's in the news, and even this, is very very marginal. Most people aren't flying back to get their shit and they know it.
The airline had mistakenly attached... (Score:2)
Or alternatively she'd upset the original clerk at the check in desk so they had done this deliberately. NEVER upset those people!
I got my airline lost laptop back - but not direct (Score:3)
Once in Germany I ofcourse immediately started checking with TSA, to see if they got it. I could not get through at first, and the airline and their bagage handler Swissport was also at a loss. Then in the afternoon TSA reported the laptop had been given to an airline bagage handler representative, but still no word or way (tried zillions of telephone numbers) to actually know where it would go.
I knew I put my name+phone as a sticker to it, but it was not used. TSA looked at the name at the lock screen, and that was how they assigned it to my name, and gave it to the bagage handler. But still: now my laptop was with some Swissport handler and I had no way to get it back, nor did they contact me.
TSA did provide me the name of the person, so I got bold after a while of annoying failed attempts to contact Swiss or Swissport: I looked up his name on Facebook (I still had an account then...) - and surely: a person was found that also is a Swissport employee. I sent a private message explaining my ordeal, and he replied that indeed he collected it from TSA. After confirming some details he said the laptop would be arriving in Germany the next day, and it did ! I hate facebook, but to this day believe that hadn't I taken matters in my own hand, I would still be looking for it, as the airline is pretty much hands off on this type of service - not all employees are too, as it turned out, no matter their shitty pay.
Not surprising they are disfuntional (Score:2)
"I jumped on the plane, flew to Chicago, got to baggage claim, and it took them 30 seconds to give me my bag..." Shuster tells CNN. "What was difficult to comprehend was that it would have taken one call to Chicago to locate it, and nobody seemed able to do that... You can't tell me in this day and age, with all the technology available, that they can't figure this stuff out. Airlines need to do better."
I had a relative accidentally grab a flight attendants carry on (black roll on) and didn't realize it till he got home. He called me and I reached out to the airline who said "Sorry, can't help. Just take bag bag and they'll eventually figure it out" even after I explained her passport, uniform etc. were there so she was probably deadheading to work. Lucky, the bag had a name and addressed, I tracked down the husband and called him to explain "You don't know me but..." and got her her bag.
... they said 'No, we're not allowed.' (Score:2)
There is no reason for it; it's just our policy.
Airtags on all luggage could fix this (Score:2)
If an airline put airtags on all checked luggage, they could likely bring these issues down from 1% to .001%. It could be tied to apps/scanners that check a plane to see if anything on it shouldn't be, and also make sure that everything that is supposed to be is. Handlers could reclaim and recycle the tags before returning the bags to customers. Sure, it won't be a free solution and a 1% problem doesn't sound that big, but that can be more than 1 bag/flight that doesn't make it. That is often a huge deal fo
Yeah, But the Entitlement. (Score:2)
While it is cool that this person was able to poke the Man in the eye, and well deservedly at that, the original article in the Denver Post does come off as a bit entitled and cringe-y. "Oh it is not about the cost, and it would be some many hundred dollars, it is my kid is so super good the time to break a new one in is problematic, and they have to get on another flight for a game far away, but we got one anyway, but I going to show them..."
I read it as they were probably problematic when checking their b
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If this lady had high frequent flier status and was on the phone with the platinum service line (or whatever) would they still jerk her around? All they'd have to do is put her on hold and call the baggage claim desk at O'Hare.
I get that the outsourced plebe call center wouldn't give two shits.
She had enough frequent flyer miles that she could take a last-minute flight back to Chicago to to pick up the bag. She might not have been platinum, but she obviously had some customer history with United.
Personally, I've found United's Frequent flyer program to be terrible and I have NEVER qualified for a free flight despite being a member since 2002, and I used to take multiple international flights per year. The one time I came close, they conveniently "lost" my miles from their partner airline, and oh
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The funny thing? I've flown with Air Canada a lot, and am a member of their program (aeroplan). It's always dead easy for me to get a flight on UA, especially on short notice.
Back when I was unemployed for a while, a friend asked me to fly down to LA to help him with a sailboat, so I plopped down to the airport in Vancouver, reserved myself a one-way flight for about 30,000 miles, and boarded it 90 minutes later.
Re: I wonder (Score:2)
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If this lady had high frequent flier status and was on the phone with the platinum service line (or whatever) would they still jerk her around? All they'd have to do is put her on hold and call the baggage claim desk at O'Hare.
I get that the outsourced plebe call center wouldn't give two shits.
I don't get that. At all.
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If this lady had high frequent flier status and was on the phone with the platinum service line (or whatever) would they still jerk her around? All they'd have to do is put her on hold and call the baggage claim desk at O'Hare..
She did exactly. that, but Customer Service replied that they "weren't allowed" to call O'Hare.
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2K lacrosse kit? Flying multiple times around the country to take part in a ball game? Spending days on end hounding overworked staff of an airline? Yup, must be rich.
Victim-Shaming much?
Begone, Troll!