We put an AirTag in our friend’s suitcase, and they drove nearly 200 miles and then flew from Lisbon Portugal to Newark New Jersey – over 3,300 miles – just to test AirTag’s real-world lost-luggage range. The verdict? AirTags are amazing.
Everyone’s night-before-the-big-trip travel nightmare involves one of three scenarios: 1) you either dream that you forgot your ticket, 2) you forgot your passport, or 3) the most likely scenario, that you successfully board, fly and land, but your luggage didn’t make your flight. Where is my suitcase? What do you mean it flew to another city? How did it end up in another country?! It’s the 21st century — how can my suitcase not be on my plane?
I travel a lot (or at least, I did pre-Covid). I may have dreamt scenarios 1 & 2 before, but I’ve lived scenario #3’s lost-luggage nightmare more times than I’d care to remember. I once flew from Miami to Italy only to have my luggage end up in the UK (how?). I once flew from Los Angeles to New Orleans to depart for a Caribbean cruise, only to find out that my bags were on a later flight — they were landing after my cruise ship departed (after buying a whole week’s worth of clothes in the cruise ship’s gift shop, I looked like Norwegian Cruise Line’s #1 fan with their branded hat, polo and pants that were 10-sizes too big). I had multiple nights in Hawaii where my bags were still in the continental US, somehow “missing” despite my arriving at LAX hours before my departure.
I can’t tell you how all this happens. I have no idea how airlines can continue to lose bags, more than 115 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight (maybe they should have focused a bit of their time on designing luggage carts instead of trying so hard to get airborne?).
But I can tell you how to ensure that you always know exactly where your checked bag is, no matter where in the world your airline happens to ship it. You need to put an AirTag in each of your checked bags before your next flight. (See our Top 5 Uses for AirTags article and then grab a 4-Pack of AirTags & some Belkin AirTags KeyChain Cases on Amazon)
Let’s dive into the world’s first intercontinental AirTag luggage-tracking experiment.
THE SETUP: Found someone flying between continents who would be willing to bring my AirTag in their suitcase (simulating my bag getting on the wrong flight without me) and let me track its movements
- Despite having had airlines lose my bags more times than I can remember, I needed a way to ensure I had a bag travel thousands of miles without me, and let’s just say the airlines weren’t willing to promise to lose my bag just so my many thousands of AirTagReviews.com readers could know how well these trackers work from the other side of the globe
- So, I had to find a close friend traveling internationally, ideally between continents. Usually, this would be easy, but my pool of volunteers was rather limited given the ongoing travel restrictions and global crisis
- Luckily, within a week of receiving my 4-Pack of AirTags and Belkin AirTag Key Chain Accessories, I had a friend who was flying from Portugual to the US
- Total flight time: 6 hours and 54 minutes. Total flight distance from LIS to EWR: 3,384 miles (5.447 km)
- Number of checked bags: one. With an AirTag in it. Paired to my account.
THE TRIP: My friend drove 200 miles (over 300 km) through Spain and Portugal to Lisbon Airport, and then flew over 3,300 miles (5.000 km) to the Newark International Airport (EWR) in the US
- Can you imagine your suitcase not only getting lost by the airline, again, but being over 3,000 miles from you when you land?
- Would an AirTag be able to tell you what part of the world your lost suitcase was in, even if it was on another continent?
- Can you imagine the look on the airline employee’s face when they are telling you the bag is lost, and you are able to show them where it is on the Find My app on your phone, even though your suitcase and AirTag are on the other side of the world?!
- We set out to find out just how well AirTags would work when my “missing bag” was in an airport over 3,500 miles away from my iPhone
THE DRIVE TO LISBON: My AirTag and “lost suitcase” traveled hundreds of miles in a car without me to Lisbon airport. The Find My app tracked it nearly flawlessly
In this first screenshot from the Find My app, you can see that my AirTag (named “Joe’s Luggage”) and suitcase are 94 miles away from my iPhone. You’ve probably read our article on AirTags Range by now and know that AirTag’s range is about 300 feet with bluetooth, but that they effectively have unlimited range thanks to the billion iOS devices worldwide in the Find My network. We set out to put that to the test with our intercontinental AirTag test. So far, AirTag was successful at tracking my lost luggage over 90 miles from my iPhone. Quick note – while on an un-congested highway in Portugal, and occasionally away from other people’s iOS devices with wireless connections, AirTag tracking did go in and out occasionally. In this screenshot, you can see that the position was last update 18 minutes ago. Not perfect, but still pretty amazing at finding something nearly 100 miles away.
ARRIVING AT LISBON (LIS) AIRPORT: My AirTag and “lost luggage” eventually arrived at the airport in Lisbon, ready to board their flight from Europe to the United States. AirTags and the Find My network accurately tracked my suitcase’s location from 186 miles away
Here’s a screen shot from the Find My app showing my suitcase with an AirTag in it, arriving at Lisbon airport, 186 miles from my iPhone. Again, the Find My network and AirTag tracking worked perfectly, allowing me to quickly and easily locate my lost baggage. Can you imagine how useful it would be on your next trip, when the airline tells you that your lost suitcase will be coming in on a later flight, to know when it’s landed in the city (or what city it landed in)?
TRACKING AN AIRTAG FLYING ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN: Can you track luggage with AirTags while the bag is checked in the plane? Yes, while the plane is on the runway / on the ground… But not while it is in the air
Time for take-off! Pilots did their final checks, passengers and crew were buckled in, and luggage was loaded – including my lost suitcase and AirTag. Unfortunately, I wasn’t on the plane! We’ve all been in this situation before, with your luggage traveling on its own little vacation without your, courtesy of some airline’s baggage error.
Would my AirTag be able to track my lost bag thousands of miles away from my iPhone? Yes (but read on). But could it track it mid-flight across the Atlantic? Turns out, no, but I was able to see the location in Find My quickly jump from one end of the runway to the other as the plane was taking off!
TESTING THE RANGE ON AIRTAGS – DO THEY REALLY WORK FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD: Yes – I could quickly and easily track my lost suitcase with an AirTag in it from over 3,500 miles away
Here it is, right after my friend landed, I opened the Find My App, and the location track took just about a minute. That’s pretty amazing for 3,500 miles across the Atlantic ocean. Check out the Find My screenshot below – AirTags helped me find my suitcase nearly instantly, 3,457 miles from iPhone. You’re going to want to buy a 4-pack of AirTags before your next flight and put one in each of your checked bags!
