Air Canada Customer Says AirTag Shows Missing Bag 8,000 Km Away, Airline Won’t Retrieve It

An Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX 8 approaches for landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13, 2019. (Reuters/Chris Helgren)

Paul Kliffer of Victoria, B.C., has been back home for months after a November trip to Mexico. But his Apple AirTag tracking device shows his bag ended up in Madrid, Spain.

Though he can see where it is, he feels helpless, unable to retrieve it, he told Global News.

When he landed back in B.C., he checked the location of his AirTag. “It said our bag was 4,000 km away, which didn’t sound good,” he said.

It was still in Mexico at that point, at the Mexico City International Airport. He said he contacted Air Canada immediately and was told they would retrieve his bag.

Two weeks passed and he still didn’t have his luggage. He then saw that his AirTag was showing his bag at the international airport in Madrid, Spain, 8,000 km away.

He contacted Air Canada, but he did not receive the help he sought, he said. “They would escalate the file up to a more important stage and I would be contacted in 48 hours. That never happened.”

The Epoch Times did not receive a reply to inquiry from Air Canada as of publication. The airline told Global News, “Given the time that has now passed without success recovering the baggage, we have advised the customer we are moving to compensation. The claim is currently being processed and we will be following up directly with the customer.”

Kliffer said, “If something goes wrong, you‘d expect that they’d take care of you.”

Other AirTag Experiences

Apple released its AirTags product in 2021, at a cost of $39 each. Last year, an AirTag helped Florida police arrest an airport employee who had been stealing luggage.

A traveller had lost her luggage, containing items worth more than US$1,600⁠—and also containing an AirTag. The AirTag last showed as active in the area of Kathy Court in Mary Esther, Florida.

The police cross-checked the general location with airport employee addresses and found 19-year-old airline subcontractor Giovanni De Luca, who admitted to the crime.

They also found another traveller’s luggage at his home containing more than US$15,000 worth of jewelry.

Yet AirTags have also allegedly been used to track people without their consent.

Lauren Hughes of Texas filed a class action lawsuit against Apple in December, along with another woman identified only as Jane Doe. Hughes told CNN she was moving because her ex-boyfriend was allegedly stalking her.

She got a notification on her Apple Watch that an AirTag was following her. She searched and found it in the wheel well of her vehicle.

Apple says on its website, “AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s travelling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.”

The Epoch Times asked Apple for further comment on the matter, including how people who don’t have an iPhone or other iOS device would know they’re being tracked. Apple responded with a reference to its Feb. 10, 2022 statement on unwanted tracking.

That statement says, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products.” It lists several steps Apple has taken to improve its unwanted tracking alerts, including giving earlier warning and precision finding.