This is going to be a much shorter post today compared to my thorough Cruise & Tauck Tour reviews but hopefully it’ll be a helpful one! 🙂
As I talk about here, dealing with booking your airfare for your anticipated upcoming Ocean Cruise or River Cruise or Tauck Land Tour is never the most enjoyable part of your Vacation…
…and same with the actual flying to/from your destination as we all know there can be busy airports, flight delays, bag delays, canceled flights, etc. when flying. 🙁
With that said, I hope this little tip helps alleviate some of the pain of above if you have to go through one of those particular issues…
…bag delays!
So, here’s my tip…
…go buy & then use “Apple AirTags” (Or any alternative you prefer) for ALL your flights in the future!!
Now, you may be thinking…
…”Don’t many airlines now track my bags for me where the moment they leave the check-in counter I can see on the airline’s app where my bags are at all times?”
Yes, that’s true in some cases… BUT…
…many years ago I worked with an airline for almost 4 years and I can promise you that handles break-off bags all the time…
…as did one of mine on my last trip on my Africa Safari back in June/July. 🙁
With that said, I got lucky and the handle that broke off didn’t have the airline’s bag tag on it but what if it did… if that handle with the bag tag on it is in a VERY different place from your actual bag… how is the airline going to know where that bag needs to go.
That’s why you ALWAYS want to have your name/phone # in a place on your bag that can’t break off… if there’s no airline bag tag on your bag they need to know whose bag it is somehow!!
Of course, with an “Apple AirTag” or similar, you can simply tell them where your cherished valuables are!! 😉
Or, here’s an interesting one I heard recently…
…a client of mine landed in Budapest 2 months ago and was told by the airline’s baggage reps at the airport that his bag was left behind in the US and it would be in Budapest tomorrow and they’ll deliver it to him at his hotel once it gets there… so, he headed off to his hotel as per what he was told.
BUT, 3 hours later he received a message from the airline’s baggage office at the Budapest airport asking why he left his bag at the airport?? So, it WAS on his flight/he was given mis-info. 🙁
He explained what he was told but because it wasn’t the same agent as earlier they shrugged him off & said because the bag was on his flight and he left it at the airport it was his responsibility to go get it…
…which cost him a $70 round trip in a taxi to pick up and around 1.5hrs of his time. 🙁
But again, with an “Apple AirTag” or similar, he could have simply looked at his phone & saw his bag was there & he could have picked his bag up from the belt and went on his way!! 😉
And here are 2 more examples of weird experiences my Sister had while flying/it would have been a lot of time wasted if she didn’t have “Apple AirTags” or similar!!
When her & a bunch of her friends did a Cruise in Iceland last year 1 of her travel companion’s bags was left in Toronto… the airline said she’d get the bag the next day… as they flew in 3 days before the Cruise it was not the end of the World.
As I talk about here and here, ALWAYS fly in to your Cruise or Tauck Land Tour early for reasons exactly like this!!
Anyways, the next day comes and while they were out touring Reykjavik her friend gets a message from the airline saying her bag has been delivered to the hotel… perfect!
Except, when they got back to the hotel that afternoon… no bag??
The front desk staff at the hotel had no clue where the bag was as they swore no one came to drop it off.
So, she pulls out her phone/looks at the app that tracks the tags and they end up finding her bag a block away in a closed-off from the public building that the hotel owns…
…to this day, no one has a clue how it got there but the point is if she wasn’t using “Apple AirTags” or similar I’d say chances are high she may never have found her bag… or at least before she was due to get on the Cruise!!
Back to my Sister again…
…her & my Sister-in-Law got off of a flight one time and even though they got to the bag carousel fairly quickly, by the time they got there the bags from their flight were coming out… a nice surprise we don’t see often but we all enjoy when that happens! 😉
Anyways, they were flying business class so their bags had “priority” tags on them yet they didn’t come out with the other “priority” bags so they thought, “On no, we hope our bags weren’t left behind!”, so they opened the app that tracks the tags and…
…they ended up finding their bags next to a couple of carousels away in a pile of around 100+ bags that weren’t even on their flight… for some reason, their bags were pulled off the carousel before they had a chance to grab them & they were placed somewhere they definitely didn’t belong!
Again, like last scenario, no one had a clue what happened but the bottom line is without their “Apple AirTags” or similar they would have put in a delayed claim with the airline and gone to their hotel and, hopefully, within a few hours after those miscellaneous bags were sorted they would have gotten a call saying they were found…
…but, because they use “Apple AirTags”, this problem was solved fast and they left the airport (After their long journey to get to their destination) with their cherished valuables so they didn’t have to go buy new toiletries, new clothes, etc.
So there you go… I hope those are a few good examples (And I’m sure there are MANY more examples out there!) of why I FOR SURE recommend you use “Apple AirTags” or similar for all your future trips as they can potentially save you A LOT of hassle & panic & worry…
…and A LOT of time!!
As always, it’d be my pleasure to help you get that next Great Ocean Cruise or River Cruise or Tauck Land Tour Vacation planned & booked…
…and know in advance that your Business is VERY appreciated!! 🙂
Any questions at all about a Future trip or to get something booked, simply Contact Me Here.
I Appreciate You!!
Shawn Power
Your Trusted Cruise & Tauck Tour Expert!