I'm not someone who checks bags when flying. In fact, I've only checked a bag on two occasions. One was when I was bringing an antique sword back from Oman. Surprisingly, they didn't want me to bring that in my carry-on.
The second was when I had a 10-hour layover in Bahrain and wanted to go out into the city. Rather than lugging my bag around with me the whole day, I checked it. And it was stressful. That's because bags get lost all the time these days, and the number of bags that are irretrievably lost is going up every year.
That brings us to the magic of Apple AirTags.
Basically, AirTags are these little poker chip-sized devices that you can use to track your belongings. I personally have AirTags attached to my keychain, in my suitcase, and even one sewn into my travel backpack.
I won't go into the details of how they work or all of the many benefits of having these tags. All you need to know is if something with an AirTag attached to it gets lost, you'll be able to locate it with ease.
I read an article recently where a traveler who lost his luggage (which included expensive film equipment) was able to track it to a specific home in Alaska, seemingly stolen by an airport employee while in transit...
While the odds of your things being stolen by an airline are pretty low, the odds of your bag ending up at an airport hundreds or thousands of miles away are much higher. Being able to get off the plane, go to the airline help desk and show them exactly where your bag is can rapidly speed up their ability to locate the bag and return it to you.
Even if everything turns out fine and your bag arrives as planned, knowing that you have this safety net can make the transit much less stressful. I don't want to have to celebrate every time I get off the plane and see my bag show up on the carousel like I just won a game of roulette...
Many of you probably already know about AirTags, but here is a special treat: you can get an AirTag and keychain right now for less than $10.
By signing up for Rakuten, an online shopping portal, you can get $30 back after you spend $30 on one of their retailers within 90 days of signing up.
Apple is one of their retailers. So here's what you can do:
Sign up for Rakuten with this link
Go to Apple.com (via Rakuten, after you've signed up)
Add an AirTag and keychain to your cart
Get a $30 rebate from Rakuten
The Apple AirTag is $1 dollar shy of meeting the $30 spending requirement, so you will need to add a key ring to your purchase to unlock your $30 cash back offer!
As you can see above, an Apple AirTag and keychain cost $41.95 in total (New Hampshire happens to not have sales tax). Because Apple offers 2% cashback on Rakuten, you'll get $0.84 cashback in addition to the $30 signup rebate. If you have an Apple Card, you get $1.25 in the form of 3% cashback on Apple purchases. That means you can get an AirTag and keychain today for a grand total of $9.86... Yes - that's real math. You essentially get a free AirTag with the purchase of a key ring. Pretty sweet, eh?
I hope you enjoy your new Apple AirTag!
