Luggage tracking in airports

[wysiwyg1972]

It seems obvious to me, but not sure if there are any technical or privacy considerations in my idea.

Imaging this: Apple partners with major airports around the world to install bluetooth LP beacons in all locations where your luggage will transit through from drop off to tarmac back to the pickup area. When you are flying back, you could tell very precisely where your airtag equipped bags could be. (on the tarmac outside the plane, on its way through the transportation system, at some secondary inspection, on some other carrousel, etc…) while this may already be technically possible with so many employees in the airports with iPhone, but this could be further enhanced in places your bags might be passing through without staff or allow for more accurate or frequent refreshes. I believe Apple already has a beacon technology for indoor use, like malls and airports, so we could be halfway there.

Thought?

 

[fischersd]

It seems obvious to me, but not sure if there are any technical or privacy considerations in my idea.

Imaging this: Apple partners with major airports around the world to install bluetooth LP beacons in all locations where your luggage will transit through from drop off to tarmac back to the pickup area. When you are flying back, you could tell very precisely where your airtag equipped bags could be. (on the tarmac outside the plane, on its way through the transportation system, at some secondary inspection, on some other carrousel, etc…) while this may already be technically possible with so many employees in the airports with iPhone, but this could be further enhanced in places your bags might be passing through without staff or allow for more accurate or frequent refreshes. I believe Apple already has a beacon technology for indoor use, like malls and airports, so we could be halfway there.

Thought?

Terrorists will love it. You'll allow them to find the best possible location to detonate.

Edit: Then there's all the pretentious idiots who won't be happy waiting for their bags along with all of the other teaming masses at the carousel - so giving them precise location, maybe they find a way to navigate through the airport and get on the tarmac, so now they're at risk of injury, potentially harming workers if they're violent or stealing other peoples bags / property. (also messing up the airline's tracking of your bag)

This is along the same lines as people wanting to know exactly where their package is, so they can see it on a map. It's a massive security risk. Never gonna happen.

 

[mattdeezy]

I used my airtags on a trip last week in 2 checked suitcases as well as the carry on. My experience was that from when i checked the bags I did not see a single update. When I landed, i saw the bags on the carousel before there was any update in the find my app. The suitcases were in my hand before they even made a connection. I suspect that the baggage system at the airport (Sydney Domestic) is fairly automated and the parts that are manual are either very minimal OR the baggage handlers didn't have phones (or at least not iphones) on them.

One thing that was handy was that when we checked out of our hotel, the belldesk held our bags on the driveway for most of the day while we did some activities. We could easily see that the bags were still located on the driveway as there would have been many ios devices in the vicinity to connect the tags to the FM network.

 

[mxrider88]

I used my airtags on a trip last week in 2 checked suitcases as well as the carry on. My experience was that from when i checked the bags I did not see a single update. When I landed, i saw the bags on the carousel before there was any update in the find my app. The suitcases were in my hand before they even made a connection. I suspect that the baggage system at the airport (Sydney Domestic) is fairly automated and the parts that are manual are either very minimal OR the baggage handlers didn't have phones (or at least not iphones) on them.

One thing that was handy was that when we checked out of our hotel, the belldesk held our bags on the driveway for most of the day while we did some activities. We could easily see that the bags were still located on the driveway as there would have been many ios devices in the vicinity to connect the tags to the FM network.

Funny, did the same test, in Sydney domestic, last week 😂
But for me it worked very well, I was pretty impressed.

 

[bransoj]

I used my airtags on a trip last week in 2 checked suitcases as well as the carry on. My experience was that from when i checked the bags I did not see a single update. When I landed, i saw the bags on the carousel before there was any update in the find my app. The suitcases were in my hand before they even made a connection. I suspect that the baggage system at the airport (Sydney Domestic) is fairly automated and the parts that are manual are either very minimal OR the baggage handlers didn't have phones (or at least not iphones) on them.

One thing that was handy was that when we checked out of our hotel, the belldesk held our bags on the driveway for most of the day while we did some activities. We could easily see that the bags were still located on the driveway as there would have been many ios devices in the vicinity to connect the tags to the FM network.

Are the baggage handlers allowed to take their phones airside with them? Wasnt sure if there were security processes in place that mean they cannot and have to leave them in cars, lockers etc.

 

[Lihp8270]

Terrorists will love it. You'll allow them to find the best possible location to detonate.

Edit: Then there's all the pretentious idiots who won't be happy waiting for their bags along with all of the other teaming masses at the carousel - so giving them precise location, maybe they find a way to navigate through the airport and get on the tarmac, so now they're at risk of injury, potentially harming workers if they're violent or stealing other peoples bags / property. (also messing up the airline's tracking of your bag)

This is along the same lines as people wanting to know exactly where their package is, so they can see it on a map. It's a massive security risk. Never gonna happen.

A couple of parcel carriers in the UK supply this feature.

You can see a live map of where the driver is currently.

 

[fischersd]

A couple of parcel carriers in the UK supply this feature.

You can see a live map of where the driver is currently.

I wonder how often they get robbed. Just an awful idea.

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

I wonder how often they get robbed. Just an awful idea.

It’s a great idea, I don’t have to sit at home all day for them to get to my house at 3pm, I can just see where they are. And as far as getting robbed you are seriously paranoid. I have never heard of that happening once in this country. Who would rob a delivery truck?! You might get lucky and get an iPhone or just a bunch of woman’s pants and some garden decorations! Hardly a clever idea to rob a truck where you literally don’t know what’s in it..

 

[fischersd]

It’s a great idea, I don’t have to sit at home all day for them to get to my house at 3pm, I can just see where they are. And as far as getting robbed you are seriously paranoid. I have never heard of that happening once in this country. Who would rob a delivery truck?! You might get lucky and get an iPhone or just a bunch of woman’s pants and some garden decorations! Hardly a clever idea to rob a truck where you literally don’t know what’s in it..

$370,000 worth of iPhone X devices were stolen from a UPS truck

Police are searching for three men in the San Francisco heist

www.theverge.com

During iPhone or MacBook launches, it could be highly lucrative for thieves to map out the routes used by delivery drivers that deliver these items. They'd just have to mail themselves an empty package so they would have the tracking.

Companies that do something like this are putting their drivers at needless risk, for minimal benefit.

I'm all for giving customers an ETA, but sharing the drivers location or route is just asking for trouble.

 

[bransoj]

I would suspect if someone is going to hijack a delivery van then they will track them down anyway and dont worry about tracking them on a website so they can have a cup of tea before heading out to do it. Also the times i've used the tracking i've only been able to do it as they sent me an email\text with details to connect to a website to show the tracking. You cant just go to a map on their website and track all their vans and pick the one you fancy robbing!

 

[fischersd]

I would suspect if someone is going to hijack a delivery van then they will track them down anyway and dont worry about tracking them on a website so they can have a cup of tea before heading out to do it. Also the times i've used the tracking i've only been able to do it as they sent me an email\text with details to connect to a website to show the tracking. You cant just go to a map on their website and track all their vans and pick the one you fancy robbing!

Umm...you missed: "They'd just have to mail themselves an empty package so they would have the tracking."

Easy enough to do so, so you're certain of the route, delivery timelines, where the courier regularly has to stop for longer periods (big apartment buildings, for example). And know when to ship so your tracking is on the same day as the launch day hoard of shipments.

Shipping companies need to make sure they're not providing too much information. It should only be an ETA. No location or route information.

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

$370,000 worth of iPhone X devices were stolen from a UPS truck

Police are searching for three men in the San Francisco heist

www.theverge.com

During iPhone or MacBook launches, it could be highly lucrative for thieves to map out the routes used by delivery drivers that deliver these items. They'd just have to mail themselves an empty package so they would have the tracking.

Companies that do something like this are putting their drivers at needless risk, for minimal benefit.

I'm all for giving customers an ETA, but sharing the drivers location or route is just asking for trouble.

I’m in Ireland. As I said, WHERE IM FROM. I don’t live in SanFran. Never happened here, UPS and postal service offer it here! As do IKEA and supermarkets. But I’m not worried about someone stealing my bananas either! 😉

 

[Applecool78]

Does the air tags have a airplane mode ?

 

[Tumbleweed666]

Does the air tags have a airplane mode ?

Yes, it is activated by taking the battery out

 

[Applecool78]

Yes, it is activated by taking the battery out

Thanks

 

[Prorege1]

Very satisfied with how it works at the moment, our luggage was in transit through Athens airport, Greece, and I could monitor the luggage in the airport even from a hotel in central Athens - the AirTags were inside the luggage.

 

[seek3r]

$370,000 worth of iPhone X devices were stolen from a UPS truck

Police are searching for three men in the San Francisco heist

www.theverge.com

During iPhone or MacBook launches, it could be highly lucrative for thieves to map out the routes used by delivery drivers that deliver these items. They'd just have to mail themselves an empty package so they would have the tracking.

Companies that do something like this are putting their drivers at needless risk, for minimal benefit.

I'm all for giving customers an ETA, but sharing the drivers location or route is just asking for trouble.

They could also do that by, you know, watching the trucks. It's not like a FedEX/UPS/USPS/etc truck is hard to identify. giving people realtime package tracking doesnt add any security problems that weren't already in existence by having identifiable trucks

 

[Khedron]

Umm...you missed: "They'd just have to mail themselves an empty package so they would have the tracking."

Easy enough to do so, so you're certain of the route, delivery timelines, where the courier regularly has to stop for longer periods (big apartment buildings, for example). And know when to ship so your tracking is on the same day as the launch day hoard of shipments.

Shipping companies need to make sure they're not providing too much information. It should only be an ETA. No location or route information.

Why would they mail themselves an empty package and submit their own address/email/phone number to be recorded and possibly checked as part of some investigation when they could just look with their eyes for the massive logos on the side of the vans?

 

[fischersd]

Why would they mail themselves an empty package and submit their own address/email/phone number to be recorded and possibly checked as part of some investigation when they could just look with their eyes for the massive logos on the side of the vans?

Right...because they would have to put their actual address on the package.

 

[ukms]

A couple of parcel carriers in the UK supply this feature.

You can see a live map of where the driver is currently.

It’s always a bit delayed ….. not truely live.

 

[hinrgmike]

Very satisfied with how it works at the moment, our luggage was in transit through Athens airport, Greece, and I could monitor the luggage in the airport even from a hotel in central Athens - the AirTags were inside the luggage.

View attachment 1786739

I had similar experience. Really impressed with how well the airtag in "checked luggage" works. I just had trip thru several big airports (Dallas, San Fran, Houston) and onto a trip to Hawaii. I consistently got updates every 5 to 10min as bag worked it's way thru airports to loading onto flight and then in the cargo hold it would show as with me, including down the runway and flying over water between islands in Hawaii. And in one case where United bag tracking was not showing bag made the connection in SFO (San Fran), the airtag provided reassurance that the bag did indeed make it on board fine!

 

[Prorege1]

Yes it’s good stuff for travelling 😃