What do you do when your flight is heading to Granada in Spain but your cherished Louis Vuitton valise is en route to Grenada in the Caribbean? SITA’s 2015 Baggage Report reveals “seven out of every thousand suitcases get mishandled” – “lost” in other words.
However, new internet-connected luggage such as the Bluesmart, Trunkster and the Samsonite GeoTrakR can put passengers at ease by sending texts and emails, confirming their bag’s whereabouts, thanks to a combination of Bluetooth, 3G and GPS.
Smart luggage can perform other tricks too: fingerprint-activated unlocking, built-in phone charging and a scale to ensure you pack within your weight allowance.
It’s also easy to upgrade your low-tech case by adding a tracking device.
Trakdot is a device the size of a matchbox that sends messages to let you know where your bag is. During flights, it sleeps to conserve battery life, and awakens on landing. The app (iOS/Android) has a pointer to help you retrieve luggage.
TrackR Bravo is a coin-sized device that connects with the TrackR app (iOS/Android) on your smart phone. The device uses crowd-sourced GPS to create a network so that your belongings can be located anywhere within 100ft of TrackR’s users.
Tile is also a crowd GPS-based tag that connects to your smart phone. And if you’ve lost your phone, the latest version, Tile 2, enables you to use the locator to make your phone ring.
PocketFinder is a waterproof GPS locator that you can pop in your suitcase, or attach to valuables, that works with the EE mobile network. There’s a one-off fee plus monthly and international roaming charges. The app will locate the Pocket Finder anywhere in the world where there’s mobile network coverage.
Just one caveat: tracking devices won’t stop luggage going astray once it’s out of your hands.