Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

AirTag helps flyer find his AirTag – but not his missing wallet

By

John Lewis put one of Apple’s AirTags inside his wallet so that he could find it again if he ever lost it.

After getting off an American Airlines flight in Florida on January 24, he soon realized that the worst had happened — he’d lost his wallet.

Recommended Videos

Aware that his AirTag tracking device was attached, he dived into Apple’s Find My app to see where it was. Sure enough, it was on the plane.

Next, he contacted American Airlines staff to explain the situation, but despite their best efforts, they couldn’t locate his lost wallet.

Lewis then watched in frustration as his wallet, with all of his cards and IDs inside, went on a tour of the U.S., visiting 35 cities in the following days.

Sharing the unfolding story on social media, he said he contacted the carrier again, explaining that the wallet was definitely on the aircraft because his AirTag said so.

American insisted they’d checked the jet but had been unable to locate his lost item.

“They say they thoroughly clean the plane, but how can you thoroughly clean the plane if the wallet is still on the plane and you haven’t gotten it yet?” Lewis said.

He admitted that it was his fault that he lost his wallet, but couldn’t understand why staff couldn’t find it if the AirTag showed it was still on the jet.

Lewis, a platinum member of American Airlines’ frequent flyer program, quipped: “Are they gonna apply this to my account and do I get to keep all the miles that my wallet is accumulating over these last days? It’s gotta be like 100,000 miles easily. That’s like a trip to Belize or something.”

Lost and found … sort of

Then on Tuesday, Lewis received good news and bad news. The good news was that American Airlines staff had finally managed to locate the AirTag (it was buried under the seat). The bad news was that there was no sign of his wallet.

In a social media post shared on Tuesday, Lewis praised staff for their efforts to locate his lost item, though he added that he “didn’t really get much help from corporate.”

The discovery of only the AirTag prompted Lewis to ponder whether a member of the cleaning crew had nabbed the wallet soon after he left the plane, leaving the AirTag behind.

“Now it’s time to cancel all my cards and get some new IDs,” Lewis said in his Tuesday update.

Digital Trends has reached out to the carrier for its response to Lewis’s experience and we will update this article when we hear back.

If anything, the unfortunate episode is a reminder that such devices may not always be tracking the item that you think it’s tracking.

Apple released the $29 AirTag in 2021. While the tracking device has helped countless owners track lost luggage and bags — and hopefully the occasional wallet — the device has also come under fire for making it easy for stalkers to follow targets. Apple has been releasing various firmware updates for the AirTag to try to curb such use.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple and Google are teaming up to make tracking devices less creepy
Apple AirTag lifestyle image.

Apple and Google are partnering to develop a new standard for Bluetooth tracking devices that seeks to stop malicious stalking and other abusive use of gadgets like the Apple AirTag. Essentially, this would be a universal, OS-level tracker detection and alert system that will work uniformly across Android and iOS. The two companies are inviting stakeholders to review the proposal and submit their feedback within the next three months.

Once the feedback period is over, all the involved parties will work together to finalize the technical standardization, with the hope of releasing a market-ready version by the end of the year. Following the release and adoption by makers of tracking devices, the tech will be generally made available via a software update for Android and iOS devices.
Better late than never

Read more
The U.S. government is now using AirTag trackers to spy on packages
Person holding an Apple AirTag.

Apple raised some eyebrows late last year when the company revealed that it actively works with law enforcement officials in cases involving the misuse of its object tracker. The admission came after a litany of cases where AirTag trackers were exploited for stalking and theft. Apple even got slapped with a lawsuit for the whole drama. But it appears that other government agencies have also grown a taste for deploying AirTag trackers to assist with their investigations.

According to Forbes, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) recently used an AirTag for surveillance in a case that potentially had an illicit narcotics manufacturing angle. Citing an official search warrant, the report notes that border agents intercepted a package coming in from China that contained a pill press machine used to turn chemical powders into a pill.

Read more
Samsung may be getting ready to launch a new AirTag rival this year
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2.

Samsung is not the first brand that comes to mind when you are out shopping for an object tracker. That kind of consumer trust and appeal is currently commanded by Tile, which kickstarted the trend, and Apple's popular AirTag. However, Samsung wants to wiggle its way into that space with yet another object tracker that's destined to arrive soon.

Citing unnamed sources, SamMobile reports that Samsung is planning a refresh of its Galaxy Smart Tag portfolio. And if all things go according to plan, the second-gen object tracker from Samsung will hit the shelves in the third quarter of 2023 — possibly around the same time frame as the launch of Samsung’s upcoming foldable phones.

Read more