United passenger uses Apple AirTag to track bags — but one still gets taken, he suspects, by airport employee

An American couple – using a digital age hack to keep track of their luggage as they flew overseas for a European vacation – were left frustrated with United Airlines when one of their bags never made it to them despite them knowing exactly where it was.

Dan Adams and his partner Kurt, being the tech-savvy smarties they are, placed an Apple AirTag inside all four of their checked bags before they flew business class for their two-month trip to Barcelona.

The couple say they treated themselves a little because they wanted their vacation to be memorable.

“We kind of planned this trip for a long time. It was like the trip of a lifetime,” Adams told KNBC.

“We get to Barcelona. Get off the flight, go into the airport. And I get out my phone. And all four bags are there, so I’m like, ‘Yay, they made it,’” Adams said.

Despite their ingenious efforts to keep their bags safe, they never saw one of them when they went to collect their luggage.

Adams’ phone showed the missing bag was only a few feet away from him, practically on the other side of the wall he was standing by, but figured one of the airline workers simply forgot to place it on the conveyer belt.

The couple brought their dilemma up with one of the baggage agents, showing off the location, but were told the bag wasn’t found.

“She came back and said, ‘No, there’s no sign of your bag. Probably somebody took it.’ I said, ‘Nobody took it. The AirTag shows it right there.’ She said, ‘We don’t go by AirTags, we go by our own system,’” Adams frustratingly recalled.

The tired, jetlagged couple were told the bag would be delivered to them later as they decided to leave the airport.

Not entirely convinced, Adams kept watch of the bag’s location and was alarmed when it started moving on his phone.

“It came into Barcelona and then just kept moving out of Barcelona,” he said.

The bag had moved 34 minutes outside of the city, as Adams practically watched his belongings disappear and suspected an airport employee that stole his luggage, the outlet reported.

“I knew at that point that I’d never see that bag again and all the stuff that was inside of it,” he said.

Adams filed a claim with United saying he had been a “really good customer for years and year” and was bewildered by how he was treated.

The Post has reached out to United.

Travel expert Katy Natro told the outlet, that travelers using tracking devices like an AirTag in their luggage should not leave the airport if they know where the bag is, and instead escalate the situation to airport police if the airline wasn’t cooperating.

Although United wouldn’t use Adams’ location to find the luggage, future travelers may not have to worry about the rare situation.

Apple AirTag users will soon be able to give third-party access to tracking information.

This would allow airports and airlines to look for lost bags in real-time.

Apple announced the “Share Item Location” feature as part of the new iOS 18.2 operating system, which will have a third-party sharing option.

The new feature is available now in most regions worldwide as part of the beta version of iOS 18.2, which will soon be available to all users with an iPhone Xs and later as a software update.

The new feature on the Find My app will allow the user to share the location of a lost item with “an airline or trusted person.”