The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
She knew where her family’s lost luggage was. She says the airline refused to use her tracker.
When you’re travelling, it can be a major hassle if your luggage goes missing, which is why more people are investing in AirTags and tracking devices. But it doesn’t mean an airline will use the information if your luggage goes off track.
A Toronto family traveling to France in August experienced a luggage delay after a connecting flight, with three suitcases ultimately marked as lost in the system. The family flew with Air France and relied on personal trackers to monitor their bags as the journey unfolded.
Marie Vasilou of Toronto said she tracked the suitcases and could see their movements in real time, but airport staff reportedly would not use the tracker information or confirm the luggage’s location. The situation left the family waiting in Paris for baggage that did not immediately arrive.
Throughout the trip, the suitcase in question zigzagged between multiple airports, moving from Montreal’s YUL to Toronto’s YYZ, then back to Montreal, to Vancouver’s YVR (referred to as YUZ in the report), and again to Paris before returning to Montreal. The tracking data indicated the bag was often within close proximity, yet retrieval did not occur.
Industry perspectives cited by the report note that even with a tracker, airlines may adhere to their own barcode and internal procedures, which can limit staff actions. An expert described how information sometimes fails to reach the right people in the chain, complicating how such tracking data is used by airline staff on the ground.
In the end, the missing luggage was located and returned to Vasilou, though she remains seeking compensation for the ordeal. Air France had not provided a public response at the time the report was written.