I am in Albury, eyes glued to my Apple AirTag trackers, watching our luggage sitting in a holding area at Dubai International Airport. Our suitcases made it onto a flight from Cairo to Dubai, but missed an ongoing flight to Manila in the Philippines.
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It appears they are now "resting" near a coffee shop and I want to holler out to those coffee sippers to give our bags a shove in the right direction. I am relieved that I can at least see where the bags are via the coin-size trackers using the Find My app, but I am frustrated there's been no progress via the airline for four days.
Every time I check the app, the message, "Sue's Luggage Left Behind - this item is no longer near you," flashes across my phone screen. Then overnight, the little brown suitcase symbol disappears from the screen and I fear the worst. What now - lost or stolen instead of delayed?
The following day, that precious symbol reappears and this time shows that our luggage is at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport. What joy! If I could do a double cartwheel, I would - even though we wait another day for our luggage to be couriered to Albury.
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So, do luggage trackers induce luggage panic or peace of mind? Or in other words, are they worth it?
It's a toss-up. Some travellers I asked suffer extreme angst and frustration watching their luggage via the luggage trackers app sit stationary in holding warehouses. Others are obsessed with knowing where their luggage is and constantly check. Some prefer to just leave things to chance, but for me it was a comfort thanks to the AirTag's precision technology that tracks where your items are - unless they are in the air. Former Melbourne Airport lost property assistant Anthony Jenkins agrees luggage trackers are either a source of relief or anxiety when it comes to lost luggage.
"They are great in that owners can see where their luggage is, but it doesn't necessarily hurry things along, unless you are near the airport and can show someone the tracking details," he says.
They are definitely useful but when you are sitting in Sydney and watching your luggage in Hawaii and there's nothing you can do - it's very stressful.
"They are definitely useful but when you are sitting in Sydney and watching your luggage in Hawaii and there's nothing you can do - it's very stressful.
"Sometimes the AirTags freeze on screen, the battery runs out or in some cases the AirTags are removed and that increases anxiety."
Sydney businesswoman Marie Flanders is a fan of AirTags, which enabled her to retrieve her luggage when it went missing in New York.
"I wasn't going to sit back and wait - I went to the airport and showed the airline exactly where my bags were according to my AirTags and they found my luggage - otherwise it would have been weeks," she says.
On balance, I too am an advocate of luggage trackers. There's nothing worse than standing at a luggage carousel and watching suitcases go round and round until the realisation that yours is a no show.
My latest trip from Sydney to Durban involved a tight dash from domestic to international airports. I held my breath as I checked my app and rejoiced when I saw that little brown suitcase symbol was at Durban and not near a random coffee shop.
Hooray for luggage trackers.
