Passenger uses AirTag to track wallet after airline couldn't find it

An American Airlines customer used an AirTag stashed in his wallet to track it on a journey that took it to more than 30 cities.

We've heard a couple of stories of people using Apple's item tracker to recover lost luggage — but now one AirTag owner has used the device to track his wallet as it traveled to 35 cities.

John Lewis had contacted American Airlines regarding a wallet he lost in late January. When American Airlines responded, it said the crew had thoroughly cleaned the plane and could not find it.

Lewis chronicled his story on Twitter, as spotted by People.

@AmericanAir come on now help your boy out. I only fly with you and you treat me like you don't even know me . Like I said, I know it's not your fault that I left the wallet ( even though that flight was delayed over an hour so I was in a rush to sprint through the airport) pic.twitter.com/IV1jnrRkXG
— Bad Ass Vegan (@BADASSVEGAN) January 29, 2023

At the time of writing, American Airlines has not returned Lewis' wallet. However, the airline has since reached out to him via Twitter.

In January, An Air Canada passenger discovered their missing luggage was on a different continent after a flight, with an AirTag showing it was over 5,000 miles and an ocean away.

That same month, a woman used an AirTag to hold United Airlines accountable after they misplaced her bag for several days.

In August 2022, a couple watched as their lost luggage toured Portugal without them, but thanks to AirTag, was able to recover it five days later.

7 Comments

mikethemartian 1480 comments · 18 Years

About 1 year ago

I always hear these stories about how great AirTags work but the only time I had to find one, even though it told me it was near me, I could not get it to beep. It kept telling me it could not connect despite telling me it was near me (and the batteries were fresh).

Madbum 536 comments · 2 Years

I have a wallet with AirTag slot , works great

But of course you have brainless morons who think somebody is stalking them with air tag every few weeks

lordjohnwhorfin 866 comments · 18 Years

That’s how AA treats their platinum members? Boy am I glad I’m with SkyTeam.

philboogie 7669 comments · 15 Years

AppleInsider said:

An American Airlines customer used an AirTag stashed in his wallet to track it(...)

Uhm, no, he didn't track his wallet. He tracked his AirTag. Which was probably tossed out along with his ID and other useless items.

dewme 5713 comments · 10 Years

philboogie said:

AppleInsider said:

An American Airlines customer used an AirTag stashed in his wallet to track it(...)

Uhm, no, he didn't track his wallet. He tracked his AirTag. Which was probably tossed out along with his ID and other useless items.

That sounds like a more likely scenario considering the AirTag, once removed from the wallet and tossed, are quite small and slim making it more likely to have fallen into a small crevice like the seat mounting channels, under the dirty carpet, between seat cushions, improperly stowed in an overhead bin, or stuck between the gooey & sticky pages of one of the in-flight magazines, or in one of those safety booklets in the pocket on the rear of the seats. Nobody ever ever opens those booklets, so it could be permanently fused with dust that's been in there since the seats were installed at the factory.

Yeah, it totally sucks to lose your wallet and AirTag ($29 + cost of holder) plus all the other stuff in your wallet, like your frequent flyer card and a picture of your dog, but if you figure this plane flew to 35 destinations since you left your wallet behind, with say 100-200 passengers onboard per flight, do you as AirTag owner seriously believe that ANY airline is going to interrupt the travel plans of 3500-7000 other people to do a fine-toothed-comb search of the aircraft to find your lost tag? Seriously? In 2023? Ha.Ha.Ha. NFW.

I guess we should add one more Con to the AirTag product review Pros/Cons ... "Owner may have to suffer the indignity of being reminded of their stupidity for several days and many thousands of miles."