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Comment by RegnisGnaw | Hacker News Reader

They don't know where they are 100%. I think that's the issue. They have a warehouse of 1000s of luggage where the tags are likely torn off or missing. Are you going to allow them to search the entire warehouse? What's to prevent them from taking someone else's luggage? How are you going to ensure they only take their bag? If not, are you liable if they take someone else's bag which contain PII and do identity fraud?

When its donated the charity, there is an agreement that the charity will remove any PII or personalized stuff before selling the rest.

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> Are you going to allow them to search the entire warehouse?

Yes. Especially when you can make your bag beep by tapping a button on your phone.

When you grab a bag from baggage claim, nobody cross-checks your ID against the bag. We already trust people not to steal. If you steal from a warehouse, the same thing would happen as if you stole from a baggage claim.

> They have a warehouse of 1000s of luggage where the tags are likely torn off or missing. Are you going to allow them to search the entire warehouse?

Sure, why not? Let them in and have staff on hand with them requiring them to prove ownership by identifying the contents. Would that cost a lot to the airline? You bet, which is why they don't make the effort. But airlines never make an effort to help passengers unless the government tells them they must. So either make it mandatory or impose punitive damages when airlines lose bags (far above the cost of the luggage).

Maybe the airline would make an honest effort not to lose baggage if they were actually held accountable.

I can’t imagine tearing a tag is very common. Even if it affected a few passengers on a plane, process of elimination can lead to these people getting their bags if the airline tried at all.

They could have scanned the beeping AirTag with a compatible device, which would have at least identified the owner - and likely matched a phone number to a reservation ticket.

They certainly do not want to do so, but the capability existed and they declined to exercise it.

So you need to get Apple agree to this?

No, that would be horrendously inefficient.

Once the owner’s put it in Lost Mode, which all of those beeping bags were in, then you just visit the link it gives you when you scan it (it can do NFC, it doesn’t even require an Apple device) and the owner’s contact information is shown.

The airline’s behavior instead resembles: “We couldn’t see any contact information in the outside and maybe we checked a zipper pocket for a piece of paper but ultimately we would rather give up and pay you a lost bag fee, than have to employ a human being to put more than thirty seconds of effort into each bag.”

Apple doesn't need to do anything, AirTags broadcast an NFC link that provides contact info if the owner puts it in lost mode.

>How are you going to ensure they only take their bag?

Take a photo of yourself, the bag, and visible luggage tag prior to checking it in.

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