[Linda Robinson]

I’m thinking about getting an iTagPro for my checked bag. Does it actually give you a location while flying or is it just Bluetooth? Not sure if it’s worth it if it only works when my phone is nearby.

[Alex Miller]

Bluetooth only, no real tracking in the air.

[L_Parker]

Bluetooth only, so on the plane it won’t help much. Mine still showed up once we landed though, which was the part I actually cared about. If your bag gets lost, that last ping at the airport is better than nothing.

[Matt__]

I don’t think the in-air part matters that much. I used mine on a couple of trips and it was more about seeing that the bag made it to the right city, not tracking it mid-flight. For that it did the job fine.

[Tom West]

If your bag ends up in some other city, you’re not going to see it moving around on a map. That’s just not what this thing does. Worth it for finding a lost bag after landing, not for watching it fly.

[Jake Paul]

If you’re expecting to watch your bag move across a map mid flight, that’s not happening. It’s not that kind of device. I’d skip it if that’s the whole reason you want one.

[TommyWires]

I picked one up mainly because I kept misplacing my keys, and the luggage thing was an afterthought. What surprised me was how it actually works in a busy airport. When my bag was sitting in the terminal before loading, the app updated its spot pretty often because there were tons of phones around acting as a relay. Once it got loaded and the cargo door shut, it basically went silent and showed the last place it pinged, which was the gate area. So you do get a rough idea of where it was last seen, just not a live dot the whole flight. For me that was enough to feel better about handing over the bag. Battery has lasted me about five months so far on the original one, if that helps.

[Lisa Muller]

Mine only updated once we landed, nothing during the flight.

[Dave the Curious]

Bluetooth only from what I can tell, so you won’t see it mid flight. Mine popped up once we landed and that was enough for me. It still gave me peace of mind knowing where it ended up.

[Julia Writes]

Mine actually pinged at the airport while we were still on the tarmac, so it’s not strictly a once you land thing. It only updated a couple times though, nothing you could watch move. For a checked bag that was plenty for me.

[Emma Word]

Mine tracked fine during the flight.

[Chris Writes]

Bluetooth range alone won’t help much with a checked bag, in my experience. I used mine on a trip last month and got nothing until the bag was basically coming down the carousel. It’s fine for finding a lost backpack at a cafe, but for checked luggage the whole thing felt pretty pointless to me.

[Jackson_H]

If it’s the Bluetooth side of it you’re asking about, that’s the part I’d focus on. From what I gather these tags don’t have their own GPS, so mid-flight tracking isn’t really the point. The value is more about the airport side of things. If your bag gets sent to the wrong carousel or someone grabs it by mistake, you’ve got a last known spot to work with, and that’s usually enough to sort it out with staff.

The thing I keep going back and forth on is battery. A CR2032 that lasts a few months sounds fine for keys, but for a bag that sits in a closet between trips, I’d rather not have to remember to swap it before every holiday. That’s my main hold-up, not the flight tracking. Curious whether people actually get close to six months or if that’s optimistic.

[Chris Reed]

Mine only worked once the bag was on the carousel.

[Tom Call]

Mine updated during a layover, not just at the end. Got a hit while the bag was still in the airport, which surprised me. So it’s not useless in the air, just kind of random when it pings.

[MarkD87]

The way I understand it, these things are basically just Bluetooth, so for a checked bag it’s less “live tracking” and more “here’s the last place my phone happened to catch it.” Which can still tell you something, just not in a constant dot moving across a map kind of way. I’ve messed with enough little trackers to know the marketing makes it sound way more capable than it usually is in practice. So if you’re picturing watching your bag the whole flight, that’s probably not happening. If you just want some clue that it made it onto the plane or showed up somewhere along the way, that’s a different story. For me it’s the kind of gadget that’s fine for peace of mind but not something I’d rely on as my only plan.

[Chloe M.]

I’d skip it for a checked bag and use it for my carry-on instead. That’s just me though. I’ve had one in a backpack and it was handy when the bag was nearby, but relying on it while the bag is in the cargo hold would bug me.

[Linda Robinson]

Fair enough, I’ll leave mine in the carry-on then.

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