Terry Argue’s Apple AirTag showed off his gear in Toronto while playing golf in Ireland. Courtesy of Terry Argue
- A man flying to Ireland saw his golf clubs forgotten on the flight thanks to an AirTag.
- Despite notifying the airlines, he said getting them back was a stressful experience.
- He told Insider that airlines need to adapt to the reality that anyone can now track their luggage.
A man who traveled from Oklahoma to Ireland to play golf with his friends said he spent his vacation without clubs after his equipment – equipped with an AirTag – sat the entire time at an airport across the ocean had.
Terry Argue, a Tulsa resident, told Insider that he experimentally added an Apple AirTag to his golf bag for the first time before heading out on his bucket list vacation in late June. Finally, as he boarded a connecting flight from Toronto to Dublin, he realized his clubs weren’t flying alongside him.
Argue said he asked a flight attendant if there was anything they could do to help him, but was told the situation was out of their hands. Instead, he was told that he would have to wait until he landed in Dublin to contact the airlines and was assured that they could send his luggage over on the next flight.
“I arrived in Dublin and sure enough it didn’t show up,” Argue told Insider.
Argue said he filled out a form and was told he would receive updates on the status of his golf bag. But nine days went by with no updates from the airlines. He told Insider that he called Air Canada, United Airlines and Toronto Pearson International Airport daily during the nine-day wait.
He spent his vacation buying replacement golf equipment, which he said cost him “a few thousand.”
“Probably the most painful part of the whole trip was having to play all these amazing courses that you had been looking forward to and planning on and not having your own clubs,” Argue said. “That’s probably the worst.”
Terry Argue in Ireland Courtesy of Terry Argue
The golf bag eventually left Toronto – just as he was returning to the airport
Argue said his clubs and equipment were at the Toronto airport until he flew home in early July. Then, as he boarded a connecting flight from Toronto to Chicago, he said the AirTag showed his bag was finally moving. But now it was being loaded onto a plane two gates away en route to Dublin. Argue said staff again told him there was nothing they could do about it.
Immediately after he made his way to Dublin, a “helpful” worker sent his golf bag back to Toronto Pearson, Argue said. After arriving in Canada, things stood still for another five days.
Argue said he believes he got his bag back because a United manager in Tulsa eventually reached out and demanded that United employees in Canada send it back to him.
“From what I was told, he became very belligerent or angry with his counterpart in Toronto and basically said, ‘How difficult is it to pick up this bag and put it on a plane? There is a picture of it that shows it exactly where it is. Just do it so we can return this bag to this gentleman and put this case to rest.”
Argue eventually picked up his bag at Tulsa International Airport. He said he was now awaiting a response to a lawsuit he filed on July 2 over costs incurred while golfing in Ireland without his equipment.
“Anyone can misplace a bag, and I don’t blame anyone for it,” Argue said. “But the problem was actually the lack of effort or ‘customer no service’ provided for a very simple solution. And I think the airlines haven’t gotten used to people doing things like that to track their luggage.”
The popularity of using AirTags to track luggage has increased in recent years as airlines struggle with more travelers and staff shortages, Insider previously reported. In January, Insider reported that Google searches for “Apple Air tags for luggage” had increased by more than 5,000% in the past year.
Insider has reported several cases where travelers were able to use their AirTags to recover their belongings: a woman tracked her daughter’s lacrosse equipment, a man watched his wallet travel on an American Airlines plane to over 35 cities, and a Boy who lost his $12,000 bike was able to get it back.
The use of AirTags by passengers is controversial among some airlines. In 2022, German airline Lufthansa reportedly asked passengers to turn off their AirTags, saying the technology was “dangerous” on a plane. The company later lifted the ban and the Federal Aviation Administration declared AirTags safe for use on flights immediately afterward.
United Airlines, Air Canada and Toronto Pearson International Airport did not immediately respond to questions from Insider. Dublin Airport passed on insiders to the airlines.
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