Holiday travel is stressful enough without wondering where your suitcase went. AirTags give you a quiet little safety net that rides along with your stuff, and this is a good moment to get them set up before airports get busy.

In this guide, I will walk you through what AirTags actually do, how to set them up, and some simple ways to use them on trips so you can stop refreshing a baggage carousel and start paying attention to the fun parts of getting away.

What AirTags really are in everyday terms

At a basic level, an AirTag is a small disc that talks to nearby Apple devices over Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband. Those devices then report the location back to your Apple ID through the Find My network.

The standout detail is that the network is huge. Any recent iPhone, iPad, or Mac running the right software can quietly help find your AirTag in the background. You do not need to be near your luggage for the location to update. If your bag is sitting in a different terminal, someone else’s iPhone can still help you see where it is.

On newer iPhones with Apple’s U1 chip, you also get Precision Finding. That is the feature where a big arrow appears on your screen and points you to the tag when you are nearby, which is very handy in a crowded baggage hall or hotel room that seems determined to hide your backpack.

Behind the scenes, AirTags are simple hardware. They use a CR2032 coin cell battery that you can replace yourself, they are water and dust resistant, and all the heavy lifting is in the Find My app rather than the tag itself.

What you need before you buy AirTags

Before you start tossing AirTags in every bag, it helps to check your devices.

You need:

• An iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 14.5 or later, or an iPad with iPadOS 14.5 or later
• An Apple ID with two factor authentication
• The Find My app turned on and signed in
• Bluetooth and Location Services turned on

If your iPhone is reasonably modern, you are probably fine. Older devices can still work as long as they can run the right software, although Precision Finding only appears on U1 equipped iPhones.

Because holiday trips usually involve a few different people, it is also worth noting that you can now share an AirTag with up to five other people. That means everyone in the family can see the same checked bag or stroller in Find My, instead of one person being the designated “bag tracker” for the whole group.

If you want to start from scratch, a four pack is usually the sweet spot for a first trip: checked suitcase, carry on, daily backpack, and keys.

Use this link to get the Apple AirTag 4 Pack for tracking keys, bags, and more in the Find My app (Amazon Affiliate Link): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0932QJ2JZ?tag=nextlevelmac-20&gbOpenExternal=1

How to set up AirTags the easy way

Set up is straightforward, but there are a couple of tips that make travel easier later.

1. Take each AirTag out of the packaging and pull the plastic tab to activate the battery.
2. Hold the AirTag near your iPhone. A card will slide up from the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap Connect, choose a name from the list, or create a custom name.
4. Assign an emoji or icon that makes sense at a glance.
5. Repeat one at a time until all of your tags are set up.

For trip use, naming and icons matter more than they do for everyday keys. “Checked suitcase” is much clearer in a stressed moment than “Item 3”. You might set up names like “Black carry on”, “Blue checked bag”, or “Camera backpack” so you instantly know which thing is where.

Once everything is added, open the Find My app, tap Items, and make sure each AirTag shows up in the list. If something looks wrong, it is easier to fix at home than at the airport.

Where to put AirTags in your luggage

A common question is whether the tag should be inside or outside a bag. For travel, inside is usually better.

For checked luggage, place the AirTag in an interior pocket or pouch, ideally near the center of the suitcase. That keeps it from being knocked off by rough handling, and it makes the tag less visible to anyone who opens the bag.

For carry on luggage, you can tuck an AirTag into an internal zipper pocket or a small tech pouch that lives in the same spot every time. If the bag is full of cables and chargers, that AirTag becomes a quick way to find everything again when it gets tucked under a seat or shoved into an overhead bin.

If you prefer not to hide the tag inside the bag, a travel luggage tag with a hidden AirTag compartment can be a nice middle ground. It looks like a normal bag tag from a distance but keeps the tracker protected and out of sight.

Here’s where you can buy the MORIK Secret AirTag Leather Luggage Tag Tracking holder with a hidden AirTag compartment for your suitcase (Amazon Affiliate Link): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0992QM8Z6?tag=nextlevelmac-20&gbOpenExternal=1

Using AirTags with airlines and lost baggage

AirTags are allowed in both checked and carry on bags. The battery inside is small enough to meet aviation safety guidelines, and regulators have specifically confirmed that this kind of tracker is fine for flights.

That matters because airlines have started embracing AirTags instead of fighting them. Several large carriers now support Apple’s Share Item Location feature, which lets you generate a temporary link from the Find My app and share your bag’s live location with an airline agent. When a suitcase disappears, that link can make conversations at the service desk a lot more productive.

The workflow looks something like this:

• Your bag does not appear on the carousel.
• You open Find My and see that your “Checked suitcase” AirTag is sitting in a different terminal or even a different airport.
• In Find My, you create a sharing link for that item.
• The airline scans a QR code or uses the link to see the same map you see.

Not every airline supports this yet, and policies vary, so it is still smart to keep your baggage claim information and photo of your suitcase handy. The AirTag gives you one more piece of evidence and a clearer sense of what is really happening.

Everyday travel uses beyond checked bags

Once you start traveling with AirTags, it is hard not to see small quality of life upgrades everywhere. A few simple examples:

• Carry on bags at busy gates
  If you tend to set your backpack down while juggling tickets and snacks, that little location dot can save you a panicked lap around the waiting area.
• Rental cars and road trips
  Leaving an AirTag in a rental car key pouch or glove compartment can help you find the car in a huge outdoor lot or a crowded parking garage. You still need to return the keys like normal, but finding the vehicle after a long day becomes much easier.
• Kids’ backpacks
  Travel with kids often means an extra bag full of snacks, toys, or schoolwork. An AirTag in a small inner pocket makes it simple to double check that the backpack is still on the train or plane with you.
• Camera and tech bags
  If you travel with a dedicated camera bag or gear organizer, a tag gives you a quick way to see if that bag is still in the taxi or hotel room before you get too far away.

These are all small things, but together they reduce the mental overhead of constantly counting items.

Keeping track of keys and smaller items on the trip

Travel days tend to shake up your normal habits. Hotel key sleeves, rental car keys, extra house keys for a house sitter, or even a small pouch of local transit cards can all be easy to misplace.

A simple keychain style AirTag holder lets you clip an AirTag onto a ring, strap, or zipper without worrying about it falling out. The nice bonus here is that it also keeps the tag itself from getting scratched up by metal keys or hardware.

Where you can purchase the Compatible with AirTag Holder Case Keychain 4 Pack silicone holders to clip AirTags onto keys, bags, and pet collars (Amazon Affiliate Link): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09468VZ5W?tag=nextlevelmac-20&gbOpenExternal=1

You can dedicate one holder to your main house keys, one to a travel key bundle, one to a backpack, and keep a spare in a drawer for the next trip.

How to actually use Find My during a trip

Once everything is set up, the Find My app becomes your control center.

On iPhone or iPad, open Find My and tap the Items tab. You will see a list of your AirTags with a small map preview. Tapping any item gives you options like:

• Play Sound
• Directions
• Find (for Precision Finding on supported devices)

On travel days, it helps to check in at a few key moments:

• While waiting at the gate: Confirm that your checked bag is at the same airport as you.
• During a tight connection: Make sure the suitcase made the jump and is not sitting at the previous airport.
• At the carousel: Watch the location as bags start to arrive. If your bag is still far away, you know to start planning a conversation with the airline.

You do not need to stare at the map all day. Think of it as a quick reassurance tool you can pull out when something feels off.

Sharing AirTags with other people on the trip

If you are traveling with a partner or family, giving more than one person access to the same tag can make life easier.

From the Find My app, you can share an AirTag with up to five other people who have Apple IDs. Once they accept, they see the item in their own Find My app, with all the same location information you see.

This works well for:

• A shared suitcase that everyone needs to track
• A family car that multiple people park in different places
• A stroller or travel crib that gets checked as special baggage

The only real rule to remember is that children’s Apple IDs cannot be added as shared AirTag owners, so this feature is aimed at adults and older teens in the group.

Privacy, alerts, and staying considerate

Because AirTags are so good at following things around, Apple has layered in several safety features meant to prevent unwanted tracking of people. It helps to know how those work before you travel.

If someone else’s AirTag appears to be moving with you over time, your iPhone will eventually notify you that an unknown tag is traveling with you. You can tap that alert to see information about the tag, make it play a sound, and get guidance on disabling it if necessary. Android users can install an app from Apple to scan for nearby AirTags as well.

When you share an AirTag with others, or they share one with you, the system adjusts alerts so that people do not constantly get warned about tags that are legitimately shared. That keeps safety features in place while still making shared suitcases and family car keys workable.

On your side, the main courtesy is to only attach AirTags to items you own or have clear permission to track. Luggage, keys, bags, and devices you control are fair game. Putting a tracker in someone else’s belongings without consent is not.

Making a simple travel plan with AirTags

To wrap this into something you can act on before your next trip, here is a straightforward plan.

For a typical holiday flight, you might:

• Put one AirTag in each checked suitcase, in an inside pocket.
• Attach one AirTag to a carry on backpack that holds valuables.
• Clip one AirTag to a shared key ring so you always know where the keys went.
• Share the suitcase and car key tags with another adult on the trip.

On the day of travel, you check that every tag appears in Find My before leaving home, then you only open the app when it feels useful. If a bag goes missing, you already have a live map of where it is, and possibly a way to share that with the airline.

That is the real value of AirTags on trips. They do not magically make lost bags appear, but they keep you from being in the dark, and that alone can make travel days feel a lot calmer.