Skift Take
Watch tech press go gaga over it, but in real world, complaints on lost baggage are falling in U.S., and battle-hardened business travelers minimize checked in baggage anyway. But this could be a precursor to real-time luggage tracking that airlines will eventually launch themselves, for sure.
TrakDot, which launches at the end of March, aims to make sure your stuff doesn’t get lost. The $50 device, roughly the same size as a deck of cards, pinpoints its location using a GSM chip. Place it in a checked bag, and it sends updates on its whereabouts to your phone. (There’s a one-time activation fee of $9, and annual service fees of $13.)
The same FAA regulations that limit your smartphone use on the plane require TrakDot to automatically go into sleep mode once it hits a set altitude. So don’t expect constant check-ins as the bag makes its way from say, New York to Las Vegas.
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