There’s been a few posts making the rounds suggesting that AirTags have solved one of travel’s most persistent psychological torments: the gnawing uncertainty of whether your checked bag actually made the journey with you. The premise is simple and, admittedly, clever. Drop an AirTag in your luggage, and Apple’s Find My network that’spowered by the iPhones of baggage handlers, fellow passengers, and airport staff pings you updates before your bag even hits the carousel.

It’s a beautiful theory. And in practice? It actually works remarkably well.

I’ve been using AirTags in my luggage for over two years now, and yes, there’s something genuinely satisfying about standing at baggage claim, phone in hand, and how the Find My app confirms your bag is somewhere in the bowels of the airport. Sometimes it updates when you’re still taxiing to the gate. Other times, you get a ping as you’re walking through the terminal. The anxiety doesn’t disappear entirely, but it shifts. It becomes manageable.

But here’s where I push back on the triumphalism: AirTags haven’t eliminated baggage anxiety. They’ve simply reframed it.

Because now, instead of wondering if your bag made it, you’re wondering why it’s still showing up at O’Hare when you’re standing in Denver. Or why it hasn’t moved in forty minutes. Or why the last ping was from someone’s iPhone in the employee parking lot. The anxiety doesn’t vanish, it just gets more specific, more informed, and occasionally, more maddening.

And let’s talk about what happens when the AirTag doesn’t update. When you’re in a smaller airport, or an international terminal where iPhone penetration isn’t as dense, or when your bag is sitting in a metal cargo container that blocks Bluetooth signals. Suddenly, that little piece of technology that was supposed to bring peace of mind becomes a source of new worry. Why isn’t it pinging? Is it lost? Stolen? Did the battery die?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-AirTag. Quite the opposite. They’re one of the smartest travel investments you can make, right up there with Global Entry and a good pair of noise-canceling headphones. But let’s not pretend they’re a panacea.

What they are is a Band-Aid on a broken system. Airlines still lose bags. Connections still get missed. Handlers still misroute luggage. The AirTag doesn’t fix any of that. It just gives you a front-row seat to watch it happen in real time.

So yes, throw an AirTag in your bag. Absolutely. But don’t expect it to end your baggage claim anxiety. Expect it to give you information. And in travel, as in life, information is power—even when it’s telling you something you’d rather not know.