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Tracing your luggage with TRACE ME tags
We were curious to see how any other tag could help trace your luggage apart from the airline’s own tag and barcode that is why we set out to try TRACE ME the new luggage tracker system created by Sophie Osbourn and John Crosland in collaboration with the immobilise database.
The tag offers a registration and recovery service in the form of an individual serial number and 2D bar code linked to registration details on a secure data storage system The objective is that because airline baggage handlers place a paper tag on your luggage when you check in, when that paper tag is lost or damaged, the luggage becomes untraceable. The TRACE ME tags on the other hand are durable and are part of the Mobile Equipment National Database (MEND), which holds billions of items of discrete information relating to property ownership and is operated by the secure data firm Immobilise. Data stored on MEND comes from a myriad of sources including law enforcement and government organisations from over 40 countries worldwide.
Sophie Osbourn says of her product “It is a means whereby travellers can add an extra level of security because luggage does fall through the existing system as has been proven in the various articles relating to unidentifiable luggage being offered for sale at public auction. None of us wants to see our possessions on eBay or to have private documents that were packed in our suitcases passing into the hands of the highest bidder”
Our tried and tested verdict
Airlines will not initially use the TRACE ME tag to start tracing your luggage but may use the tag and its details to help to identify your specific luggage after it has been traced through their own systems. TRACE ME is useful however, when the airline’s own baggage tag has been defaced or torn off your luggage. It is also handy if you do not want to expose yourself to identity theft, by registering your personal details on your belongings.
Because many bags look so alike these days, it is important however, that you try to tag your luggage in more ways than one so as to make it easy for it to be retrieved either direct from the belt or after it is lost.
Trace Me Tags cost £12.50 each or £19.95 for two with a lifetime guarantee and same-day dispatch.