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For the first time in nearly a decade, I arrived at the baggage belt, and my checked bag was already gone.
As a full-time digital nomad for more than nine years, I live out of that bag. All my clothing, supplies, toiletries, supplements, and even some memories (the ones too big to fit in my carry-on) are in that bag. So this wasn't just losing my vacation clothes. This missing bag carried the essentials that my wife and I use to live on the road.
And I likely never would've seen this bag or its contents again… if not for the Tile baggage tracker hidden inside.
Using that tracker, we tracked the bag across five states into Washington, D.C. And thanks to a brave friend and determined D.C. police, we recovered the bag and many of its contents.
Here's the full story and my advice for what to do if something similar happens to you.
Our Checked Bag Disappears at JFK
After years of traveling full-time, my wife and I are used to waiting a while for checked bags — recently waiting over an hour for our bags to drop. Rather than stand next to the baggage belt the whole time, we often find a spot nearby to get some work done while we wait. And since we'd arrived on a flight from Canada, Delta's 20-minute baggage guarantee didn't apply anyway.
When we went to collect our bags, only one of ours was still on the belt. The Delta app confirmed that both bags had been delivered to baggage claim, so the missing bag had made it to JFK. We checked around the belt area and nearby unclaimed bags to no avail. A trio of unclaimed bags sat beside a neighboring belt. But my checked bag was nowhere to be found.
I opened the Tile app on my phone. To my horror, the bag was pinging on its way away from JFK. I immediately enabled the “Notify When Found” feature in Tile and headed to the Delta baggage help desk.
The Delta agents were dismissive, saying that someone must have just taken the wrong bag. Sure, that's possible. So, what are the next steps? They shrugged. Not their problem.
As I watched the Tile continue across New York City, I hoped that they were right.
Watching Our Bag Travel Toward Newark
The tracker showed the bag entering Newark. Perhaps an exhausted traveler grabbed the wrong bag and was transferring between airports. Then, the bag went to another terminal. And then another terminal. Finally, the tracker moved to Newark Penn Station and started heading south.
With my onward Aer Lingus flight departure approaching, my chances of reuniting with this bag before departure were zero. Whether it was a case of mistaken bag identity or a theft, I needed to file a report and catch my flight.
I called the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police. The dispatcher sent a couple of officers to the JFK Terminal 4 baggage claim. The professional officers took down my information, reviewed the Tile tracker movements, and wrote a stolen property police report.
Next, I joined the queue of passengers waiting for a Delta baggage desk agent. By the time I had a police report and missing bag report filed with Delta, I had just 70 minutes before my Aer Lingus flight departed. My wife (Katie) had already headed over to Terminal 7 to check in and let the agents know what was happening.
I ran to the JFK AirTrain, took it two stops, and sprinted to Terminal 7. I snapped a photo as I burst through the doors at 61 minutes to departure and found what seemed to be an empty check-in counter.
Thankfully, an agent was waiting for me. I showed my UK ETA, confirmed I didn't have any checked bags, and got my boarding passes.
9 minutes after entering the terminal, I was on board my Aer Lingus flight to Dublin. But I wasn't able to relax yet.
Trying to Intercept Our Bag on Amtrak
The tracker pinged every few minutes, clearly heading down an Amtrak train line. As our Aer Lingus flight continued to board, I cross-referenced Google Maps and Amtrak timetables with Tile location data to determine it was traveling on Vermonter train 55 and called Amtrak police to report it.
The dispatcher took my information and assured me that police would intercept the train in Wilmington. I called back once the bag headed south from Wilmington with the tracker on board. Amtrak police hadn't seen the bag, but the dispatcher said Amtrak police would be waiting for the train in Baltimore.
Baltimore officers also didn't see the bag, and the tracker continued south toward Washington, D.C. — where a final Amtrak police officer was dispatched to Union Station in D.C.
After the bag was not seen leaving the train, the officer canvassed the train. He found a bag and excitedly texted me a photo. It resembled mine… but contained “several MacBooks” — not my clothing and supplies.
When the tracker exited Union Station, I figured our chances of recovery were near zero. I tried to get an hour or two of sleep in my Aer Lingus business-class “throne seat,” but I couldn't help obsessively checking Tile for updates as the tracker continued moving around D.C. late into the night.
Finding Help From Thousands of Miles Away
I fired off a few tweets about the situation, intentionally leaving out that I had a tracker in the bag. After all, my personal information was listed on a baggage tag on the outside of the bag — and business cards inside shared my social handles. Since the thief could potentially be checking my social media, I tried to make the bag as unappealing as possible, hoping they would just abandon it on the train.
@Delta Also, literally who thinks this bag has any value to them?! They are going to be so remarkably disappointed by its contents. https://t.co/XBd34w7uoU
— JT Genter (@JTGenter) November 11, 2026
I bit my tongue as a few replies berated me for not having a tracker in the bag — not wanting to reveal that I actually did.
Meanwhile, I privately texted with a couple of friends about the situation. One of them is fellow points-and-miles guru Jamie Larounis — also known as The Forward Cabin — who is based in D.C. After sending a few screenshots of the bag's location, I shared a link to the Tile's live-updating location.
The next day, we independently noticed that the bag had re-entered Union Station. While picking up essentials between Manchester and Leeds, I called the Amtrak police officer to let him know. Meanwhile, Jamie offered to try to find it.
A Bus Number, Two Police Officers, and an Arrest
As I scrambled to return our rental car in Leeds before the location closed, I got a flurry of DMs from Jamie. He had used the tracker to find the bag! It was being carried down the street. Voice-to-text censored my quick response.
Jamie tried calling the DC Metropolitan Police while I called the Metro Transit Police, but neither of us could get an officer dispatched. However, Jamie persisted, recording the bus registration that the man boarded and finding a nearby set of officers.
And he found the right guys. The officers sprang into action. After a short chase, the officers arrested the fleeing thief and then recovered the ditched bag from a nearby park.
Jamie recapped the situation on Twitter from his vantage point:
Soooo… look what I found. 🤣
This might be a story for the history books. Man steals backpack in NY. He takes Amtrak train to DC. I decided to play detective and found the thief with the backpack sitting at a bus station. He boards a bus, but luckily I caught the bus number. I found 2 extremely helpful cops to assist and they found the thief a few blocks away and they nabbed him. They asked me to get in the cop car to ID the thief, and we headed to the police station to retrieve the items.
Gotta say, I didn’t have being in a Metropolitan Police cop car on my bingo card today, but with a little perseverance we got this thief locked up!!! Huzzah!
— Jamie Larounis (@TheForwardCabin) November 11, 2026
JFK Surveillance Connects the Dots
The arrested man claimed that he had found the bag in New Jersey. Without evidence to the contrary, D.C. Metropolitan Police faced releasing him with only a charge of possession of stolen property.
I forwarded photos from the pursuit to the Port Authority police officer assigned to my case. He responded with photos of the same guy taking our bag from the baggage belt at JFK Airport. The guy arrested in D.C. was indeed the thief from JFK Airport!
Note: I'm intentionally withholding photos identifying the suspect. I believe the legal process should play out in court, not on social media.
I connected the Port Authority officer assigned to my case with the D.C. police officers who made the arrest. His review of the video footage provided the evidence that ensured the thief was charged with stealing my bag, not just possessing stolen property.
Even the Port Authority officer was impressed by the results:
Once at the station, Jamie video-called me to review the bag's contents together with the officers. Unfortunately, the thief had discarded Katie's clothing, personal care items, and custom dental equipment — along with a larger irreplaceable memento. But based on that video call, we should still recover about 70% of what was originally in the bag.
What to Do If Your Checked Bag Goes Missing
Baggage trackers are a critical tool
Whether you check bags or are #TeamCarryOn, make sure that you have a luggage tracker in your bags. This can be a Tile (like in my case), an Apple AirTag, or even one of the new Google Pixel Tags.
However, having a tracker alone didn't ensure we would get our bag back — or keep it from being stolen in the first place, as some have suggested. But without the tracker, we wouldn't have had a shot at getting our bag back.
And this isn't even the first time having a tracker has paid off. My wife and I have had trackers in our luggage and passport wallets for years. In December 2024, I accidentally left my passport wallet on a flight — in the seatback pocket of my original seat before moving to an empty row. This Tile tracker helped me recover my passport despite the airline assuring me it wasn't on the plane.
File a claim with the airline
If your bag is missing at baggage claim, file a missing baggage claim with the airline you arrived on. Even if you get your bag back shortly, you'll need this claim for potential delayed baggage coverage claims and/or lost or damaged baggage coverage on your credit card.
Make sure to file a police report before leaving the scene
If you suspect your baggage was deliberately taken, always file a police report. You'll likely need it if you end up making an insurance claim.
In this case, it was remarkably easy to get a Port Authority officer to the scene to file a report. His review of the video footage provided the evidence that ensured the thief was charged for stealing my bag rather than just for being in possession of stolen property.
Let police handle the recovery
Jamie was our absolute hero in this situation. Several police officers had access to the same Tile tracking data Jamie had, yet none found our bag. Without Jamie tracking down the bag, we likely never would have recovered it. Even if police later tracked down the bag, our gear probably wouldn't have been in as good a condition.
With that said, Jamie did take some risks in trailing the suspect. While Jamie kept his distance, the suspect could've confronted him if he noticed he was being trailed and/or photographed.
Thankfully, after striking out with the police dispatchers, Jamie found two awesome police officers who took action to make the recovery. If you (or one of your friends) end up in a similar situation, enlist the police to recover any stolen property rather than trying to do it yourself.
Consider getting Blue Ribbon Bags coverage
If you check bags, consider purchasing coverage from Blue Ribbon Bags — another service I've used for years. Here's how it works: If your bag isn't delivered by the airline on time, Blue Ribbon Bags will work within the airline's systems to expedite its return to you. If you aren't reunited with your bag within 96 hours of arrival, BRB pays $1,000.
Rather than paying the standard $5 per trip, I buy an annual subscription for $50. And this service came in clutch when Copa delayed my bags on a connection through Panama City (PTY).
In this case, my Blue Ribbon Bags coverage didn't apply because the airline didn't delay my bags, and BRB policies don't cover theft. Still, it's a useful service to consider if you check luggage.
Final Thoughts
I've used luggage trackers for years, but I never imagined how important one would become. Sitting on a plane over the Atlantic, watching our stolen bag move around Washington, D.C., felt incredibly helpless. I could see where our belongings were but couldn't do anything to stop the thief.
Yet without that little Tile tracker hidden inside the bag, we probably would've never seen our belongings again. It gave police a trail to follow, helped establish what happened at JFK, and ultimately allowed a friend more than 200 miles away to locate the stolen bag.
Of course, the tracker couldn't recover the bag on its own. That took an incredibly determined friend who went out of his way to help us and two D.C. police officers who sprang into action when he found them.
We won't get everything back. Some of what we lost can be replaced, while other items are irreplaceable. But after resigning ourselves to losing nearly everything in that bag, recovering most of our belongings is an extraordinary outcome.
The Tile helped us find our bag. But it was the people willing to act on that information who made the recovery possible.
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