Google Maps generally shows my location inside of airport terminals pretty accurately, so it stands to reason that the network of iPhones in a terminal could plot a tracker's position pretty well. If someone has your bag and you know which direction they're moving, you could possibly catch up and get close enough to either spot it or (assuming you have an iPhone 11+) get a Ultra Wide Band fix to finish pinpointing it.

Bury the tracker somewhere too inconvenient to locate and remove quickly, and they'll count on not removing it until later (or they'll just ditch it once it starts beeping).