Apple’s AirTag partnership with airlines signals an end to lost luggage

Two years ago, I declared Apple’s AirTags an essential travel item when they saved my sanity during a luggage delay returning from my honeymoon. As a frequent flyer, I continue to sing their praises and encourage anyone checking luggage on a flight to invest in coin-sized trackers.

On a recent trip that included six different legs and a trip to the other side of the planet, I was constantly checking where my bags were at every airport using Apple’s Find My app. There was so much room for error that I was convinced something would go wrong. Even though it sometimes took a while for the app to display the last location of my bags, it gave me peace of mind as I traveled through the major hubs and happily got there and back with no losses or delays to report.

Apple knows that people have come to rely on AirTags as they move around the world, and the company is about to make these travel accessories even more useful. As part of the latest update to its mobile operating system iOS 18, Apple is allowing people to share secure links to the location of their AirTags with third parties. That will soon also airlines.

This development will help address one of the remaining complaints about using AirTags for travel. That is, until now you may have been able to see where your luggage got lost, but that didn’t mean your airline could either. There was no effective, real-time way to prove to your airline that the baggage was where you said it was, leaving the airline with little incentive to act on the evidence.

Apple is now closing the loop by working directly with airlines to integrate your Find My Item location data directly into their customer service process for finding mishandled or delayed luggage. It’s a move that will hopefully reduce the number of bags lost in transit each year, typically in the tens of millions. It will also hopefully give travelers more options to fight for the safe return of their luggage.

“We know that many of our customers already travel with AirTags in their checked luggage, and this feature will soon make it easier for them to securely share location information with us, helping our customer service agents work more efficiently and giving our customers additional peace of mind ” said David Kinzelman, United’s Chief Customer Officer.

He added that the service will initially only be available at a handful of airports, but the airline hopes to have the service integrated into its network by early 2025.

A key partner in Apple’s push to make luggage more trackable is Sita, a technology company that makes the WorldTracer baggage tracking technology, which is used by more than 500 airlines and ground handlers at more than 2,800 airports worldwide.

“With global passenger traffic set to double by 2040, airports and airlines worldwide will face significant challenges,” said Nicole Hogg, baggage director at Sita. The Share Item Location links will allow for more efficient baggage management and be a “major benefit to customers,” she added.

This seems like the beginning of the end of the road for lost luggage, which feels like an infinitely solvable problem in the age of AirTags. Hopefully it will soon be a thing of the past.

How to share your AirTag location with your airline

Apple introduced the ability to share item location in iOS 18.2, which is now available in public beta and will roll out to most iPhone users soon. On an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can generate a secure, shareable link for all your items that shows the location of your AirTag on an interactive map. Like the Find My app, the website link updates as your item moves, with timestamps showing when it was last seen.

If your airline partners with Apple, you can share your link directly with the airline. Initially, 15 airlines have signed up to include Find My Item links. This includes Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines , United , Virgin Atlantic and Vueling.

Apple says more airlines will be added over time.

To keep your data safe, only a small number of people can see the location of your AirTag and recipients must confirm their identity using a partner email address or their Apple account.

With accurate, transparent location tracking, the idea is that your airline should be able to resolve your lost baggage complaint more smoothly. I’d like to know if this works as intended, so please feel free to contact me and let me know how you get on with it as it’s rolled out across airlines and airports around the world.

In the meantime, make sure you have enough AirTags for all your checked luggage – and, crucially, make sure they have enough battery life for your next trip.