Airlines are finally embracing Apple’s air tags—which means lost luggage could be a thing of the past

There’s nothing more annoying than arriving at your destination and finding that your checked baggage didn’t make the trip. But thanks to Apple’s new partnership with 15 different airlines, it’s easier than ever to track down your lost luggage—provided you have the right $29 gadget. Here’s what you need to know to help track down your missing baggage as efficiently as possible.

U.S. airlines mishandle millions of bags every year

While most checked bags get on the proper flight with their owner and arrive as planned, the U.S. Department of Transportation says over 2.8 million bags were “mishandled” by reporting U.S. carriers in 2023. The agency defines a “mishandled” bag as one that is “lost, delayed, damaged or pilfered.” In 2023, about 5.8 out of every 1,000 passengers had something happen to their checked baggage, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 

While a damaged bag is unfortunate, at least most your belongings arrive. “Mishandled” bags that are lost, delayed, or stolen, on the other hand, can drastically impact your trip and lead to significant financial losses, depending on what they contain. And, if you’re traveling for business, a lost bag can significantly hamper your work plans.

Historically, the only way you could track your checked baggage was via the identifier on the sticker that a gate agent placed on your bag when you dropped it off. In 2021, Apple introduced the AirTag item tracker, giving hundreds of millions of iPhone users a new way to track their items—whether that included keys, purses, or flash drives. Unsurprisingly, many users used AirTags to help track their checked bags from one location to another.

The problem was that while users could easily see where their AirTag and attached items were, using the Find My app on their iPhone, they had no easy way to share this information with the airline staff tasked with tracking missing luggage. But now, thanks to recent software updates and agreements with major airlines, that’s changed.

Apple teams up with airlines to share AirTag locations

Apple released iOS 18.2 in mid-December. The iPhone operating system update garnered headlines for integrating ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. However, iOS 18.2 also introduced a new feature to AirTags called “Share Item Location.” 

The feature finally allows users to easily share the location of an AirTag with another individual of their choice. When an AirTag owner shares its location using the Share Item Location feature, the person they choose will receive a link to an interactive map viable in a web browser. The map will show the last known location of the AirTag as well as its geo-coordinates. This allows a third party to track down an AirTag’s shared location easily.

AirTags have had their share of criticisms since bad actors can use them in nefarious ways, but with Share Item Location, Apple includes a restriction regarding who can access the shared link revealing the AirTag’s location. After clicking on the link, an individual must log into the Share Item Location portal with their Apple ID or an airline partner ID. This ensures that there is always a record of who is viewing your AirTag’s location.

Airlines that have partnered with Apple so far include 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 Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling.

If you fly United and you use the United Airlines app to file a missing bag report, you can now include the AirTag’s Share Item Location link with the report. This, says David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer, allows United’s staff to “use the location information to find the bag and get it reunited with its owner much more quickly.”

How to share your AirTag’s location with an airline to help find your missing luggage

With the ability to now share your AirTag’s location with many of the world’s top airlines, it seems like an AirTag should be in every traveler’s arsenal. If you’ve lost a piece of luggage (ugh!) but were savvy enough to have put an AirTag on it, here’s how to share its location with airline staff:

1. Open the Find My app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Items button in the bottom toolbar.
3. Select the AirTag attached to your missing luggage from the list of items.
4. On the next screen, tap Share Item Location.
5. Tap Continue.
6. Now tap the Share Link button and copy and paste the URL into the airline’s missing baggage report.

Airline staff will then log into the AirTag Share Item Location portal to help identify the location of your missing bag so you can get it back as quickly as possible.

A single AirTag is just $29; there’s no associated subscription fee for the Find My tracking service. You can also buy a pack of four AirTags from Apple for just $99—perfect if you check a lot of bags when you travel.

View the full article