Apple has introduced a new way for travelers to track and locate their baggage, leveraging Apple’s Share Item Location feature for AirTag and Find My network accessories. Apple has partnered with United Airlines & other airlines to share air tag location data to help find lost luggage. This update, now available with iOS 18.2, allows United customers to share the precise location of their luggage with United’s customer service team, enabling a faster, more efficient bag-recovery process.
The new feature is designed to support the small percentage of customers — less than 1% — whose luggage does not arrive on the same flight. While the vast majority of United’s passengers already receive their bags on time or even earlier than expected, this enhancement adds an extra layer of reassurance for those rare instances when travel plans don’t go as expected.
How It Works
- Reporting a Delayed Bag: If a bag doesn’t arrive at its final destination, customers can file a delayed baggage report through the United app.
- Sharing Location Information: Travelers who use an Apple AirTag or Find My network accessory can generate a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. This link can then be added to the delayed baggage report in the United app.
- Real-Time Location Updates: Authorized United customer service agents can view the item’s location on an interactive map that updates in real time, displaying the most recent timestamped location.
- Privacy and Security: The shared location automatically expires after seven days, and customers can disable it at any time. The link is end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that only authorized parties — not even Apple or accessory manufacturers — can view the item’s location.
David Kinzelman, United’s Chief Customer Officer, highlighted the benefits of this new integration:
“For years, every customer has been able to track the journey of their bag through the United app as it is scanned on and off the plane, and previously, they didn’t have a way to directly share their AirTag information with our baggage team. Now, Apple’s new Share Item Location feature will help customers travel with even more confidence, knowing they have another way to access their bag’s precise location with AirTag or their Find My accessory of choice.”
This improvement builds on the capabilities of Apple’s Find My network, a global system of over one billion Apple devices that use Bluetooth technology to help locate missing items. United itself contributes to this network with its fleet of 120,000 iPhones, iPads, and Macs used by employees across its operations.
What Customers Need to Know
To take advantage of the new feature, customers should ensure their iPhone, iPad, or Mac is updated to iOS 18.2 or later. They should also have the latest version of the United app installed. Customers without the United app will still receive automatic text notifications with instructions to track delayed baggage and submit a Share Item Location link.
Analysis
I’m very excited for this change as when passengers first started using air tags to track their luggage. I foresaw conflicts between the airlines & passengers. This hopefully alleviates that and will allow for faster baggage recovery.
The full list of airlines as of publication are below
- 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
- Vueling
Apple says more airlines will be added and I certainly hope so as one major U.S. airline is missing from this list (American).
I’m happy to see the airlines I’ve had baggage issues with on this list.
On a recent Delta flight, Delta forgot to load the valet bags onboard. When I landed at my destination I was shocked to see my bag still in Atlanta… I got it back the next day but I wasn’t happy about it.
The other time British Airways didn’t load my and other passengers bag on a nonstop flight. It took a few days but the bag eventually came. So this technology would have been useful in both those cases!
I really hope I don’t have to use this tech but if I do you’ll hear from me on a flight review.
