Apple AirTag Update Enhances Lost Luggage Tracking for Travelers

Users of Apple AirTag will soon be able to directly share the location of their lost luggage with 15 major airlines, including Delta, United, and British Airways.

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While AirTags have become a popular tool among travelers to track checked luggage, users have faced challenges when trying to communicate the exact location of their luggage to airlines.

AirTags work by transmitting a unique identifier via Bluetooth, picked up by any nearby iPhone, which then sends location information to Apple. This system allows the AirTag owner to track its real-time location through the «Find My» app, as published by Aeroin.

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However, until now, airlines have not had systems to handle this information, leaving passengers waiting for airline staff to manually locate their luggage.

To address this issue, Apple introduced a new feature called «Share Item Location», which allows users to create a secure link to share the location of their AirTags with others.

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This feature is now available in the public beta version of iOS 18.2. To ensure privacy, the shared link is disabled once the owner retrieves their items and also automatically expires after seven days.

Airlines that will integrate this functionality into their baggage tracking processes include Delta, United Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, Qantas, and Virgin Atlantic. Apple worked closely with these companies to establish the necessary systems to accept location-sharing links.

New feature

David Kinzelman, United’s Director of Customer Service, highlighted that many of their passengers already travel with AirTags in their luggage and that this new feature will make it easier to securely share location information with the company, increasing customer service efficiency and providing greater peace of mind to travelers.

United plans to fully integrate the feature into its baggage tracking systems by early 2025. In the near future, SITA, a leader in air transport technology, also plans to integrate the «Share Item Location» feature into its WorldTracer system, used by over 500 airlines and handling companies at more than 2,800 airports worldwide.

In addition to the companies already mentioned, others that will initially accept the feature include: Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, and Vueling.

Although currently in beta, the feature is expected to be released as a free software update for iPhones Xs and later models in the near future.