United Airlines and Air Canada, in collaboration with Apple, have introduced a new luggage tracking enhancement for its customers. Leveraging Apple AirTag's new “Find My Item Location” feature, travelers can now share their AirTag’s location with an airline and streamline the process of locating lost baggage or items.
Launched on December 11, as part of iOS 18.2, the feature enables AirTag users to generate a live tracking link via Apple’s “Find My” app on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Airlines can use this link to pinpoint the location of a missing item or luggage, displaying its position on an interactive map with a timestamp of the most recent update.
If a bag or item does not arrive at its destination, travelers can file a delayed baggage report with an airline and share the AirTag’s location link via the airline’s app or text message. Once the item is recovered, the shared location is automatically disabled. Customers can also manually stop sharing the link at any time and all location links expire after seven days.
Furthermore, the entire process is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, preventing any unauthorized access to the item’s location, even by Apple or accessory manufacturers.
While United Airlines and Air Canada are the first to adopt this technology, Apple plans to expand the integration to 16 additional airlines, including Aer Lingus, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Vueling.
