Apple Just Announced That It’s Partnering With Airlines to Help Prevent Lost Luggage

20.11.2024 - 01:13 / afar.com / Royal Netherlands

Savvy travelers have in recent years discovered one of the most helpful hacks while flying: using an Apple AirTag to keep track of checked luggage. The popularity of the quarter-size devices soared during the summer of 2022, when lost luggage was one of the lowlights among many other travel disruptions.

However, there was one small drawback: Even if fliers knew where their missing suitcase was, there was no formal way of sharing its exact location with the airline.

Until now.

As part of Apple’s latest software update, the tech giant just announced a game-changing partnership that 18 major airlines have already joined. With the new development, users will soon be able to share with airlines a secure link for an AirTag’s location—and, accordingly, a suitcase—through the Find My app on their Apple devices.

It’s a pivotal move that could ease one of the biggest hassles in air travel by helping reunite travelers with lost luggage more quickly and efficiently.

“Find My is an essential tool for users around the world to keep track of and find their belongings,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said in a statement. “The Find My network and AirTag have proven to be a powerful combination for users while traveling, providing invaluable location information when bags have been misplaced or mishandled. With Share Item Location, we’re excited to give users a new way to easily share this information directly with third parties like airlines, all while protecting their privacy.”

The feature is currently available on iPhones running iOS 18.2’s public beta testing. Later this year, the updated software will be free for all users with an iPhone XS or newer.

There’s no official start date for when airlines will be able to view shared item locations. However, 18 carriers have already signed on to accept Find My item locations as part of their process for locating mishandled bags. They 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, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling. More carriers are expected to be added.

“We’ve worked closely with Apple to incorporate Share Item Location into our baggage recovery process and are excited to make this feature available to our customers soon,” said David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer in a statement. “We know many of our customers are already traveling with AirTag in their checked bags, and this feature will soon make it easier for them to share location information with us safely and securely, helping our customer service agents work more efficiently