United Airlines and Air Canada start using AirTags to prevent lost luggage

As more travelers use Apple (AAPL) To track their bags, some airlines are rushing to integrate it into their checked baggage systems.

December 12, United Airlines (University of London College of Art) It was announced that Apple’s new “Share Item Location” feature will be integrated into the airline’s app so that passengers who have lost their luggage can share the location of their items with the airline. While this only applies to people putting AirTags in their suitcases (the airlines won’t provide them), it can help skip the back-and-forth with airline representatives.

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“Faster baggage recovery and a better overall travel experience”: Can AirTag do it?

“Customers can now securely share AirTags or Find My Accessory’s location with a United customer service agent through the United app to speed up baggage retrieval,” the Chicago-based airline said in a press release. Get back speed and have a better overall travel experience.

Those who have lost luggage can already use the feature through the United app, which disables location sharing once the lost bag is marked as delivered to its owner. If it doesn’t exist for some reason, location sharing will automatically expire after 7 days.

North of the border, flag carrier Air Canada (AC DVF) Share My Location was integrated into the baggage handling process back in November. Like United, this feature is only available to users whose phones have been updated to the current iOS 18.2 and have AirTags recorded on their devices.

“In the rare event that a passenger’s bag is delayed or lost, passengers can securely share the location of their AirTags bag directly with our baggage services team,” Air Canada said in a statement at the time.

RELATED: Apple AirTags help Delta passengers find lost items in surprising places

Flying with these airlines? AirTag tracking feature coming soon

Apple also announced that many other airlines will soon follow suit and launch similar services. including Air New Zealand (ANZ Bank) singapore airlines (singapore international financial foundation) British Airways, Air France and KLM (Royal Australian Air Force) Qantas (University of Queensland, San Francisco) and Delta Air Lines (Dar) .

United beats U.S. rivals to become the first U.S. airline to officially integrate the technology.

Prior to the integration, there had been some high-profile stories in which airlines took days to find lost items, while passengers who put an AirTag in their luggage could already see it through the Find My app location.

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“If a bag doesn’t reach its final destination, customers can submit a delayed bag report in the United app, and customers traveling with AirTags or Find My accessory can now create a link to a shared item’s location in the app . Find My Apps… and add it to your delayed baggage report in the United app,” the airline further said in explaining how the new feature works.

“After submitting a report, an authorized United customer service agent will receive a shared item location link and be able to view the item’s location on an interactive map.”

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