Airlines have no excuse for not finding your bag if you use this AirTag feature

Unfortunately, airlines are still struggling to locate lost bags despite the abundance of tracking devices. When this happens, it is often to the dismay of the person who loses their luggage and has to deal with the airline removing them from their presence. Apple added a new feature to Find My last month to help with these annoying situations when they arise. Share the location of the item It allows you to share the location of your AirTag with a third party, which will be very useful when trying to prove that the airline lost your bag.

United Airlines It is the first major airline group to implement Apple’s Share Item Location feature for AirTag in its mobile app. To use it, you’ll need the latest iOS 18.2 update, available for iPhone Xs and later. This feature allows you to create a shareable link through the Find My app and add it to your delayed baggage report. You can also stop sharing that data before your item is found. The item’s location sharing link automatically expires after seven days.

Apple said location sharing is end-to-end encrypted, so only you, the user, and a third party can access the link. If you’re flying United, as soon as your bag no longer appears on the conveyor belt, you can file a delayed baggage report and link to the item’s sharing site. The link can be created via iPhone, iPad or Mac. After you submit the report, United will use this link to find out where your bag is, and hopefully get it out of whatever spiral it’s in. And United promises to disable co-location when you reunite with your bag.

I’m curious what airlines are thinking when they applaud support for a new feature that effectively detects if you don’t follow protocol for returning a bag. United’s press release highlights the idea that it’s one of the first major airlines to sign on to this new way of tracking bags, but not without cheekily noting that Apple’s new Share Item site “will lead to a much-improved customer service experience.” For less than 1% of customers whose bags arrive on a later flight.” That’s a statistic last year Which claimed that only a small percentage of people have to deal with lost bags.

However, this number is still very large. Airlines make keeping your bag difficult and charge you for the privilege of keeping it close to you. How dare they pass it off as something insignificant that only affects a small group of people here and there. On most of my trips this year, I’ve seen people who recently boarded a plane having to check their bags because there wasn’t enough room in the overhead bins. The boxes would probably be sufficient if it weren’t for the expense of checking the bag from the beginning. It’s always a lose-lose situation for the customer, so Apple is proud to let its users know that it has introduced a way to help get around the bag check policy.

More than a dozen airlines will begin implementing this tracking feature, including most of United Airlines’ partners, such as Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Turkish Airlines. Apple says more carriers will be added over time.

Android users wondering how To play this game you will have to choose a player. All Android users can access Find my device. If you are using a Samsung device, the company has Its own tracking network For the ecosystem. Third party companies such as Tile also Allows you to share the device’s location with another party.