United Airlines Becomes First Airline to Offer AirTag Luggage Tracking

United Airlines Becomes First Airline to Offer AirTag Luggage Tracking

If you’re flying United Airlines this holiday season, adding an Apple AirTag to your checked bag may provide additional confidence that you’ll be reunited with your luggage, even if it gets lost in the shuffle.

United has integrated Apple’s new share item location capability for AirTag

The Chicago-based airline is officially the first of the big airlines to use Apple’s Find My Item locating feature, which was first unveiled by the tech corporation last month.

“Customers can now securely share the location of an AirTag or Find My network accessory with United customer service agents through the United app for faster bag recovery and an even better overall travel experience,” a news release issued by the airline on Thursday read.

United predicts this move “to drive a much-improved customer service experience for the fewer than 1% of customers whose bags arrive on a later flight.”

How Does Find My Technology Work With United Airlines

If a bag does not arrive at its final destination, customers can file a delayed baggage report in the United app. Those who travel with an AirTag or Find My network accessory can now create a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac and attach it to the delayed baggage report in the United app.

Once a report has been submitted, authorized United customer care agents will receive the Share Item position link, allowing them to examine the item’s position on an interactive map. When a new location becomes available, the map will instantly update and display the most recent timestamp.

United will use the shared site to easily locate and reunite delayed luggage with customers.

To protect customers’ privacy and security, the shared location will be disabled as soon as they are reunited with their luggage, may be turned off at any time, and will automatically expire after seven days.

Share Item Location is based on the Find My network, a crowdsourced network of over one billion Apple devices, including United’s 120,000 iPhone, iPad, and Macs, that use Bluetooth wireless technology to detect missing devices or items nearby and report their approximate location to the owner. The entire procedure is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, so no one, including Apple and Find My Network accessory manufacturers, can see an item’s position or details.

To use the new function, United stated consumers must ensure their device is running iOS 18.2 software or later and that their United app is up to current.

Customers who do not have the United app will receive a text notification with instructions on how to trace misplaced luggage and a link to share the item location for their AirTag or Find My Network accessories.

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