18 Airlines Using Apple AirTag Data to Find Lost Luggage

Jessica Puckett
·4 min read

Dmitry Volkov/Getty

Losing your luggage to the mysterious labyrinth of an airport baggage system is every flier's worst nightmare—especially when nobody at the airline can tell you where in the world it ended up. That's why many travelers have decided to take things into their own hands in recent years by attaching tracking devices like Apple AirTags to their checked luggage.

The helpful travel gadgets first launched in 2021, and then exploded in popularity in 2022 amid the post-covid travel boom. For the first time, passengers could tell airlines exactly where their lost bags were. But that didn’t mean sharing that information with airline customer service agents—the people who can actually retrieve your bag—was easy.

Now, a growing list of airlines are adding the ability for passengers to share location data from AirTags with airline customer service agents directly via their apps and websites. In November, Apple made it possible for AirTag and FindMy network users to generate a link sharing their item's location. The link, called Share Item Location, shows the item’s whereabouts on an interactive map that automatically updates as the item—or lost luggage—moves. And airlines are giving their customers a way to share those location links within their apps and websites.

“In the coming months, more than 15 airlines serving millions of people globally will begin accepting Find My item locations as part of their customer service process for locating mishandled or delayed bags,” an Apple release says. “More airlines will be added over time.”

Which airlines are using AirTags to track bags?

Major US airlines such as United and Delta have already integrated the new Share Item Location compatibility features into their apps. Lufthansa Group airlines—which includes European carriers Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings—became the latest suite of carriers to roll out new features supporting AirTags in their apps in early February. “The integration of our customers' AirTag data opens up additional possibilities for us to act even more efficiently and quickly,” Oliver Schmitt, head of the Lufthansa Group Digital Hangar, said in a recent release.

Additional airlines set to roll out FindMy compatibility features soon include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling, according to Apple. Here's the full list:

  • 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

  • Vueling

Overall, airlines using AirTags to help track lost bags is a positive step for airline customer service. “This is a win for customers,” says Brett Snyder, president of airline travel assistance firm Cranky Concierge. “Before, customers were frustrated because they could see where their bags were, but it wasn't easy to get the airline to use the same data to recover them. Now with airlines adopting usage of this, it makes it easier to get reunited with a lost bag.”

How to share an Apple AirTag or FindMy device location with your airline

The new process across airlines’ apps is relatively straightforward. Customers fill out a delayed baggage report online as usual. However, travelers will now see a field on the form for “Share Find My Item Location.” Simply generate a Share Item Location link in the FindMy app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and paste it into the field on the lost baggage form.

Customer service agents can then use the data in the interactive map to help them track mishandled bags. Importantly, the location sharing feature is disabled as soon as the user is reunited with their lost bag. Additionally, the AirTag owner can stop location tracking at any time, and the location link will automatically expire after seven days.

The Share Item Location feature is compatible with Apple iPhone iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, or macOS 15.2 or later, so be sure your devices’ software is updated with the latest operating systems before you travel—then sit back and enjoy your flight without worrying if your luggage will disappear on a trip of its own.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler

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