There are few things more frustrating when traveling than arriving at your destination airport only to find your luggage hasn’t made the journey with you. Standing at the carousel watching other passengers collect their vacation essentials while yours remains absent is guaranteed to take the shine off the start of any trip. And it’s not exactly a rarity.
In 2023, Americans reported more than 2.8 million pieces of checked luggage as lost, delayed, damaged or stolen. And that’s just for domestic flights.
Of the US airlines involved, United Airlines was the second worst offender with 0.74 bags ‘mishandled’ (industry term) per 100 ‘enplaned’ (put on the plane.) While that’s still below 1% of all luggage handled, try explaining that statistic to the family whose weekend away with the kids has been ruined by lost luggage.
Happily, United has decided to try and put an end to it once and for all. It is the first airline to roll out Apple’s new Share Item Location feature. This allows passengers using AirTags or Find My Network-enabled accessories in their bags to share their location with United’s customer service team privately and securely.
United promises the entire process is seamless and end-to-end encrypted, and the location sharing stops automatically once you’re reunited with your luggage. You can also stop it yourself at any time. All you need are the relevant Apple accessories and devices running the relevant iOS 18.
2, iPadOS 18.2 or macOS 15.2 operati.