United launches Apple AirTag-powered baggage location

In November, Apple announced a new feature called Share Item Location, allowing users to share real-time coordinates of lost or misplaced items with airlines.

Now, United Airlines has announced it will start integrating this feature into its baggage process today, on Dec. 12.

The Share Item Location tool, which went live with iOS 18.2, works with supported Apple and third party accessories, as well as Apple AirTags. So if you have an AirTag in your baggage, and the baggage gets lost, you can open Find My on your iPhone, generate a Share Item Location link, and send it to the airline to expedite its recovery.

In United's case, customers will be able to add this link to their delayed baggage report in the United app. According to United, this should help its customer service agents "to more quickly find delayed bags and reunite them with customers."

The company says the shared location will be disabled as soon as you get your bag back. Customers will also be able to stop sharing the location at any time, and location tracking will automatically expire after seven days.

To use the feature, customers will need to have an iPhone running 18.2 or later and, of course, have a Find My accessory (such as Apple's AirPods Pro 2, Chipolo One Spot, Apple's iPhone Wallet, etc) or an AirTag, placed into their luggage.

United is just one of many airlines that are joining the program. More than 15 airlines said they would start accepting Find My item locations as part of their customer service, including 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, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling. Apple says more airlines will be added "in the coming months."