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 operating systems, and an up to date version of the United app. If you don’t have the app, you can still use the service via text notifications with info on how to track misplaced luggage and the ability to add a Share Item Location link for your AirTag or Apple accessory.

How does Apple’s Share Item Location work for luggage?

Should you arrive at the airport and your luggage hasn’t, don’t panic (at least not immediately.) Instead, fire up the United app and create a ‘delayed baggage report’. Then launch the Find My app and create a Share Item Location link. You can then add this link to the delayed baggage report in the United app.

Armed with all this information, United’s customer support team can then track your bags’ exact movements on an interactive map. This automatically updates each time a new location is tracked, showing a timestamp for the last location. This should (in theory at least) allow them to track, find and return your luggage to you much more quickly than before. At least, that’s the idea. One thing is certain, if it works other airlines will likely quickly follow suit.

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