United becomes 1st airline to use AirTag tracking luggage

If you're flying United Airlines this holiday season, adding an Apple AirTag to your checked bag could be and extra assurance that you'll be reunited with your luggage, even if it gets lost in the shuffle.

United integrates Apple’s new share item location feature for AirTag

The Chicago-based carrier is officially the first of the major airlines to implement Apple's Find My item location, which was first announced by the tech company 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," the airline stated in a press release on Thursday.

United said it expects 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 Find My technology works with United Airlines

In the event a bag doesn’t arrive to its final destination, customers can file a delayed baggage report in the United app, and those who travel with an AirTag or Find My network accessory can additionally now create a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and add that to the delayed baggage report in the United app.

Once the report has been submitted, authorized United customer service agents will receive the Share Item Location link and be able to view the location of the item on an interactive map. The map will automatically update when a new location is available and show a timestamp of the most recent update.

United will use the shared location to more quickly find delayed bags and reunite them with customers.

For customers’ privacy and security, the shared location will be disabled as soon as a customer is reunited with their bag, can be stopped by the customer at any time, and will automatically expire after seven days.

Share Item Location is built on the Find My network, a crowdsourced network of over one billion Apple devices — including the 120,000 iPhone, iPad, and Mac deployed by United — that use Bluetooth wireless technology to detect missing devices or items nearby, and report their approximate location back to the owner. The entire process is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, so no one else, not even Apple or Find My Network accessory manufacturers, can view an item’s location or information.

To experience the new feature, United said that its customers will need to verify their device is running iOS 18.2 software or later and that their United app is up to date.

Customers that don't have the United app will receive a text notification with information to track the misplaced luggage and add a Share Item Location link for their AirTag or Find My network accessory.

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