Apple AirTag Owners Can Soon Share Location Info Directly with Airlines

Skift Take

United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and IAG have all been working with Apple on how to incorporate the tech into their baggage tracking strategies.

Justin Dawes

Apple said users will be able to share the location of AirTags and other Apple devices with third parties — soon directly with airlines. 

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are among multiple carriers that said they have been working with Apple on the tool, according to the announcement Monday.

Travelers often place AirTags inside of suitcases to track the location of their items while traveling. Though that gives travelers a better idea of where missing bags are, there hasn’t been a way to easily share that information with airlines. 

The new feature, called Share Item Location, is located within the Find My app. Find My is an existing feature that allows Apple device owners to track the location of those devices, such as a lost iPhone or iPad or AirTag, even if they’re offline. Users have not been able to share device locations previously.

With the new tool, users can generate a link for any of their Apple devices, which they can share with others as they would normally share a link. The link opens a website that shows the item’s location on an interactive map, and the website updates as the location changes. The user can stop sharing the location at any time, and it will automatically expire after seven days.

Apple hasn’t specified exactly how a user will share that information with an airline. 

The new feature is available for testing now through the public beta version of iOS 18.2.

Airline Plans

David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer, said in a statement that the company has been working with Apple to incorporate the tech into its baggage recovery process. The airline plans to trial the tech in select airports initially, with a target to integrate it system-wide in early 2025. 

Besides United and Delta, Apple is working with IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, and Level.

SITA, the airline-owned tech company, is building the Apple tech into its own baggage-tracing system,  WorldTracer. SITA says its system is used by more than 500 airlines and ground handlers at more than 2,800 airports worldwide.