iPhone Feature for Tracking Lost Baggage Expands to American Airlines

American Airlines now supports the iPhone feature that makes it easier to share the location of AirTag-equipped baggage at airports, according to View from the Wing.

AirTag on Baggage
iOS 18.2 added a new feature to the Find My app that allows you to temporarily share the location of an AirTag-equipped item with others, including employees at participating airlines. This way, if you have put AirTags inside your bags, the airline can better help you find them in the event they are lost or delayed at the airport.

American Airlines rolled out support for the feature this week, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed. Other airlines that already offered the feature include Delta, United, Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and more.

Here is what an American Airlines spokesperson told View from the Wing:

We've introduced the ability for customers to easily and securely share the location of their AirTag or Find My network accessory directly with the airline.

Customers can generate a link through Apple's Share Item feature available on iOS 18.2 or later and share it with American in the rare case when a bag is delayed for any trips with a segment from or to a U.S. airport. Customers just need to scan the QR code at the baggage office to start their claim and provide their information.

iOS 18 2 Share Item Location
iPhone, iPad, and Mac users running iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 or later can generate a "Share Item Location" link in the Find My app. Anyone they share the link with can then view a web page with a location of the item on a map. The page will automatically update with the item's latest known location.

Apple said it worked directly with airlines to put systems in place to "privately and securely" accept the "Share Item Location" links. Access to each link is "limited to a small number of people," and airport employees are required to "authenticate" to view the link by signing into their Apple Account or partner email address.

Apple Share Item Location iPhone iPad Mac
The item's location stops being shared "as soon as a user is reunited with their item," or automatically expires after seven days.

iOS 18.2 was released in December, and Apple said that additional airlines will implement this feature over the coming months.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

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Top Rated Comments

cjsuk Avatar
5 weeks ago
Now you can be immediately disappointed watching your luggage flying off to another country rather than unpleasantly surprised when it doesn't appear on the belt!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
5 weeks ago
...but know that your bag may be having a better vacation than you are. ;)

Presumably next gen AirTags will have A.I. and can thus blog about their adventures without you. I wonder if mine will end up with more followers than I have??? ;)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yimbaz Avatar
5 weeks ago
I just wanted to write a comment thanking Macrumors for actually using a headline that respects the reader, as opposed to certain other once-readable sites that have become infested with clickbait.

Attachment Image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
5 weeks ago
I've had good luck [knocks heavily on wood] getting my checked bags safely through my American flights, but I still definitely put an AirTag in there, just in case.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Makosuke Avatar
5 weeks ago
I’ve never actually lost a piece of luggage, but it’s nice that airlines are finally embracing AirTags as a way to help them make unhappy customers happier, rather than insultingly pretending that the unhappy customer doesn’t already know exactly where their lost bag is and refusing to use that information to help.

Now if only there was a way to prevent stealing stuff out of the suitcase—someone in the baggage handling chain stole a gift box of nice snacks out of my luggage a couple months ago, which was a first for me in 25 years of air travel. The AirTag in the suitcase wasn’t going to help any with that. Maybe someone will start selling suitcases with security cameras built in.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thefrost Avatar
5 weeks ago

...but know that your bag may be having a better vacation than you are. ;)

Presumably next gen AirTags will have A.I. and can thus blog about their adventures without you. I wonder if mine will end up with more followers than I have??? ;)
I'm sure Siri will document the experiences just fine. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right? ;)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)