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Lost luggage? You can now share your Apple AirTag with BA, Virgin, Iberia, Aer Lingus & more

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Apple’s AirTag is practically made for frequent travellers. The small £2-sized tracking device is ideal for making sure your bags come with you, and knowing where they are when they haven’t.

I’ve had one for the past two years, religiously taking it everywhere I go. I keep it in my wash bag so that it’s always with me whenever I travel.

It’s saved me on multiple occasions and also gives me peace of mind. I no longer stand at the baggage belt wondering if my bag has made it if it takes a while to emerge: I know by glancing at the Find My app that it has.

Apple AirTag British Airways

On connecting flights, I can check to see if it’s been loaded on the aircraft. On one occasion it helped me find it when I spent the night in Singapore Airport and only passed through the baggage hall the following morning. With my AirTag, I could make a beeline for my bag without having to hunt through hundreds of stored suitcases.

If you don’t already have an AirTag, I highly recommend you get one (HfP Amazon link here!) as it’s about to get a whole lot more useful.

With iOS 18.2, the latest update, Apple now allows you to share an AirTag’s location:

“Apple has introduced Share Item Location, a new iOS feature that helps users locate and recover misplaced items by easily and securely sharing the location of an AirTag or Find My network accessory with third parties such as airlines.

The shared location will be disabled as soon as a user is reunited with their item, can be stopped by the owner at any time, and will automatically expire after seven days.”

A number of airlines now allow you to share the tracking link with them when submitting a delayed or lost luggage report. This can potentially help them track down your baggage and return it to you faster.

Apple AirTag British Airways

The ‘Share Item Location’ feature is supported by a number of airlines, including all major IAG carriers and Virgin Atlantic. Here is the full list:

  • 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
  • Turkish Airlines
  • United
  • Virgin Atlantic
  • Vueling

If you don’t already have one, you can get them on Amazon for £28 here (Apple sells them for £35, albeit with free engraving). Multipacks are also available.

Comments (90)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • whiskerxx says:

    How do you know it has been loaded onto the airplane?

    • haasha says:

      It’s near you at the take off you and not somewhere in the terminal…

    • Gordon says:

      You should be able to see it in the hold when you’re in the terminal & should definitely be in the hold when your at the gate.

      • whiskerxx says:

        How do you see it in the hold?

        • Gordon says:

          If you tap the “find my” on your iPhone Home Screen, you will see your apple air tags on there, and it will show you the location of them.

  • FFoxSake says:

    Android equivalents are on their way. The key seems to be the UWB enhancement for added accuracy once the Google Find My Device network rollout is complete.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/gadgets-tech/google-android-airtag-tracker-b2526969.html

    • MD says:

      Thanks for that link, interesting.

    • Roy says:

      Samsung already has SmartTag, complete with UWB. Only works with Samsung Galaxy devices though, so not a general Android solution.

      In fact, I think it might actually predate thr Applr AirTag slightly…

  • Paul says:

    Sounds like I need to make a new year purchase. Though I do often stand by the baggage belt and hope my bag is delayed. Nice little earner from Amex at that point!

    • Zain says:

      That’s such a weird way to make a tiny amount of cash mate

      • Paul says:

        Must be nice to class £300 a head as tiny amount of money! £1200 for a family of 4 with a further similar amount after 48 hrs. Keeps me in shorts, tee~shirts and a decent cologne. Hasn’t happened for 7 years but then I don’t fly BA with baggage.

    • Kenneth says:

      HOW IS IT AN “EARNER” FROM AMEX?

  • NFH says:

    Perhaps Apple should supply simple inexpensive devices to airlines that report AirTags’ locations to Apple’s servers via wifi with meaningful location names in airports such as “LHR T5 gate C55” or “LHR T5 baggage reclaim belt 5”. This would make it easier to understand locations in unfamiliar airports and also increase the appeal of AirTags to airline passengers who struggle to read maps.

    • Cranzle says:

      Apple planned hardware call iBeacon. I’m not sure they ever did much with it though.

  • cin4 says:

    Is there any way to do this with older iPhones?

    • Gordon says:

      If your iPhone is capable of running IOS 11 or later. Also the 2020 and 2022 SE models don’t have this function.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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