United Airlines announced the integration of Apple’s new Share Item Location feature for AirTag into its mobile app.
This move is expected to improve the customer service experience for the fewer than 1% of customers whose bags arrive on a later flight.
Now available with iOS 18.2*, Apple’s Share Item Location feature enables United customers everywhere who travel with an AirTag or Find My network accessory to privately, securely, and seamlessly share the accessory’s location with the airline’s customer service team to help locate their luggage if it is mishandled.
While more than 99% of customer bags have flown with—or even beat—their owner to their destination so far this year, this new digital innovation is the latest example of United’s infrastructure, training, and technology investments geared toward making travel easier and bag handling more seamless, especially when plans don’t go as expected.
United offers all customers the ability to track their bags directly in the United app, giving them peace of mind throughout the entire travel journey. Now, customers can generate a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac for an AirTag or Find My network accessory and share that link with United to help locate a misplaced item more quickly and securely.
How It Works
- If a bag doesn’t arrive at its final destination, customers can file a delayed baggage report in the United app. 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. The customer can stop it at any time, and it 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 uses 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, customers should verify that their iPhone is running on iOS 18.2 or later* and that their United app is up to date. Customers without the United mobile app will receive an automatic text notification with information to track misplaced luggage and add a Share Item Location link for their AirTag or Find My network accessory.
“For years, every customer has been able to track the journey of their bag through the United app as it is scanned on and off the plane, and previously, they didn’t have a way to directly share their AirTag information with our baggage team,” said David Kinzelman, United’s Chief Customer Officer.
“Now, Apple’s new Share Item Location feature will help customers travel with even more confidence, knowing they have another way to access to their bag’s precise location with AirTag or their Find My accessory of choice. They can easily and securely share that with us in the United app, and our team can use the location information to find the bag and reunite it with its owner much more quickly.”
*Apple’s Find My Share Item Location Feature is available on iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 or macOS 15.2.
