For those of us who check in luggage, we’ve all had that sinking feeling at some point, when all the bags come off the belt… and your bag didn’t make it. For those who use Apple AirTags with an iPhone, Aer Lingus is making life a little easier, with the airline announcing it has enabled Apple’s Find My Share Item Location feature.
Passengers who are travelling with the airline can use the new Share Item Location feature to privately and securely share the location of their AirTag or Find My network accessory with Aer Lingus customer service to locate lost or delayed bags. In theory, this should mean that items are located more quickly and reunited with customers.
In order to share the location of their AirTag or Find My network accessory with the airline, customers can first generate a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. This link can then be added to a delayed baggage report, which may assist Aer Lingus customer service in locating the baggage.
For customers’ privacy and security, location sharing will automatically end 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.
Apple Find My “Share my location” on Apple devices – Image, Apple.
In order to use this with Aer Lingus, your Apple Device will need to be running at least iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, or macOS 15.2 or later. Full instructions are on Apple’s support site.
In Quotes
Susanne Carberry, Aer Lingus Chief Customer Officer, said:
“At Aer Lingus, we are dedicated to ensuring our customers enjoy seamless travel experiences. Integrating Apple’s Share Item Location feature allows us to further enhance our baggage recovery processes, offering customers additional peace of mind as they fly. While over 99% of checked baggage arrives at its destination without any issue, this feature assists us in the rare instances where a bag is delayed. Share Item Location will assist us in locating the checked baggage item and returning it quicky.”
Making official the unofficial
For those of us who have been at the luggage belt more than a few times, keeping track of baggage can be fun – be it through an airline app, or watching an AirTag move around until its location closes in on you.
Or in the worst case, finding our luggage isn’t with us – but you can locate which airport it’s at using the “Find My” App, then showing it to an agent, who has probably seen this a thousand times already as they try and work out where your bag is, and how the report is going to look
Having the ability to use the trace into Find My “Share My Item” in the luggage recovery system will provide some reassurance that the bag can be located using known methods, whilst keeping it encrypted for those who need to know.
At launch, Apple noted 15 airlines would be launching these features – including 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 International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, United, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling.
Hopefully, more will come online soon.
Just make sure the battery on your AirTag has a reasonably fresh battery in it. Finding luggage when the AirTag is low on power is not a fun thing.
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