Virgin Atlantic switches on Find My Share Item Location

For those of you who travel with Apple devices and use AirTags (as well as other “Find My” compatible devices), Virgin Atlantic is the latest airline to integrate this function if your luggage decides to sprout legs when travelling.

Passengers who have these can now use the new Share Item Location feature to privately and securely share the location of their AirTag or Find My network accessory with Virgin Atlantic’s customer teams.

Or even annoyances like your keys – Image, Economy Class and Beyond 

This new functionality enables Virgin Atlantic to locate delayed bags and reunite them with customers more quickly.

To share the location of their AirTag or Find My network accessory with the airline, customers around the world can first generate a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. When customers make their missing bag report they can then share the link with the airport and baggage tracing teams who can view the live location of the bag and use it to reunite customers with their luggage.

For customers’ privacy and security, location sharing will automatically end as soon as a customer receives their bag, can be stopped by the customer at any time and will automatically expire after seven days.

In Quotes

Corneel Koster, Chief Customer and Operating Officer at Virgin Atlantic commented:

“We’re always looking for innovative solutions to ensure our customers enjoy the best possible experience with Virgin Atlantic”.

“We know many people already use AirTags or a Find My network accessory to keep updated on the location of their luggage. On the rare occasion, when operational issues or misconnecting flights may require bags to be located, our teams now have this shared source of information, so our customers have peace of mind on our progress. Virgin Atlantic has amongst the best baggage performance in the industry and welcomes this innovation from Apple”.

Harnessing the Find My Network

More airlines have jumped on this, with different stages of deployment. Upon the initial Apple announcement, the following were confirmed to offer (or start offering) Find My Share My Location support:

• Lufthansa Group –  Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines
• IAG – Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia,  Vueling
• KAir Canada
• Air New Zealand
• Delta Air Lines
• Eurowings
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Qantas
• Singapore Airlines
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

With over 1 Billion Apple devices (and lots of them in the airport network), using Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband connectivity, the items communicate over the network to help locate the missing item and report their approximate location back to the owner (with UWB providing a little more precision when in range).

For passengers who have had their luggage misplaced by an airline or its handling agents, having a little more information to share will help when recovering their precious items.

Just make sure the batteries in your AirTags are fresh – the do need replacing once a year or so…