Airline known for losing their customers’ bags now uses data from AirTags to get them back

Some airline passengers keep track of their luggage by using an Apple AirTag. It’s amazing to follow some of the unplanned journeys that a traveler’s baggage can go on. For example, an Alaska Airlines passenger was stunned to discover that one of his suitcases flew to 37 cities as a passenger on a SkyWest regional jet. An American tracking his luggage with an Apple AirTag was close behind as his bag visited 35 cities. And yet another passenger discovered that his luggage had been donated by Air Canada to charity. We assume that the unlucky traveler didn’t even get to write off the value of his suitcase and its contents.

In iOS 18.2, Apple added a subtle feature allowing AirTag users to share the location of an AirTag with others including airlines. This info is available to certain airlines and airports via WorldTracer which is a computer network used by airlines and airports to track lost and delayed baggage. At first, 18 airlines were part of the program 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.

American Airlines has joined this group according to a new report, although the airline has yet to make an official announcement. And if any airline so desperately needed to be able to track the location of their passengers’ suitcases using Apple’s AirTag item tracking platform, it is American Airlines. American is known to have the highest percentage of mishandled bags than other airlines. This inability to match a passenger with his luggage costs American $50 million each year, or about $60 per mishandled bag.

AirTags can help you get your luggage back before it ends up in a similar pile. | Image credit-View From The Wing

To show you the kind of thinking that has lead American Airlines to its current position, a few years ago the carrier’s COO David Seymour said that it didn’t make sense for American to invest in improving its baggage tracking technology until its rivals upgraded their tracking systems first. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said that some of the hubs the airline flies into have such poor technology when it comes to tracking bags that the whole process of upgrading the technology would be too much of a challenge to take on.

If you’re not sure if it is worth the $24.75-$29 you would pay for each AirTag tracker, consider that according to View from the Wing, fewer than 1% of all bags are mishandled, and most that are lost end up being found less than 24 hours later. So if you don’t travel often or take valuables with you whenever you fly, you probably can get by without buying an AirTag for your baggage.

But if you fly often or travel with expensive equipment or jewelry, you might want to buy an AirTag to track your bag since it can tell you and some of the airlines you fly exactly where your missing, delayed, or stolen suitcase is and improve the odds that you will get it back.

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