One year later, SITA shows how integration of Apple’s Find My Share Item Location can strengthen baggage operations for airports and airlines

As millions of travelers prepare for the holiday season, one year of collaboration between SITA and Apple is delivering measurable improvements to the checked baggage experience. By combining Apple technology with SITA’s global aviation infrastructure, the partnership helps airlines act earlier and gives travelers clearer visibility of their luggage during the busiest travel period of the year.

Passengers using an Apple AirTag or a Find My network accessory can use Share Item Location to temporarily and securely share their bag’s location with their airline through SITA WorldTracer®. This creates a direct link between the Find My location and airline recovery systems, an approach that has shown a clear impact in its first year.

SITA’s analysis shows that, while most bags are successfully returned to the passenger, a small percentage are never recovered and become ‘truly lost.’ For bags with an AirTag or Find My network accessory, the number of truly lost bags decreased by 90 percent when location sharing is enabled through WorldTracer®. This improvement gives passengers a far higher chance of being reunited with their bags and reduces costly write-offs for airlines.

“This year has shown the power of working together,” said Nicole Hogg, Portfolio Director, Baggage at SITA. “When consumer technology and aviation infrastructure are connected in the right way, the results can be transformative. Travelers feel more confident, airlines make better decisions earlier, and the entire recovery process becomes more predictable. This is exactly the kind of shared innovation that moves the industry forward.”

Airlines using Find My Share Item Location have also seen a 26 percent reduction in recovery time of delayed bags, meaning more are returned to passengers sooner. Adoption continues to grow, with 29 airlines now using the Apple Find My integration in WorldTracer® as part of their baggage recovery processes, with more airlines expected to adopt it in the coming months.

The latest SITA Baggage IT Insights report provides important context. Global mishandling rates remain low at 6.3 bags per thousand passengers, and 66 percent of mishandled bags are reunited with their owners within 48 hours thanks to better data sharing and automation. The Apple and SITA collaboration builds on this foundation by adding dynamically-updating, passenger-authorized location data to recovery workflows, supporting faster decisions and fewer unresolved cases.

This combined approach becomes even more valuable during holiday peaks when tight connections, winter weather, and heavy transfer volumes can put additional pressure on baggage systems. By uniting consumer visibility and airline operations, the Apple and SITA collaboration creates a more connected, predictable experience for travelers at the moment they need it most.

“The first year of this collaboration is also telling us something important about the wider market,” added Hogg. “Airlines everywhere are looking for ways to manage rising passenger volumes without adding complexity. What we are seeing with Find My Share Item Location is that when passengers choose to share high-quality location data, airlines gain a level of clarity that was not available before. This is helping reduce lost baggage, speed up recovery, and support more resilient operations at a moment when the industry needs it most.”

WorldTracer® is deployed at more than 2,800 airports and used by over 500 airlines and ground handlers worldwide. With Apple’s Find My Share Item Location now integrated, the system connects aviation-grade infrastructure with secure consumer technology, helping deliver a smoother and more reliable baggage experience.

As global travel continues to grow, the first year of enabling Find My Share Item Location in SITA WorldTracer® highlights how meaningful partnership can deliver results at scale, benefiting airlines, passengers, and the wider aviation ecosystem.