Almost everything we hate about travel is slowly, but surely, being solved by tech. And yes, some things have further to go. I hate AI chatbots too.
Virgin Atlantic is the latest to leverage tech capabilities to streamline a position no one wants to find themselves in, yet despite best efforts, something that still happens at every airline globally. Bags get lost and when they do, they can be surprisingly tricky to track down.
Apple and Virgin Atlantic are now collaborating to expedite this process in a very customer friendly way, allowing AirTag users to “share item location” with Virgin Atlantic customer teams, expediting safe return and getting the bikinis and speedos back in your hands.
Share My / Find My AirTag
Folks have always been able to drop an AirTag in their bag, just in case. I covered a wild story years ago of a guy who was able to prove an airline wrong, and find that their service company to repatriate bags with passengers, was actually robbing them. It’s a good read!
“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”.
Corneel Koster, Chief Customer and Operating Officer, Virgin Atlantic
Taking things to the next collaborative level though, Virgin Atlantic customers can now share their tag with the company, to expedite the recovery of a bag using “share item location” in a trusted format.
If you happen to be one of the increasingly unlucky people who loses a bag en route, you can contact Virgin, share the location and get someone from their side on the case ASAP.
Here’s how Virgin describes the process..
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.
GSTP Take: Simple And Great
The best solutions are often the simplest and this is a perfect case. Apple built a great technology that’s already leveraging bluetooth devices globally to pinpoint things which would otherwise be lost. Now, Virgin Atlantic is enabling their teams to access this information when provided with it, in a safe and compliant way for all.
AirTags are a fantastic way to keep track of devices and belongings and in the rare instance a bag gets delayed, I’d imagine that this style of partnership could easily be the difference in a delayed bag and a lost bag. That’s good for everyone involved, so it’s hard not to like this. I hope more airlines bring this online ASAP.
