You’ve just come home from weeks of overseas travel, and watch the baggage carousel gradually empty until there’s no suitcases left to collect as it continues to turn. But you’re still empty-handed.

That scenario is a common fear for anyone travelling on a plane, especially when the aftermath of the pandemic saw lost baggage rates soar.

Many travellers already use AirTags to track their belongings as a preventative measure; now that information could be shared with airlines to find and return lost luggage.

MacRumours reports the upcoming iOS 18.2 update will allow Apple device users to share a lost item’s location on the Find My app with a trusted person.

The feature is reportedly meant to help users locate an item through a third-party, such as an airline employee.

Apple device owners can already share tracking information with trusted contacts for items like AirTags with the Find My app.

But the update would let users share that information with anyone by sending a link that would open the Find My app on other Apple devices, or a web page with a map showing the item’s last known location on non-Apple devices.

The link will reportedly expire either after an item is returned to the owner, or after a week, whichever comes first.

The person who originally sent the link will also be able to view how many people visited the link, and an additional option will let the sender share their phone number and email address so they can be contacted by the person who finds the missing item.

An AirTag works by sending out a Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby Apple devices that have opted in to the Find My network.

These devices, which Apple says number in the hundreds of millions globally, send the location of the AirTag to iCloud so it becomes available on a map in the Find My app.

AirTags and similar trackers have become an almost standard fail-safe for travellers worried about losing their baggage, but that does not mean airlines are guaranteed to help even when told the location of lost items.

American woman Sandra Shuster experienced this after her checked baggage was lost last year during a trip from Baltimore to Denver, which included a stopover in Chicago.

United Airlines told Shuster the bag was still in Baltimore, but her AirTag told a different story; the bag was stuck in the baggage reclaim area at a Chicago airport.

“I told [United] I could see it at Terminal 1 baggage reclaim in Chicago, and they said ‘We have no record of it,'” Shuster told CNN.

“I asked them to call Chicago, and they said ‘No, we’re not allowed.’ They said they’d put notes in the system and the baggage team would take care of it.”

When the bag still didn’t arrive, Shuster called again and was told, “We have no idea where it is.”

She eventually took matters into her own hands by flying to the Chicago airport, where it took airport staff just “30 seconds” to find her bag.