Airlines warn on AirTags
Delta, British Airways and Air Canada have warned passengers against using AirTags in checked luggage, citing concerns about reliability, privacy and the limits of tracking devices for checked baggage. (travelandtourworld.com) The carriers advised that trackers shouldn’t be treated as a substitute for normal baggage‑handling expectations. (travelandtourworld.com)
Delta, British Airways and Air Canada all tell passengers to treat bag trackers as a backup, not the baggage system itself — even as Delta and Air Canada now accept Apple’s AirTag location links for delayed bags. (news.delta.com) (globalnews.ca) (britishairways.com) AirTags do not use their own cellular connection or built-in global positioning. They update when they are detected by nearby Apple devices on the Find My network, and Apple says users can share a secure link that expires after seven days. (apple.com 1) (apple.com 2) That technical limit is why airlines still point customers first to their own bag systems. Delta says the Fly Delta app tracks checked bag tags from check-in to baggage claim, and Air Canada says its app already includes baggage tracking alongside Apple’s link-sharing option. (news.delta.com) (globalnews.ca) The policy picture is also less dramatic than some travel blogs suggest. Delta’s baggage pages do not list AirTags as prohibited items, British Airways’ baggage rules focus on standard size and weight limits, and Air Canada’s checked-bag rules likewise do not ban small item trackers. (delta.com) (britishairways.com) (aircanada.com) What changed in late 2024 was that Apple built a formal handoff for lost-item data. Apple said more than a dozen airlines were preparing to use Share Item Location when it announced the feature on November 11, 2024, and Delta and Air Canada were among the early adopters. (apple.com) (news.delta.com) (globalnews.ca) Apple expanded that airline list in January 2026. The company said Share Item Location had reached 36 airlines, and it said airline access to the shared link can cut “truly lost” or unrecoverable luggage, citing data from SITA, the aviation technology company. (apple.com) Privacy remains part of the sales pitch and part of the concern. Apple says Find My uses end-to-end encryption, warns people about unwanted tracking, and says AirTag was designed to find belongings rather than follow people. (apple.com 1) (apple.com 2) For travelers, the practical message is narrower than the hype around “smart luggage.” A tracker may tell you a bag is still in Toronto or Heathrow, but the airline still controls the scan history, the rerouting and the delivery claim. (globalnews.ca) (news.delta.com) (britishairways.com)
