One of the biggest stresses when traveling by flight is arriving at the airport and discovering that your bag is missing. Often, passengers have to wait for hours for their luggage or repeatedly contact the airline. To alleviate this hassle, Google has launched a new smart feature that allows you to share the location of your lost bag directly with the airline. This will make finding your bag easier than ever.
Keeping in mind the significant problem of lost bags for travelers, Google has added a new feature to its Find Hub app. With this feature, if a passenger loses their bag or luggage, they can share its location directly with the airline. This will make it easier for the airline to locate the bag’s exact location and increase the chances of finding it quickly.
This new feature works as follows:
The Find Hub app includes a tool called “Share Item Location.” When your bag is lost, this feature creates a secure link. Through this link, the airline can view your bag’s real-time location. Most importantly, this process doesn’t require you to share your phone or account access. To use this feature, you need a few essential things: an Android smartphone with the Find Hub app installed. Additionally, your bag or suitcase must have a Find Hub-compatible tracker tag attached to it so the bag’s location can be tracked. You also need an airline that supports this feature. Some Samsonite suitcases now include this technology, allowing them to connect directly to the Find Hub network.
If your bag is lost, follow these simple steps in the Find Hub app:
Open the Find Hub app and click on the lost bag.
Click on the Share Item Location option and create a secure link.
Copy and paste this link into the airline’s app or website.
You can revoke access at any time, or the link will automatically expire.
When your phone recognizes that the bag is back with you, location sharing automatically stops.
Google has partnered with several major international airlines for this feature. These include:
Air India
Lufthansa Group
Turkish Airlines
Saudia Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines
China Airlines
When your phone recognizes that the bag is back with you, location sharing automatically stops.
Also, some airlines like Qantas are also rolling out this feature soon.
Google says that user privacy was the top priority when developing this feature. Therefore, when using this feature, the user’s location data will remain fully encrypted. The user will decide who to share the link with. The link will automatically expire after 7 days, and sharing will automatically stop upon receiving the bag.