Inside British Airways and Virgin Atlantic's Apple feature that will ease lost luggage hell

misery could become a thing of the past - as will soon be able to track their personal items.

, and other airlines have signed up to the system, which sees tourists attach - coin-sized tracking devices - to their bags. It means the locations of these suitcases can be seen on passengers's tech devices so, if luggage does get lost, the process to reclaim the bags should be easier.

More than 15 airlines will begin using Apple's "Find My" item locations from early next year as part of their process for locating and retrieving delayed or mishandled bags. Their customer service teams, they say, should see a drop in increasingly desperate calls with stressed tourists.

But at present only passengers with Apple devices and AirTags, which cost £35 each, will benefit from this facility, which is being made available as part of the IOS 18.2 update being released on December 9.

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The air transport technology company SITA is planning to integrate the feature into their baggage-tracking system, which is used by more than 500 airlines and 2,800 airports worldwide.

Alex Sudron, 42, a business owner from London, put an AirTag in her bag when flying from Gatwick to Florence for a family get-together in 2022. She said: "We were diverted to Pisa airport. When we disembarked we were told that our luggage had gone to Florence and we would have to return to the airport the next day to collect it.

"Thankfully my suitcase had an AirTag in it and I could see that it was actually at Pisa airport: I showed the ground staff, and they went and found all of the luggage for all of the passengers."

Although Ms Sudron said the passengers were pleased to find their luggage, many were frustrated that it had taken a passenger to locate the luggage rather than the airline or airport staff.

The airlines themselves do not track the baggage location or have direct permission to "ping" the AirTag. Apple users instead have the option to share the location of their items to a trusted third party through the "Find My" app.