Google Find Hub Bag Sharing Lands in WorldTracer

DALLAS — Passenger-shared baggage location is becoming part of airline baggage recovery, thanks to Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques (SITA), a leading IT and telecommunications provider for the air transport industry, founded in 1949 by airlines to deliver secure, specialized communication services.

SITA says it has integrated Google Find Hub’s “share item location” into WorldTracer, meaning baggage teams can view a passenger-shared tracker location inside the same system used to manage delayed bag files.

Google also says it worked with SITA (WorldTracer) and Reunitus (NetTracer), so location sharing can plug into airline workflows at scale.

How it works

Since more travelers now share their bag’s location when it is delayed through their personal devices, airlines can use this information in their baggage systems to resolve cases faster and reduce permanent loss.

In the case of SITA, when a passenger chooses to share their bag’s location, airline teams can view it directly in WorldTracer® to support recovery. This changes how airlines handle delayed bags by adding an additional source of location information to help resolve the delay.

“Airlines are operating in an environment where passengers expect visibility of their baggage at every step of the journey,” said Nicole Hogg, Portfolio Director, Baggage at SITA.

Enhanced baggage recovery

Traditionally, recovery relied on airport scans and airline-to-airline data exchanges.

Passenger-authorized location sharing adds an additional source of visibility, helping teams narrow search areas and prioritize cases when a bag does not arrive as expected.

The process remains fully under the passenger's control. If a bag is delayed, the traveler can generate a secure link in Find Hub and provide it to the airline.

Sharing can be stopped at any time. Links expire automatically. Location data is encrypted, and only the passenger decides who can access it and for how long.

“When a bag is delayed, uncertainty increases compensation costs, customer service pressure, and reputational risk. What we are seeing is a move from manual tracing to clearer, data-supported recovery. When passengers choose to share their bag’s location, airlines gain insight when it matters most. This reflects how baggage recovery is becoming more transparent, more collaborative, and more precise.” Hogg said.

With this latest integration, passenger-authorized location sharing from the world’s most widely used mobile platforms can now be incorporated into WorldTracer.

Google, Apple, and Passenger bag tracking

Airlines are increasingly using passenger-approved bag location sharing to help recover delayed bags. This started with Apple’s Find My and AirTag “Share Item Location” feature, and now includes Google’s Find Hub.

How Google's Find Hub compares to Apple AirTag (what airlines adopted last year): Apple introduced Share Item Location so travelers can securely share an AirTag’s location with third parties like airlines, and carriers such as United and Lufthansa publicly announced support for receiving those links through their customer service flows.

Why this matters to airlines: Both methods give airlines an extra data source beyond scans and interline messages. This helps agents find bags faster, reduces uncertainty, and speeds up closing delayed-bag cases. SITA says this also meets growing passenger expectations for full baggage visibility.

Privacy/controls (the main similarity): In both systems, travelers stay in control. Sharing is optional, lasts only for a set time, and can be stopped by the passenger at any moment.

Reduced baggage mishandling

Over the past two decades, mishandling rates have fallen by 67% even as passenger volumes have more than doubled, according to the SITA 2025 Baggage IT Insights report. This reflects steady industry progress driven by smarter systems and better data use.

As travel volumes continue to rise, adding passenger-authorized location data into airline systems reflects a broader move toward clearer, more informed baggage recovery processes that benefit both airlines and passengers.