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Theres nothing more annoying than arriving at your destination and finding that your checked baggage didnt make the trip. But thanks to Apple’s new partnership with 15 different airlines, its easier than ever to track down your lost luggageprovided you have the right $29 gadget. Heres what you need to know to help track down your missing baggage as efficiently as possible. U.S. airlines mishandle millions of bags every year While most checked bags get on the proper flight with their owner and arrive as planned, the U.S. Department of Transportation says over 2.8 million bags were mishandled by reporting U.S. carriers in 2023. The agency defines a mishandled bag as one that is lost, delayed, damaged or pilfered. In 2023, about 5.8 out of every 1,000 passengers had something happen to their checked baggage, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. While a damaged bag is unfortunate, at least most your belongings arrive. “Mishandled” bags that are lost, delayed, or stolen, on the other hand, can drastically impact your trip and lead to significant financial losses, depending on what they contain. And, if youre traveling for business, a lost bag can significantly hamper your work plans. Historically, the only way you could track your checked baggage was via the identifier on the sticker that a gate agent placed on your bag when you dropped it off. In 2021, Apple introduced the AirTag item tracker, giving hundreds of millions of iPhone users a new way to track their itemswhether that included keys, purses, or flash drives. Unsurprisingly, many users used AirTags to help track their checked bags from one location to another. The problem was that while users could easily see where their AirTag and attached items were, using the Find My app on their iPhone, they had no easy way to share this information with the airline staff tasked with tracking missing luggage. But now, thanks to recent software updates and agreements with major airlines, thats changed. Apple teams up with airlines to share AirTag locations Apple released iOS 18.2 in mid-December. The iPhone operating system update garnered headlines for integrating ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. However, iOS 18.2 also introduced a new feature to AirTags called Share Item Location. The feature finally allows users to easily share the location of an AirTag with another individual of their choice. When an AirTag owner shares its location using the Share Item Location feature, the person they choose will receive a link to an interactive map viable in a web browser. The map will show the last known location of the AirTag as well as its geo-coordinates. This allows a third party to track down an AirTags shared location easily. [Image: Apple] AirTags have had their share of criticisms since bad actors can use them in nefarious ways, but with Share Item Location, Apple includes a restriction regarding who can access the shared link revealing the AirTags location. After clicking on the link, an individual must log into the Share Item Location portal with their Apple ID or an airline partner ID. This ensures that there is always a record of who is viewing your AirTags location. Airlines that have partnered with Apple so far include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling. If you fly United and you use the United Airlines app to file a missing bag report, you can now include the AirTags Share Item Location link with the report. This, says David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer, allows Uniteds staff to use the location information to find the bag and get it reunited with its owner much more quickly.” How to share your AirTags location with an airline to help find your missing luggage With the ability to now share your AirTags location with many of the worlds top airlines, it seems like an AirTag should be in every travelers arsenal. If youve lost a piece of luggage (ugh!) but were savvy enough to have put an AirTag on it, heres how to share its location with airline staff: Open the Find My app on your iPhone. Tap the Items button in the bottom toolbar. Select the AirTag attached to your missing luggage from the list of items. On the next screen, tap Share Item Location. Tap Continue. Now tap the Share Link button and copy and paste the URL into the airlines missing baggage report. Airline staff will then log into the AirTag Share Item Location portal to help identify the location of your missing bag so you can get it back as quickly as possible. A single AirTag is just $29; theres no associated subscription fee for the Find My tracking service. You can also buy a pack of four AirTags from Apple for just $99perfect if you check a lot of bags when you travel.
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E-Commerce
We all know the people pleaser in the officethe one who takes on extra work, stays late without being asked, and is at the full disposal of the department manager. They also may agree with whatever the majority says and will dodge conflict, even though they are in the right. But does this mentality pay off? Likely not, say experts. Who exactly is a people pleaser? A people pleaser is someone who abandons their own needs and values to try and make someone else happy, explains Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. While on the surface, you may think this selfless approach will fast-track you at work, however, this mindset can hurt your job success. Heres how: Your ideas won’t be shared: Your rah-rah attitude, or fear of making waves could be a barrier, especially in brainstorming sessions. You may not disagree with anyone or offer different opinions due to fear you might upset someone, says Morin. Plus, this facade could prevent you from speaking your true opinions. You also might agree to things you don’t really believe in, because you fear your ideas might be frowned upon, she says. You won’t demonstrate leadership skills: If you want to advance in your career, its critical to showcase your ability to lead a team. It’s important to be able to say no, and if you can’t, you’re going to go along with bad ideas or you might get talked into doing things that are bad for the company, says Morin. You aren’t likely to be promoted if you look like a doormat. You won’t advocate for yourself: Being a people pleaser can cause you to be afraid to speak up when you need to at work. You won’t ask for a raise, speak up when you’re treated poorly, or ask for what you need, Morin says. If you don’t advocate for yourself, others are likely to surpass you. You dilute the quality of your work: Being a people pleaser can usurp both your time and energy. If you’re always saying ‘yes’ to helping other people, you’ll have less time and energy to devote to your tasks, cautions Morin. The quality of your work is likely to suffer because you’ll be spread too thin. You shield your authenticity: People also don’t get to know the real you when you don’t share your true thoughts or personality. A people pleaser might feel lonely because they don’t get to develop authentic relationships with people, says Morin. You take on others emotional baggage: You don’t have the power to make others feel happyand if you try, you might grow frustrated, says Morin. People pleasers often blame themselves for how other people feel, so you may assume you’re doing something wrong if your efforts aren’t making them happy, she says. You can hinder your own success: People pleasers shy away from difficult conversations about their progress or tend to avoid advocating for their own development, says Michelle Reisdorf, district president at Robert Half in Chicago. This can hinder their career growth and potential opportunities, she says. You dont set healthy boundaries: People-pleasing employees can get stuck with a heavier workload because they dont speak up more when work is unloaded onto them. If someone struggles with setting healthy boundaries, they may end up taking on more work than what is manageable or accepting demands that fall outside their typical responsibilities, says Reisdorf. How can a people pleaser pivot themselves to self-advocacy? It can take a plan and then practice for effective strategies to collaborate and cooperate without people-pleasing, but having the will is the best springboard to turn the page on being a doormat. It might involve finding ways to speak up and say what you need, while recognizing that no one has to give you what you’re asking for, says Morin. She notes it can take planning and practice to get better at collaborating without turning to people-pleasing. But it is possible to improve, says Morin. It might involve finding ways to speak up and say what you need, while recognizing that no one has to give you what you’re asking for. So, if youre uncomfortable speaking up for yourself, start small, advises Morin. Share one idea at every meeting you attend, she suggests. And, when you share ideas often, you’ll see that there will be times when people disagree or dismiss your ideas. The goal is to get more comfortable with that. As you ease into this plan, she acknowledges there will also be times when people really like your ideas and you may find it feels uncomfortable to be the center of attention or to receive praise, but this is part of your growing strategy. Exposing yourself to that feeling will also help you grow more comfortable with it. Another key component of breaking this pattern is to accept that you can’t make everyone happy and sometimes there will be conflict. Disagreements are part of any healthy relationship, and they often lead to better solutions and new strategies, she says. You may need to work on yourself to recognize that you’re still an okay person even if someone disagrees or is angry with you. If you always say yes, set out to say no or disagree at least one time per week, Morin recommends. You’ll see how others react and respond to you when you decline an invitation or express yourself. That can help you see that people aren’t likely to get as upset as you imagined or respond with anger,” Morin says. And if they do get upset, it’s just another opportunity to practice tolerating your discomfort and coping with those feelings. Additionally, setting boundaries can allow people pleasers to feel empowered. This path can lead to more confidence and self-advocacy. Once youve assessed your bandwidth, I recommend discussing it with your manager or a trusted mentor to develop a work plan that establishes clear boundaries and aligns with both your well-being and the teams goals, says Reisdorf with Robert Half. This more measured approach can be liberating and help you avoid project overload. Setting attainable and measurable goals will help guide your efforts, keeping you accountable for your progress while also highlighting areas where you might have the capacity to support others in a more balanced and sustainable way, says Reisdorf.
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E-Commerce
You know you’ve said it. We all have. Mmm, that looks so deliciousI want to try some! That’s because when it comes to what we eat, it’s not just a matter of taste. What foods and drinks look likethe colors we see before the first morsels or sips hit our taste budshave mattered to people for millennia. And nowhere has that been more blatant than the American food palate, where the visual spectrum we choose from includes not only the primary colors but artificial ones that nature couldn’t even dream up. For well over a century, food manufacturers in the United States have used synthetic dyes in their products as part of their production and marketing efforts. Often, it’s been in hopes of making a mass-produced food look as fresh and natural as possible, reminiscent of the raw ingredients used in its production. In other cases, it’s been about making an item look interesting or distinctive from competitors, like candies or desserts in an electric blue or neon pink. Think blue raspberry Slurpee” or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It hasn’t been without controversy. Over the decades, there have been pushback and government regulation over just how food and drink have been colored, most recently with the decision last month from the federal Food and Drug Administration to ban red dye No. 3 from foods and oral-ingested drugs because of concerns over a possible cancer risk. But no one’s calling for food NOT to be colorful. That’s because there’s no escaping the importance of what we see when it comes to what we eat, says Devina Wadhera, faculty associate at the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts of Arizona State University. Your first sensory contact, if your eyes are open, is going to be sight, she says. Thats going to be the first judgment were going to make. Visual appeal is pivotal The food manufacturers of the late 19th century knew they had to get the visual appeal right. It was part of their marketing, as a shorthand to encourage brand recognition, to make consumers feel comfortable about quality and overcome worries (or realities) about spoilage as food production became industrialized, says Ai Hisano, author of Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat. Synthetic dyes helped overcome problems like foods losing color in the production process and helped make foods look more natural, she says. Then, over time, dyes were deployed to make foods look fun and appealing to audiences like young children. (That doesn’t mean manufacturers didn’t sometimes use colorants that could even be deadlyhence the reason there’s regulation.) She pointed to the mid-20th century example of cake mixes, which reduced the amount of effort required to bake a cake at home because most of the ingredients were already included. Food companies began promoting colorful icing for the cakes as a way women baking at home could kind of present their personality even though they are making a premixed cake, Hisano says. We become conditioned to coloring The connections we make between colors and foods are learned, Wadhera says. Throughout our lives, we make associations which mean things. Cake is associated with birthdays. Ice cream is associated with parties and good times, so everything is associative learning. Color is one of those things that we have this tendency to learn about different flavor pairings. She gave the example of the spate of products like chips and other snacks that are marketed as having an extra kick. Often theyre super red because (companies are) trying to say, Hey, this is going to be spicy because theyre trying to get to this sensation or perception that this is going to be really spicybuy it. The connections that we make between color and taste can also change according to the context, says Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford. A blue liquid in a plastic cup in a bathroom? Could be minty mouthwash. The exact same color liquid, in a bar, held in a rocks glass? Could be bitter gin. Different cultures around the world also have different color associations, he says, although it’s fairly constant across geographies that the more vivid a color is, the more intense people assume the flavor will be. It can even extend past the food itself to the colors involved in its presentation, Wadhera says, pointing to research showing people eating different amounts or preferring certain foods linked to the colors of the dishes used to serve them. And much of the time, she says, people aren’t necessarily aware they’re doing it. Theres a lot of things with color that you can manipulate and affect judgments, she says. You dont think of it, though. . . . We make automatic judgments on the food and we dont even realize it. By Deepti Hajela, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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