Virgin Australia Introduces Real-Time Baggage Tracking

Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 at Melbourne Airport
Virgin Australia passengers can now track their baggage status in the airline’s app. Photo: Matt Graham.

Virgin Australia flyers can now track their checked baggage in real-time using the Virgin Australia app on selected domestic routes.

The airline released an update to its smartphone app earlier this week with the new feature.

With this new service, flyers will be able to see the status of their checked bags when travelling on eligible flights. If you’ve enabled notifications in your app settings, you’ll receive push notifications when your bag has been checked in and on arrival at your destination, with information about your baggage carousel number.

Although this service is designed to be used with the Virgin Australia app, you can also access a limited version of it on the Virgin Australia website.

Virgin Australia is the first Australian airline to offer this service. But it’s already relatively common in other countries such as the United States. For example, Virgin’s partner United Airlines offers very good real-time baggage tracking in its app:

Bag tracking in the United app
Screenshot from the United Airlines app.

Air New Zealand has announced that it will launch a similar service later this year.

On which routes does Virgin Australia offer baggage tracking?

Virgin Australia’s baggage tracking service is already being trialled on the Sydney-Brisbane route. By mid-2023, it will be expanded to be available on the following domestic routes:

  • Adelaide-Brisbane
  • Adelaide-Gold Coast
  • Adelaide-Melbourne
  • Adelaide-Perth
  • Adelaide-Sydney
  • Brisbane-Melbourne
  • Brisbane-Perth
  • Brisbane-Sydney
  • Gold Coast-Melbourne
  • Gold Coast-Sydney
  • Melbourne-Perth
  • Melbourne-Sydney
  • Perth-Sydney

Virgin will expand the service to other domestic airports over time, and the airline plans to introduce more features later this year.


Use Apple AirTags for the most accurate information

While the Virgin Australia baggage tracking service is useful, it still has limitations. For example, the status of your luggage may not be correctly displayed if it isn’t correctly scanned by baggage handlers or there is a technical glitch.

When a checked bag doesn’t arrive, it’s often just delayed – in which case the real-time airline tracking will be helpful. But when checked bags go missing, it is sometimes the case that the airline doesn’t actually know where the bag is because it wasn’t scanned correctly or wasn’t loaded onto the right flight. The airline’s internal baggage tracking data won’t really help in this case because the airline itself may not know where the bag is.

This is why it’s still a very good idea to place an Apple AirTag into your checked bag. This makes it possible to identify the actual location of your checked bag in real-time – and not just to know where the airline thinks your bag is.

An Apple AirTag in its original packaging
Apple AirTags let you find the actual location of your luggage. Photo: Matt Graham.
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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I expect my Apple Airtags will be more reliable.

Reply 4 Likes

My luggage has status? Hopefully it can guest me in to a lounge.

Reply 9 Likes

If it works like the AA one, we'll be in front.
Report in the Oz on-line.

View image at the forums

View image at the forums

Reply 1 Like

Great news, finally starting to catch up to the US carriers! Well done to Virgin, hopefully this pushes Qantas to do the same.

Reply 2 Likes

The AA tracking is superb.

Reply 4 Likes

The AA tracking is superb.

Same as Delta (IIRC, haven’t flown them since pre-Covid).

I received a survey about this last month and thought it would be interesting. Only reason I do the surveys is to use the comments section at the end to suggest lifetime status!

Reply 1 Like

The AA tracking is superb.

Indeed I was glued to it last time I was domestic in the US. Even helped me know one of my checked in bags went AWOL before we took off.

Reply Like

Where is this in the Virgin Australia app?

Reply Like

I'm not actually sure airline bag tracking or even AirTags actually help get your bags back any sooner, or prevent them getting lost, but it does make for good watching and peace of mind.

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I'm not actually sure airline bag tracking or even AirTags actually help get your bags back any sooner, or prevent them getting lost, but it does make for good watching and peace of mind.

It is definitely useful - I had multiple pax with lost bags last year and those who had AirTags/Galaxy tags were substantially easier and quicker to chase up than those that did not.

The majority of airlines already have tracking scans as part of their procedures, and have had these for years, however the majority don't make the data available to the public except in the US.

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