Until about a year ago, on United you could simply check the status of your bags at one of the United baggage claim kiosks, which were very accurate and reliable. For some reason, those were disconnected and not replaced with anything. I keep asking (to no avail) that the baggage tracking info be added to the United app. I understand the Delta app allows this.

Until United provides some way for me to avoid the problem described by OP, I will keep looking for a solution. Trakdot seems promising, as long as the later reviews are a more accurate indication of its performance than the earlier reviews.

Has anyone come up with a better solution?