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Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

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Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#71
post #7

Except they have. A Lufthansa spokesperson has clarified the new rules for the German news site watson: https://www.watson.de/leben/urlaub%20&%20freizeit/879935671-... It rougly translate to: The device itself is not banned, but has to be shut off during flight. In practice this would mean that you would have to remove the battery from the airtag, since there is no powerswitch. But I will admit that this seems odd an…

It's only an odd statement because their employees created this shit storm and the organization is trying save face with the employees and correct the statement.

Don't expect for the service side of LH to turn their back on rejecting baggage because it has an airtag.

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#72
post #64
post #62

OT, kinda. My eldest kid is in the final year of UK junior school so finally cut lose to walk to and from school as is culturally acceptable here.. I gave her a phone so she could let us (mum/dad) know she was on her way home from school, deciding to go home to a friends etc.. the school caught wind and apparently it was against school policy so she was disciplined (along with a number of her peers) - the extent of w…

> irregardless Sorry to nitpick, but you can just say regardless.

If you really like nitpicks: you can also just say irregardless.

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/07/887649010/regardless-of-what-...

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they are also banned, if they also use lithium batteries, though who flies with car keys? Especially in their checked in luggage?

I always fly with my car keys (almost always in my carry-on bag) even when I take the train to the airport. Simply because my car keys are on the same keychain as my house keys, and I never leave home for anything without those..

I have a combo lock at home. So I leave my keys at home unless I'm driving to the airport.

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#74
post #54

As an aside, are there ANY decent airlines left in EU? Just having booked tickets thought 3 separate airlines, I had to go throught multiple circles of hell: captcha (LOT), purposefully confusing flow, no luggage by default and next tier being x3-x5 the price (WizzAir, but others are similarly bad), hidden fees appearing during final steps (Norwegian), and everything RyanAir. I'm not even flying with checked luggage…

Lufthansa is one of the better ones. Typically I’ve found it better to book tickets via United though.

LH is pretty much the worst of the lot. Their employees will avoid helping you at all cost even when it makes their lives easier. If nothing wrong happens, they're ok. If any thing happens it's your fault. It's been like that for more than 10 years.

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#76

As an aside, are there ANY decent airlines left in EU? Just having booked tickets thought 3 separate airlines, I had to go throught multiple circles of hell: captcha (LOT), purposefully confusing flow, no luggage by default and next tier being x3-x5 the price (WizzAir, but others are similarly bad), hidden fees appearing during final steps (Norwegian), and everything RyanAir. I'm not even flying with checked luggage…

SAS is ok. Not great, but ok. TK is mostly pretty good. TAP is ok, but their OPs at Lisbon sucks.

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#77

What am I missing? Comments all seem to be based on a false assumption. Nowhere in the article does it mention battery fires as the reason, or even the word battery/batteries. The original article ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33127459 ) doesn't mention batteries either, but it would make sense only to effectively put them in airplane mode. Hundreds of tags transmitting is bad for the same reason that phone'…

The original statement from Lufthansa mentioned that Airtags fall under the category of "Dangerous Goods". "Dangerous Goods" is a term used by the ICAO to refer to batteries or items with batteries (also refers to dangerous chemicals or radioactive material, but if you look at ICAO guidance about Dangerous Goods, the bulk of the guidance is about batteries). > Hundreds of tags transmitting is bad for the same reason…

The article never mentions batteries but says specifically it's because of transmissions. If it was for the batteries that would be no reason to take special issue with trackers but ignore portable weighing scales for example.

"Phones don't have to be shut off during flights. That hasn't been a thing for years." During take off and landing they do. Whether of not that's rational or justified is irrelevant. The reason given EMC, not battery safety.

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why is it fine for literally every single passanger to have bluetooth headphones on during the duration of the flight, but somehow trackers are bad?

1) It's not. They ask people to switch off all transmitters during flights (and later to during takeoff and landing) because of RF emissions. 2) Because you can't turn trackers off, especially when they're in the hold. Read the initial article that started all this, it even says that reason is because of transmissions.

Except they don’t because most have onboard wifi now. And most allow Bluetooth headphones, including Lufthansa:

Lufthansa: Bluetooth headphones are allowed during every part of the flight.

Re: Lufthansa has not banned AirTags

#80
post #43
post #3

Why would an AirTag, or any personal baggage tracker, pose a threat to an airline and make them want to ban it? The benefits to consumers of using these devices are obvious. But it also seems that enabling customers to know where their lost luggage is would benefit the airlines as well. Can anyone thing of a reason (legitimate or not) that airlines would be motivated to prevent this?

Lufthansa had massive problems with lost luggage lately and people started adding airtags to their bags that led to arrests of some folks, so I guess they want to "protect their reputation".

Ok so if your suitcase is indeed lost - don’t say u had airtag in there. Say you had 200k worth of camera equipment instead…
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