As far as I understand there is nothing new. Lithium batteries have always been allowed in checked luggage only if they are inside a completely powered off and reasonably protected device, to avoid the risk of fires. This risk doesn't really apply to such small batteries, but the rules are there regardless of the size of the battery.
Which is why this isn't about the battery fires. It's about the RF of hundreds of devices.
LOL. This is about Lufthansa getting dragged in the media about their baggage handling screw ups and ongoing lying to customers about it while holding their luggage for months.
So they banned your cell phone too? Last I recall you can take those on a plane powered off too.
Lithium batteries with you in the cabin have different rules than lithium batteries inside checked luggage. Also cell phones don't need to be powered off while inside the cabin.
Air tags don't use lithium batteries. They use the big, flat, circular batteries that you have to replace.
Lithium batteries with you in the cabin have different rules than lithium batteries inside checked luggage. Also cell phones don't need to be powered off while inside the cabin.
Air tags don't use lithium batteries. They use the big, flat, circular batteries that you have to replace.
You may want to tell Apple that, because they explicitly call out that they use lithium batteries over in https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT211670
Lithium =/= Lithium-ion
None of this matters. If you search through the article (or the original article that claimed the ban), you will not find the word "lithium". I don't see how this rathole on lithium batteries has anything to do with the article.
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.
1) The wifi system is EMC certified and tested with the flight instrumentation. Dozens of different consumer devices are not. 2) Lufthansa "allows it during the entire flight without restriction – even during take-off and landing unless the crew instruct otherwise"( https://bluetoothtechworld.com/can-i-use-bluetooth-headphone... ). In other words, unless you're told to turn it off in the event of some problem, which…
Oh yeah, I guarantee that's on all the emergency checklists. "Ask very nicely if all the passengers can turn off their bluetooth headsets".
Also, I'm pretty confident that Lufthansa's Airbus and Boeing planes are the same as everybody else's Airbus and Boeing planes. If there was an EMC issue that they were running into from Airtags, it would have been jumped on by the national aviation administrations so fast your head would spin. It would be major international news. It would not be an obscure rule with misleading and contradictory guidance coming from a single airline.
None of this matters. If you search through the article (or the original article that claimed the ban), you will not find the word "lithium". I don't see how this rathole on lithium batteries has anything to do with the article.
Not OP but the point is that Li-ions are rechargeable and therefore more susceptible to shorting/thermal runaway than lithium batteries which are not wired to be rechargeable and therefor less at risk for shorting/thermal runaway.
My reading is that AirTags are permitted by IATA regulations. [0] indicates that a small Lithium-metal battery, as is installed in an AirTag, can be transported as cargo on a passenger aircraft. [1] indicates that low-powered communications like Bluetooth are permitted from active devices transported as cargo (page 9, item 3). Am I missing something? [0]: https://www.iata.org/contentassets/05e6d8742b0047259bf3a700b..…
For electronic devices containing lithium batteries, the ICAO regulations mandate that “ if devices are carried in checked baggage: — measures must be taken to prevent unintentional activation and to protect the devices from damage; and — the devices must be completely switched off (not in sleep or hibernation mode); ” Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33128614
GP is making the assertion that Airtags are cargo tracking devices powered by a button cell, which this document issued in 2021 (note the document referenced in that thread is from 2017) appears to exempt from those requirements (both from a battery point of view, and from the wireless signal one). IMO it's hard to argue that they're not, but then the question in my mind becomes "is checked baggage cargo?" for the purpose of these rules. No idea.