Is it even possible to ban AirTags? How exactly would that work? Even if you made the cargo hold a literal faraday cage, presumably as soon as you move the luggage the mesh network will be active again and immediately reconcile the location, which is what the user would want anyway.
Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
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Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#12"awkwardly"? "baffling face plant"?
Come on Ars...
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#13I'd rather the opposite: when luggage is checked in, a smart tag is attached. Then, it's retrieved right before leaving the luggage area, such that you know that the person who got the luggage is the right person.
That said, that brings a lot of logistical complication and cost, and won't happen anytime soon.
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#14Classic. Someone gets a lower-level customer service rep on twitter to make a statement based on incorrect and incomplete information about Airtags in compliance with regulation. Media blows it up into this insane thing, that Lufthansa is evil, and doesn't want you to track your bags, so they can lose it with no repercussions. Lufthansa clarifies things (once again, in line with law) - and then the media uses works l…
Lufthansa deserves it. Worst airline I've ever flown (and that's saying something being from Canada).
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#15Classic. Someone gets a lower-level customer service rep on twitter to make a statement based on incorrect and incomplete information about Airtags in compliance with regulation. Media blows it up into this insane thing, that Lufthansa is evil, and doesn't want you to track your bags, so they can lose it with no repercussions. Lufthansa clarifies things (once again, in line with law) - and then the media uses works l…
Lufthansa deserves it. Worst airline I've ever flown (and that's saying something being from Canada).
Yeah, not sure why this commenter is rushing to their defense. Out of all PR fumbles, this one is the fumblest.
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#16Classic. Someone gets a lower-level customer service rep on twitter to make a statement based on incorrect and incomplete information about Airtags in compliance with regulation. Media blows it up into this insane thing, that Lufthansa is evil, and doesn't want you to track your bags, so they can lose it with no repercussions. Lufthansa clarifies things (once again, in line with law) - and then the media uses works l…
It's definitely scummy journalism, but there's also a little misunderstanding in how social media reps work in Germany vs elsewhere.
Basically in Germany, they tend to operate with considerably more autonomy. It is not uncommon to see official Twitter accounts arguing with customers, where in the US you'd probably just get a canned response or ignored if you're sufficiently rude. So I'm not surprised that someone like this decided to interpret policy by themselves, and failed.
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#17Is it even possible to ban AirTags? How exactly would that work? Even if you made the cargo hold a literal faraday cage, presumably as soon as you move the luggage the mesh network will be active again and immediately reconcile the location, which is what the user would want anyway.
Same way illegal drugs are banned, pass everything through a scanner that detects the illegal thing. In this case, it would a UWB (and/or BLE and/or NFC, AirTags seems to use all three technologies) detector that flags any bags for manual inspection.
Not saying banning it is right/wrong, just that there definitely is a way of detecting them if you really want to.
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#18I'd rather the opposite: when luggage is checked in, a smart tag is attached. Then, it's retrieved right before leaving the luggage area, such that you know that the person who got the luggage is the right person. That said, that brings a lot of logistical complication and cost, and won't happen anytime soon.
Sort of like the inverse of restaurant "waiting for a table" pagers
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#19Classic. Someone gets a lower-level customer service rep on twitter to make a statement based on incorrect and incomplete information about Airtags in compliance with regulation. Media blows it up into this insane thing, that Lufthansa is evil, and doesn't want you to track your bags, so they can lose it with no repercussions. Lufthansa clarifies things (once again, in line with law) - and then the media uses works l…
That's now how I read this playing out at all...
>Someone gets a lower-level customer service rep on twitter
You mean the person who posts to the verified Lufthansa twitter account?
https://twitter.com/lufthansa/status/1578879849577385984
This doesn't seem like some low level rep that got called up to get manipulated.
I think the lesson here is that if your verified twitter account says something ... people take it seriously.
Re: Lufthansa abandons AirTag ban
#20Classic. Someone gets a lower-level customer service rep on twitter to make a statement based on incorrect and incomplete information about Airtags in compliance with regulation. Media blows it up into this insane thing, that Lufthansa is evil, and doesn't want you to track your bags, so they can lose it with no repercussions. Lufthansa clarifies things (once again, in line with law) - and then the media uses works l…
Ars has definitely gone downhill, both in-house stuff like this and in the spamming of other Cande Nast junk. What is today's Ars-of-10-years-ago?