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Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

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Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#251

Post by chrisseaton »

whatever1 wrote: post #171
dghlsakjg wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American Airlines self-reported a baggage mishandling rate just short of 1% this year. That seems really high to be honest, when you consider that most planes have a minimum of 150 passengers. 2022 was an anomalous year since the airlines ramped up their schedules without having support staff at the airports to handle it. The statistics seem to indicate a tripling of lost luggage rates.

For international trips this is close to 10%. My math professor is flying once a month to Europe from the US for the past 20 years. He told me about this statistic he built from his trip history and I thought he was exaggerating. On my 10th trans-Atlantic trip of course I lost my luggage.

So on a typical 747 flight 40 people will have their luggage lost when we get to the reclaim? That seems really improbably high. How come I don't see hundreds of people standing around getting angry at the belt?

At Heathrow, it'd mean 20,000+ people a day with lost luggage (if they all checked luggage). You'd need more than the entire taxi fleet of London to get their luggage to their hotels.

Really doesn't pass a common-sense check.

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#252

Post by sbf501 »

nostrademons wrote: post #76

Note that the reason for airport mode is a courtesy to cell-phone carriers. It's not any air safety issue. Rather, 300-500 cell phones all trying to contact the next cell tower, multiple times per minute, would wreak havoc on cell service. https://www.inverse.com/article/51015-cell-phone-use-on-airp... At one point, when both cell phones and laptops were new, there was perhaps a risk to the airplane's electronics. Mo…

I went on six flights this summer and on each one at least one person was talking on the phone during takeoff. The flight attendants didn't even say anything. I think this request has passed.

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#253

Post by numair »

I’m pretty sure that this ban is impossible to enforce, because it’s not just AirTags that use the Find My Network — AirPod cases and other Apple devices have the same functionality. Someone who knows more about the technicals of the Find My system might disagree, but it seems the airlines would have to literally ban carrying Apple devices in your luggage.

This also seems to indicate that a “workaround” would be to drop a spare Apple accessory with Find My capability in your luggage. Again, I could be wrong, so hopefully someone with more domain expertise can correct me!

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#254

Post by antman »

ceejayoz wrote: post #61
antman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is not connectable you won't locate your luggage either

They report in via Bluetooth, not NFC. My phone won’t scan one from more than a few inches, but I can locate them with Find My iPhone 20+ feet off.

Also what is the point? Bluetooth is easily detectable too

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#255

Post by Zigurd »

nostrademons wrote: post #76

Note that the reason for airport mode is a courtesy to cell-phone carriers. It's not any air safety issue. Rather, 300-500 cell phones all trying to contact the next cell tower, multiple times per minute, would wreak havoc on cell service. https://www.inverse.com/article/51015-cell-phone-use-on-airp... At one point, when both cell phones and laptops were new, there was perhaps a risk to the airplane's electronics. Mo…

Re: "Rather, 300-500 cell phones all trying to contact the next cell tower..."

That might have been a concern when 2.5G was cutting edge and HLR/VLR databases ran on Sun hardware of the period. Even then, hundreds of updates in a couple seconds was not a huge challenge.

Like a lot of what airlines tell customers, it is a self-serving version of reality, strongly colored for airlines' convenience and deniability.

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#256

Post by bryan0 »

Our last trip we put airtags in all of our checked luggage. When we arrived at our destination before collecting our bags, 1 of the airtags showed it was still at the departing airport! Lucky for us it was not correct, and for some reason the airtag didnt update. So in this instance they caused more harm than good, but if your bag is missing it seems very helpful to have it tagged.

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#257

Post by capableweb »

madrox wrote: post #229
nostrademons wrote: post #76

Note that the reason for airport mode is a courtesy to cell-phone carriers. It's not any air safety issue. Rather, 300-500 cell phones all trying to contact the next cell tower, multiple times per minute, would wreak havoc on cell service. https://www.inverse.com/article/51015-cell-phone-use-on-airp... At one point, when both cell phones and laptops were new, there was perhaps a risk to the airplane's electronics. Mo…

I once forgot to put my cell phone in airplane mode during a flight from London to SFO (and didn't use my phone during the flight). I was rather alarmed to see a flood of text messages from my carrier welcoming me to Iceland, Canada, and the US upon my landing.

That sounds... Improbable. When you were passing over Iceland you must have been far too far above the antennas to receive any sort of signal, unless it landed there on the way across the ocean?

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#258

Post by schappim »

Just wait until AirTags have accelerometers in them too (capturing all the abuse to bags)!

Seriously though, I'll be surprised if Apple puts any serious resources into future versions of the AirTag, given the amount of bad PR[0] they've generated for Apple, and how allergic Apple is to bad PR.

From the perspective of Apple, the cost to benefit ratio doesn't seem to be there, especially for a product that is a rounding error on their balance sheet.

[0] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=airtag+track

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#259

Post by hombre_fatal »

dsr_ wrote: post #148
sigwinch28 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Note that the reason for airport mode is a courtesy to cell-phone carriers. This doesn’t track. What about trains?

Line-of-sight. If you're 4-5 miles up with no blockers except the aircraft skin, you get to confuse a lot of towers at once.

Must not be very much of an issue since there’s basically zero messaging around what airplane mode is for.

Not once has any of my carriers even said “please turn on airplane mode to help the network”. Instead it’s an in-passing recommendation made by air stewardesses so boilerplate it feels like superstition.

I wonder what the actual impact is and how that relates to the low effort messaging around airplane mode.

Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage

#260

Post by delaaxe »

nostrademons wrote: post #76

Note that the reason for airport mode is a courtesy to cell-phone carriers. It's not any air safety issue. Rather, 300-500 cell phones all trying to contact the next cell tower, multiple times per minute, would wreak havoc on cell service. https://www.inverse.com/article/51015-cell-phone-use-on-airp... At one point, when both cell phones and laptops were new, there was perhaps a risk to the airplane's electronics. Mo…

What's airport mode?
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