Why we don't have some international passive RFID luggage tag that all airports could automatically scan is beyond me. I mean the amount of luggage that still gets lost and every few years a screwup creates such a backlog that they give up and dump them figuring compensation is easier than sorting it all out. It's ridiculous.
Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
551–560 of 629 posts
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#552Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, 2G does interfere with aircraft communication, I don't think it is the case for other bands. You may already have heard the interference. Just before the phone rings, you may hear some a characteristic beeping sound on your headphones or speakers. And guess what, pilots hear it in their headsets too, aviation headsets are just regular wired headsets. I fly small planes and I hear it regularly. No big deal,…
I'm surprised that anyone who believe that any passenger could mess with airplane communications by not turning their phone off would accept to take that risk and board a plane at all :)
If a phone can take down airline communications, there is something wrong with the aircraft. These should be properly shielded lines.
There are now millions of hours of airline ops with phones on. It doesn’t cause any problems.
Also hot tip: the pilots are using iPads the entire flight too. With Bluetooth and wifi often linked to other gadgets.
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#553Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main concern with lithium batteries is fire. A fire in the cabin can be detected and contained much faster than in the cargo hold. Fire is probably not a realistic concern with an AirTag, Tile, or similar low-powered device using a tiny battery, but the regulations are not nuanced. Devices powered by lithium batteries are supposed to be turned off if they're in the cargo hold.
AirTags use normal button cell batteries, not lithium based
Normal button cells are lithium based. CR2032 in this case.
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#554what a joke, I guess that's one way to deal with their terrible luggage handling.. I've been now waiting since a flight on August 20th to receive my "lost" luggage from them. I guess policy like this is easier than fixing the actual issue. The only update I've gotten is this email two weeks ago, their hotline and website are completely useless. Via DeepL > Good day, > We apologize that you have not yet received your…
luggage this summer in europe has been a mess. air france lost my bag in paris on june 12 and has neglected to compensate me or return it. no way to get a hold of anyone who can do anything either-- left me wishing i had put an airtag in there myself.
Usually the handling of luggage is not by air france (or other carrier), it is the specific airport personnel, so called "ground-services".
Most airports cut down personnel due to Covid-19 and when the amount of flights quickly ramped up to previous (or possibly higher than before) levels couldn't manage (or did not want) to find/hire/re-hire enough personnel.
When this happens, the luggage is normally stored in a hangar or other warehouse at the airport, far from passenger traffic, and with access reserved to these ground service personnel, so the most you would get with an airtag (if any of the personnel has an iPhone) is that your luggage still exists in a place which you cannot have access to, no way to collect it.
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#555Do they realize how many these these days have small batteries in them? Shavers, tooth brush, etc - that almost always are checked. Not to mention the coin cell batteries. Are they really planning on banning every battery in luggage AND Enforcing it? That seems like a recipe for a bad time. Don't get me wrong, there is a reason for some of the rules. The galaxy note 7 will be forever known as the fire phone. Cheap sh…
You can have batteries in your luggage, in a device for which they are intended, provided it is turned off. AirTags being a device which transmit and and contain lithium, and wouldn’t normally be be turned off might be forbidden under a strict interpretation of the rules.
The statement from Lufthansa is clearly an interpretation of existing rules and not a specific ban on AirTags.
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#556Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#557Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#558Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bingo! It hadn't occurred to me until just now, but you bet your butt there'll be an Airtag, a Trackr, and a Tile in my luggage next time.
It’s honestly so nice! I land, and before I check my texts I check for my bags. They have almost always already been reported to the find my network and I have peace of mind. Even at the baggage carousels. I just activate “Find” and it tells me if my bag is “near by” and rarely it’ll even give me the arrow pointing at my luggage. I didn’t even realize that I was previously micro-stressing about this stuff. But I can…
Agree! When AirTags were announced I immediately bought 4 just for luggage tracking. The first trip I used them on our bags were lost. As we took off from Boston, I could see our bags were still on the other side of the airport. Since I already knew the bags were lost when we landed, we could go right to the baggage person. I was able to tell the person right where they were which sped the process up. Then, when they were finally delivered, the AirTags saved a bunch of time/stress knowing when/where to meet the delivery.
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#559Earlier quoted context omitted.
The more predominant issue is keeping anything with a lithium-ion battery in checked luggage. They'll crack down on anything from laptops to hearing aids.
CR2032 batteries that are in airtags are NOT lithium-ion, they're non-rechargeable and are usually Lithium/Manganese Dioxide [1] (lithium metal). I believe they're fine to have in checked luggage if contained inside some equipment (like the airtag). [2] Look for PI 970 If transported by themselves, they're cargo aircraft only. Source: [1] https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/cr2032.pdf [2] https://www.iata.org/contentasse…
They're fine to have in checked luggage (under some restrictions). But the device containing them must be completely switched off, according to the rules. That is at issue here.
Re: Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
#560Earlier quoted context omitted.
The term airplane mode will persist as an anachronism forever. Some day we will have to explain to our grandchildren why disabling networks has anything to do with airplanes.
My most frequent use of the air plane mode, is when I go underground on metro systems, which I find pretty ironic. (Without Airplane Mode, the phone will keep trying to connect to cellular towers, which just makes the network experience unstable) Perhaps "Underground Mode" would be more suitable in a modern context /s
In the Hong Kong MTR (subway) mobile phones work just fine. I was shocked when I couldn't get a connection in the London tube.