Lufthansa, the AirTags and the passengers who knew too much
There are few things more inconvenient when traveling than an airline losing your luggage, which happens all too often due to many reasons, ranging from labeling errors to problems in inter-airport transfers, generally attributable to both the airlines themselves and airport baggage handling services.
In our hyper-connected world, when an airline loses our luggage, we no longer just go to the counter and beg patiently for it to be found; at the same time, we go to our favorite social network and tell the world about it. And we don’t stop there, it turns out: 18 months ago, Apple launched AirTags, a €29 device the size of a coin with a long battery life, that you can place in a suitcase, and know in a moment where it is simply activating the corresponding app on your iPhone.
As a result, baggage claims have become much more entertaining, because despite us now know exactly and very reliably where our luggage is, airlines still insist on following their own administrative procedures and will not deliver it to you if its own systems are not able to locate it. Unsurprisingly, this has unleashed a wave of messages on social networks that embarrass airlines (in some cases it turns out staff took suitcases home), and often highlight the contradiction of knowing where something is but not being able to go and look for it or ask for it to be conveniently retrieved, because the airlines’ procedures do not usually provide for this type of flexible approach.
Lufthansa’s response has been to ban the use of AirTags on luggage checked into the hold. This pointless move is supposedly justified by regulations that forbid portable electronic devices in luggage, which, in the case of an AirTag, is not only barely credible, goes completely against its purpose, but most importantly, creates no problem for anyone — except the airline. To be clear, an AirTag is not going to interfere with an aircraft’s communication system, which is why they aren’t forbidden in hand luggage (I have carried one since they came out, and given my forgetfulness, it has proved highly useful on more than one occasion).
Let’s be clear: because Lufthansa is not able to develop a system able to use the reliable information provided to them by a passenger about the location of their suitcase, it has instead decided that we’re the problem. This is a policy that will be impossible to implement, because unless it thoroughly scans every single bag it checks in, the company won’t know if a suitcase contains an AirTag or not. Furthermore, from a legal perspective, an AirTag is neither dangerous, harmful, annoying, or subject to any rationally justified restrictions. Put simply, Lufthansa’s move reflects its inability to adapt its procedures to a new scenario in which anyone can easily know where their luggage is if it has an AirTag attached. Obviously, this is annoying for airlines that lose people’s belongings, along with its own reputation.
Lufthansa reversed itself Wednesday, saying it had “consulted with German aviation authorities” who agreed that Bluetooth trackers were safe for passengers to use.
