German airline Lufthansa has banned AirTags from its flights after passengers used a device to track the location of lost luggage. This was stated by a representative of the company on twitter that Lufthansa “prohibits the activation of AirTags in baggage as they are classified as dangerous and must be disabled.” Clicked for a reason, a separate representative argued that the decision was based on international guidelines.

“According to ICAO recommendations,” the spokesperson wrote, “baggage tracking devices are subject to dangerous goods regulations. Also, due to their transfer function, trackers must be turned off during flight if they are in checked baggage and cannot be used as a result.” AirTags can be removed relatively easily from Find My, but that defeats the purpose of having them in your luggage.

However, the situation was clouded by a more official statement from Lufthansa, in which Airways magazine said on Saturday that the company “did not ban AirTags and Lufthansa has no guidelines or rules to ban AirTags. These devices are subject to current ICAO regulations, but they have nothing to do with Lufthansa or any other carrier.”

However, this explanation is similar in semantics: AirTags are banned on flights, although there seems to be some debate over who made that decision.

As far as guidelines go, no one seems to be sure if the claims are legitimate. Numerous respondents on Twitter insisted that there was an exemption for devices with lithium batteries under a certain size and that AirTags must be compliant. ASP stated that there were no problems with wireless trackers, and the German site Watson, which published this story, received a similar response from representatives of the Munich and Berlin airports.

There is currently no consensus in the aviation industry regarding AirTags. As Watson points out, many airlines tolerate them. American airline representative said Macworld on Twitter rather cautiously that “at the moment there is no information that these devices are prohibited from our flights.” EasyJet said: “We don’t have a policy against having Apple AirTags with you on board.” We have contacted several other airlines and will update this article with their responses if and when they arrive.

Apple

This reporter is not an expert on airline regulations and can’t provide a detailed insight into the intricacies of dangerous goods classification other than to wonder why pre-existing regulations were used prior to October 2022 to ban a device released in April 2021. The timing clearly indicates that this is a matter of user behavior that has taken time to manifest and be observed, and not a scientifically determined hazard. If anyone was really concerned that AirTags could make planes fall out of the sky, they would have been banned from day one.

Travel experts suspect Lufthansa may have been motivated by the way passengers have begun using AirTags to track the location of lost luggage. Ben Schlappig of One Mile At A Time says he is “not surprised to see Lufthansa being the first airline to implement such a ban. Lufthansa is not exactly a customer friendly airline and the airline has had a terrible summer when it comes to lost bags. AirTags let travelers know exactly where their luggage is, and I guess some airlines don’t really like that. If you look on Twitter you will see a lot of people complaining about Lufthansa because they know exactly where their checked baggage is and the airline refuses to help.”

Ultimately, of course, this is a matter of PR, not legality. Lufthansa has every right to ban certain devices on its flights, and it doesn’t matter from the customer’s point of view whether the ban comes from the airline or from ICAO. The only way out is to vote with your wallet and fly with an airline that allows AirTags, but now that Lufthansa has taken the first step, we wouldn’t be surprised if other airlines follow suit.