Travel Tech

Lufthansa Wants to Ban AirTags – Is It Because of How Badly They Handle Luggage?

a close-up of a luggage
Written by Charlie

Lufthansa wants to ban AirTags but are they burying the real reason for this wished-for ban? Thanks to AirTags, people have found what airlines could not.

AirTags have become the best travel accessory, especially this year. They have enabled travelers to find their bags even when airlines say they cannot be found. Now, one airline wants to stop that.

Lufthansa Wants to Ban AirTags

First of all, even suggesting such a ban is ludicrous. There is no way they can enforce this kind of ban. These are so small that any scanners would not be able to differentiate it from other small pieces of metal, especially when travelers are tucking them inside of things deep in a bag. It would consume hours of searches to find them and then what – they throw them away? Now there would be thousands of travelers calling Lufthansa to complain that their missing bag is sitting at a dumpster facility.

So, to even say they want to ban this is just ridiculous. Never going to actually happen that they will be able to keep them out of the cargo space. According to Paddle Your Own Kanoo, their reasoning is “Luggage trackers belong to the category of portable electronic devices and are therefore subject to the dangerous goods regulations issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for transport in aircraft.” 

Part of what makes that so dumb is that modern day earbuds can be tracked as well and the airlines have not banned them from bags. Also, the Find My network is growing rapidly with many different things coming out so the airline would need to start banning all kinds of ubiquitous items.

What most of us will end up assuming, and I believe rightly so, is that Lufthansa wants to prevent travelers from seeing how badly they handle the misplacing of luggage. This summer was terrible with lost and delayed luggage in European airports due to smaller staff and baggage handling crews. AirTags were the one thing that helped travelers find their bags because the airlines were overburdened and incapable of finding them for the customer – even though it is the job of airlines to actually deliver luggage.

Maybe if the European Union would make a rule for luggage like they have for compensation for delayed flights, people would not need to rely on AirTags.

Some of the links on Running with Miles are affiliate links that pay a commission if a purchase is made. Running with Miles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

4 Comments

  • So how does that actually work? They can’t find your bag but you see it’s in FRA. Other than knowing it’s there how does that help you recover it. You have to get a hold of someone and tell them to look in FRA?

    • THIS COMMENT! 1000%!

      It only works if you can physically get to your luggage, otherwise – it’s a waste of $$.

      • As I commented to Patrick, I was able to have them send it to me when I sent them a message showing them where it was. They just didn’t want to be bothered with the thousands of bags they had. But, when they know that I KNOW where it is, they acted on it.
        This has happened with a whole lot of people over the summer – definitely not a waste of money at all. But, its your money so its up to you! 🙂

    • I’ve had it happen that the baggage department claimed they did not know where it was. I sent them an e-mail with a screenshot showing that it was in their storage area and, amazingly, two hours later, it was on its way to me!