[HN Gopher] Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
___________________________________________________________________
Lufthansa bans AirTags in checked luggage
Author : N19PEDL2
Score : 154 points
Date : 2022-10-07 22:07 UTC (52 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (onemileatatime.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (onemileatatime.com)
| sushid wrote:
| This is going to have the opposite of their intended effect.
| People are now going to be more interested than ever in AirTags
| precisely for luggages thanks to them.
| myself248 wrote:
| 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.
| axlee wrote:
| Trackr has been gone since 2021.
| Maximus9000 wrote:
| Me too.
| xcambar wrote:
| This is called the Streisand Effect.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
| nixpulvis wrote:
| On a related note. Has anyone figured out a way to prevent my
| damn AirTags from randomly chiming? It's driving me insane.
| O__________O wrote:
| Strange idea, instead of finding a way to ban technology that
| makes you look bad -- maybe instead be customer friendly, offer
| free tags and add clear real-time map of where the customers
| luggage is currently and is expected to be.
| faangiq wrote:
| I eagerly await US carriers adding this as yet another contrived
| upsell.
| savoytruffle wrote:
| You'd expect Spirit Airlines to do this, but do they let you
| check a bag for less than a hundred bucks?
| eh9 wrote:
| I have every incentive to stick a tag in my bag and no incentive
| to take it out.
| heisenzombie wrote:
| " Lufthansa claims that the transmission function needs to be
| turned off during flight when in checked luggage, just as is
| required for cell phones, laptops, etc."
|
| On my phone, turning on airplane mode seems to disable the cell
| and wifi radios (with wifi able to be toggled back on) but
| Bluetooth defaults to staying on.
| mft_ wrote:
| Indeed; and there's no problem with half of a plane using
| Bluetooth headphones during the flight, either.
|
| I don't think this move by Lufthansa has much to do with
| engineering :)
| kazinator wrote:
| > _it just can't transmit, which of course renders it useless_
|
| Because, what, it's impossible to program things like this to
| start transmitting after an N-hour radio silence?
| savoytruffle wrote:
| Do they ban wristwatches with the same battery inside of them!?
| hayd wrote:
| Apple must fight this and get the regulation clarified.
| Ridiculous.
| savoytruffle wrote:
| Indeed and I expect there's no end of high-level Apple
| employees flying SFO -> FRA
| [deleted]
| kogir wrote:
| I was able to determine that someone with the exact same bag had
| taken mine from baggage claim and retrieve it from them before
| they left the airport with it. We both had much better vacations
| as a result. I'm going to keep mine in my luggage, sorry.
| dmix wrote:
| Why would you stop? I highly doubt they'll invest in the means
| to actually stop it across every airport.
| Arubis wrote:
| Initiate Streisand effect!
| keyle wrote:
| Isn't it a case of false information?
|
| I thought the tags communicated with nearby Bluetooth devices
| that have gps, which there should be none active nearby lost
| luggage... so people would scream that their luggage is somewhere
| around while the location is in fact outdated?
| landr0id wrote:
| Yes, they communicate with nearby Apple devices which have
| opted in to being part of the AirTag discovery network.
| zwily wrote:
| Chances are, there is someone around. An airline worker with an
| iPhone in their pocket, etc. I've put AirTags in my luggage
| since they came out and it's fun to see how often their
| location gets pinged.
| null0pointer wrote:
| Airtags are great for tracking luggage. Last time I travelled I
| put one in both of my checked bags and was able to track them as
| they moved around the airport and onto the plane. My phone in the
| passenger cabin was even able to receive pings from them during
| the flight when the bags were in the cargo hold. I have had my
| luggage lost before and Airtags give me great peace of mind that
| my luggage is headed to the destination and that if my bags do
| get lost I can hopefully help direct the airline staff to exactly
| where they are. I've never flown Lufthansa but this ban wouldn't
| stop me anyway. The benefit is too great.
| nostrademons wrote:
| 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. Modern cell
| phones have been steadily tuned to reduce interference with other
| electronics though - good thing, otherwise you couldn't use them
| in a modern home with its dozens of connected devices. And modern
| avionics have been shielded to protect them from outside
| electronic interference - also a good thing, otherwise the next
| terrorist could simply turn their laptop on. The ban on
| electronic transmission is one of those regulations that was a
| response to technology at a particular point in time but now is
| largely vestigial. You can tell because it's rarely enforced, and
| yet bad things do not occur just because you forgot to turn your
| phone to airplane mode.
| uh_uh wrote:
| You are not required to put airplane mode on inside the airport
| (unless you are on the plane already), so this cell tower
| explanation doesn't make sense to me.
| alexnewman wrote:
| luckily this happens all the time since people often forget. i
| know i do.
| sigwinch28 wrote:
| > Note that the reason for airport mode is a courtesy to cell-
| phone carriers.
|
| This doesn't track. What about trains?
| joecot wrote:
| Trains move significantly slower than planes. They're also on
| the ground, mostly below the towers, while planes are in the
| air, moving very fast, with multiple towers in line of sight.
| scandinavian wrote:
| It doesn't track in any way. In the airport there's small
| cells or femtocells by the operators. In the air, the only
| cells you can reach are the one pointing upwards.
|
| Also, they don't really ask for airplane mode anymore, at
| least not when I'm flying.
| ghaff wrote:
| Huh. I don't check luggage much and, at least with United, their
| checked baggage app tracking system seems pretty good. But I've
| been tossing in an AirTag on the few occasions I've checked
| luggage in the past year or so and it seems to work pretty well
| as a backup tracker.
| mintplant wrote:
| I check luggage pretty often, and these days I always chuck a
| Tile into every bag. With all the logistical disruptions at
| airports of late, waiting at baggage claim is a lot less nerve-
| wracking when I can see that my bags pinged on the tarmac five
| minutes ago.
| ghaff wrote:
| It's not perfect information but in a lost/delayed/slow
| baggage situation, anything is better than nothing.
| 762236 wrote:
| We just bought our first AirTag specifically for this reason.
| harha wrote:
| This is exactly why I'm so opposed to government bail outs - even
| though it was repaid in most countries (famously Austria chose
| the worst way to save them, give them free money to not repay).
|
| It would have been nice to see this massive company (with
| monopoly on many routes in Germany) broken up and under new
| ownership competing for customers, rather than treating them as a
| massive burden.
| robg wrote:
| Good luck enforcing this ban. How would they? Open up suspect
| bags and tear them apart looking for a device the size of a
| quarter?
| mkonecny wrote:
| These devices beacon every few seconds to announce their
| location.
| runjake wrote:
| AirTags are scannable as an NFC and they identify themselves as
| AirTag.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| NFC range is so low you'd have to scan the exact right spot
| in the bag. Good luck.
| exitb wrote:
| You'd have to admit to breaking this rule in order to point out
| any baggage misplacement.
| mccorrinall wrote:
| I have an AirTag which turns off during flights and powers
| itself on after 24h. Hah. Compliance!
| scottmcdot wrote:
| How do you get the AirTag to do this?
| dogsboywonder wrote:
| I would say the push for this is motivated by their crappy
| customer service.
| tonywastaken wrote:
| I agree with this. Mostly because I had a poor experience with
| one of their gate agents recently. They forced me to check my
| hand luggage because it was 2kg overweight. They don't
| uniformly enforce the hand luggage weight limit, their
| employees get to pick and choose passengers at the gate. The
| gate agent scoffed at me putting an AirTag in the bag that they
| were making me check.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| > _They don't uniformly enforce..._
|
| Because it's a scam. They pick "enforcement" targets by
| guessing who seems likely to pay.
|
| I've _never_ been charged when traveling solo. But with
| family or co-workers they have a shot at the "oh, just pay
| it, we have a plane to catch" gambit. I know their tricks and
| _always_ refuse. Then I lay the bag down and start rifling
| through it like Yoda in Luke's lunchbox.
|
| The long line of passengers who think they will miss their
| flight are staring daggers at me. My travel companions are
| attempting to activate their invisibility cloaks. I give not
| one f because _it is a scam._
|
| I am helping everyone by showing it is a scam. Half the time
| the agent backs down. The other times I can usually throw a
| few heavier things into a spare duffel bag. F that s.
| TazeTSchnitzel wrote:
| There could be non-cynical motives for airlines not to want
| customers to be able to track their baggage. Getting weird
| enquiries about whether bags have been stolen because they are in
| some unexpected non-airport location, when it's just a place the
| airline uses to handle delayed baggage, is probably troublesome
| for them.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| Delta has been providing live updates of luggage locations for
| years without an issue.
|
| They're claiming it's due to radio transmission anyways.
| myself248 wrote:
| Is it just me or is that even more cynical?
|
| Moving my belongings to an off-site location is _precisely_ the
| sort of thing I'd want to be notified of, and if the airline
| doesn't feel that I deserve to know that, ahh, well. That would
| be problematic.
|
| I appreciate that you're trying to find alternate explanations,
| and it's my first impulse to do the same, but I've been racking
| my brain and I just can't come up with any. This one isn't
| better, it's worse.
| ghaff wrote:
| It doesn't seem as if "We've rerouted your luggage to a
| different airport and you'll get it at some point" should be a
| particular secret of the airline.
| [deleted]
| ninth_ant wrote:
| Is it really a "weird inquiry" for someone to wonder why their
| bags aren't being delivered?
|
| If the bags aren't being delivered, that's troublesome for the
| owner of the bags. And a version of "troublesome" I find more
| sympathy for compared to the burden on poor ol' massive airline
| companies having to listen to their customers when they lose
| their property.
| awillen wrote:
| Yeah, but the solution to this is to proactively communicate
| the status of bags to customers. If you're getting weird
| inquiries because you're being opaque about something important
| to a customer, who is confused, it's your own fault if that's
| troublesome.
| andy_ppp wrote:
| It's almost as if Lufthansa are admitting they are a terrible
| airline with awful practices like silently cancelling the return
| leg of flights if you don't make the outbound. This happened to
| me on the way back from Germany, I can't imagine they still do
| this but I found them extremely unhelpful and this sort of
| behaviour reinforces my feeling they think you're lucky to be
| travelling with them.
| biggc wrote:
| > like silently cancelling the return leg of flights if you
| don't make the outbound
|
| I don't know about the "silently" part, but this is standard
| practice for most (all?) airlines.
| andy_ppp wrote:
| It's immoral and illegal in Europe but sure quite a few
| airlines still try this on.
| jupp0r wrote:
| Many airlines do this. Lufthansa did it to me last year. They
| are usually accommodating if you ask in advance (mine was due
| to a connecting flight being canceled and driving the last leg
| was much faster than waiting for the next flight).
| andy_ppp wrote:
| It's actually illegal for them to do this without refunding
| you in Europe but a lot of airlines just ignore the law on
| this it seems.
| nomilk wrote:
| > This is specifically because of the transmission function.
| Lufthansa claims that the transmission function needs to be
| turned off during flight when in checked luggage, just as is
| required for cell phones, laptops, etc.
|
| Can anyone confirm/deny whether Airtags can interfere with
| aircraft navigation and communication systems?
| Ancalagon wrote:
| No more plausible deniability I guess when really you just don't
| want to pay someone to sort through the lost and found luggage.
| ddingus wrote:
| [Banned]
|
| [After shocked expression]
|
| "I had no idea"
| nalaz wrote:
| And how do they intend to enforce this?
| icey wrote:
| At the least this gives them some poor counterargument if
| someone says they were able to track their lost bag with an
| Airtag.
|
| "What do you mean, you have an Airtag in your bag? We don't
| have any guarantees for baggage containing banned materials."
| Tomdarkness wrote:
| How are they even going to know if there is an airtag in
| someone's luggage? Are they particularly obvious on an x-ray or
| is there some kind of specialised detector?
| savoytruffle wrote:
| It's an interesting question. Maybe it's just scare tactics.
| The battery that goes in an AirTag is the same as in a lot of
| wristwatches and I expect it would look like a wristwatch via
| x-ray. And it is exactly as dangerous as such a thing, which it
| to say: not.
| OJFord wrote:
| See the comment about non-cynical motives - and then, you can't
| complain 'well I can see on my tracker app that..' if you're
| not supposed to have one.
| thayne wrote:
| Well, if they are transmitting, at least in theory it would be
| possible to detect that transmission. Though I would be kind of
| surprised if they actually put much effort into actually
| enforcing it.
| SomeBoolshit wrote:
| But then why is inflight wifi a thing?
| sokoloff wrote:
| Under FAA rules (what I'm familiar with), the air carrier
| can determine which portable electronic devices to allow.
|
| The law (it's short):
| https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.21
|
| An advisory relating to it: https://www.faa.gov/documentLib
| rary/media/Advisory_Circular/...
|
| This allows an air carrier to approve anything they're
| confident won't cause an issue but not approve AirTags.
| savoytruffle wrote:
| If they want to defeat tracking, they can enforce their
| baggage employees not to bring iPhones to work. Of course
| eventually on the plane, the luggage will be like ten feet
| below hundreds of people who might have an iPhone!
| jupp0r wrote:
| Any idea how this would be enforced?
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| Are they going to scan bags for AirTags now?
| [deleted]
| bilekas wrote:
| > This is specifically because of the transmission function.
| Lufthansa claims that the transmission function needs to be
| turned off during flight when in checked luggage, just as is
| required for cell phones, laptops, etc.
|
| While this is negligible and I can see a lot of people saying
| "Well who cares it's just one" if you imagine a lot of
| interference from a lot of baggage with them on a flight.. I
| haven't tested, but personally I would prefer to be safer rather
| than sorry.
|
| It's also worth noting this is a de-facto rule for US domestic
| flights too. All carriers, switching to airplane mode is a
| federal requirement on U.S. domestic flights.
|
| Edit : I found an article saying they were compliant with US but
| no sources.. https://thepointsguy.com/news/bag-tracking-apple-
| airtag/
| dghlsakjg wrote:
| AFAIK you are still allowed to use Bluetooth and wifi in all
| phases of flight which is what the AirTag uses (ble).
|
| If you aren't then someone should tell United because I stayed
| connected to their network watching a movie all the way from
| cruise altitude to the gate.
| bilekas wrote:
| That's fair enough I guess. In the case of bluetooth I don't
| see an issue.
| imglorp wrote:
| These things are bluetooth at only 2.8 mw UWB in the GHz
| range[1]. Anything with that power at that band in an aluminum
| walled cargo hold is probably nil: kitchen foil attenuates 80
| dB over 100 Mhz [2] and bulkheads are much thicker.
|
| So yeah it's not for technical reasons.
|
| 1. https://fccid.io/BCGA2187
|
| 2. http://www.aluminium-foil.org/aluminum-foil-for-
| electromagne...
| aliqot wrote:
| I wonder if cargo bays could have a mesh or paint that would
| act as a faraday cage.
| bilekas wrote:
| Well the fuselage does already, but the cargo bays are a
| faraday in a faraday ?
| aliqot wrote:
| That's what I'd assumed, but I'm trying to use the most
| charitable interpretation of what their concern might be. I
| don't think it's an EM issue -at all-. I think it may be an
| accountability issue and the inconvenience of having to fly
| back individual parcels for no added profit in the face of
| proof.
| bilekas wrote:
| Processing it a bit more, particularly on the blutooth
| only 'mode' I think they are just creating a backup
| defense for luggage logistic nightmares.
| BostonEnginerd wrote:
| It's not reasonable to implement something like that. Any gap
| would need to be <0.5cm in size in order for it to work on a
| 2.4GHz Bluetooth signal.
|
| Considering that half of the passengers are likely forgetting
| to put their device in airplane mode - and they're all using
| Bluetooth headphones, there is effectively zero risk to the
| airplane.
| ghaff wrote:
| >All carriers, switching to airplane mode is a federal
| requirement on U.S. domestic flights.
|
| How many people do you think actually do this. (I mostly do,
| when I remember.)
|
| If it's actually a problem, the FAA would be dealing with it
| other than hoping passengers individually pressed all the right
| buttons.
| bilekas wrote:
| > How many people do you think actually do this. (I mostly
| do, when I remember.) I'm EU based and not flying every day
| but any flight at all it's always in airplane mode. It's like
| a seatbelt on a car for me, it's just done.
|
| I'm biased but I would like to believe most people remember,
| yamtaddle wrote:
| I'd be a little surprised if 50% of cell phone owners even
| know _how_ to turn on Airplane Mode.
|
| Yes, I know it's usually right there on a screen _you 'd
| think_ they'd look at pretty often.
|
| I stand by that.
|
| Beyond that, several on every flight who might do it, will
| forget to, and several more just don't give a fuck. Despite
| this I've never once seen anyone get hassled over it.
| ghaff wrote:
| How would attendants even _know_ to hassle someone. Yes,
| there are some people who pay attention to the announcement
| and some others who want to preserve their battery. But,
| yeah, I 'm guessing well south of 50% turn on airline mode
| at least in the US--and I'd probably be a bit surprised if
| Europe were that different. Certainly no one makes a show
| of caring all that much these days as they did when turning
| off cellphones was such a big deal at takeoff.
| diebeforei485 wrote:
| I don't want my luggage to be sent to some lost luggage auction.
| I actually do want to know where it is.
| toss1 wrote:
| A forward-thinking airline would not ban airtags and the like --
| they would _REQUIRE_ them. Then offload some of the tracking to
| the customers.
|
| This is obviously simply the airline trying to cut down on bad
| social media posts, as it is a lot less dramatic to post "I flew
| from Frankfurt to New York, and two days later where is my bag?"
| instead of "I flew from Frankfurt to New York, and two days later
| why is my bag in Hong Kong?
|
| And with the ban, what are they going to do, refuse to load any
| bag that scans as an NFC? Send it but charge extra to collect it?
| Kick you off the plane? What happens when you have other luggage
| items that require it?
|
| It also seems like this could be easily defeated with a feature
| that would put the AirTag to sleep for X hours after put in the
| luggage (set X to long enough to get to the airport and in the
| air, but shorter than when you are supposed to arrive).
| phit_ wrote:
| what 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 and
| for the inconvenience this has caused. We regret that we are
| currently unable to meet our standards for a smooth travel
| experience.
|
| > Why are there delays?
|
| > There are currently massive logistical and personnel failures
| and bottlenecks worldwide, which are delaying baggage handling in
| particular. The world of flying is highly interconnected. We are
| dependent on our global partners here and are thus confronted
| with numerous challenges.
|
| > We are working hard to ensure that all delayed baggage is
| delivered within the coming weeks.
|
| > If you would like to check the baggage status yourself, please
| use the baggage status page only. Our telephone service centers
| will not be able to assist with any questions regarding your
| baggage.
|
| > Kind regards
|
| > Your Lufthansa Team
| cm2187 wrote:
| Not sure what would be the motive for the airline to hide that
| the bag is lost. If it's not waiting for you at the baggage
| claim, you know it is lost, airtag or no airtag. Also not sure
| what good it does to the user either, to know in which particular
| hall of which particular terminal the luggage is right now.
|
| Much more useful outside of airports.
| dghlsakjg wrote:
| The cat is out of the bag.
|
| There is no way that people are going to stop putting AirTags in
| their luggage, at least not while airlines are still constantly
| losing luggage and fighting people on reimbursement.
| aliqot wrote:
| I do see how they'd find it bothersome. Imagine what it must be
| like that the situation before was: "Oh no my baggage is lost!"
| "Oooh that's rough! We'll let ya know!" then nothing.
|
| Where now what it might be like is: "Oh no my baggage is lost
| at XYZ airport at your terminal" and that accountability is
| somewhat forced now because they can't just say it wasn't found
| or it is 'in transit' when it really isn't.
| FredPret wrote:
| So inconvenient for them to do what they were contracted to
| do: fly you and your luggage from A to B. Can't they just get
| free money?
| aliqot wrote:
| You can get money for your troubles if your flight or
| luggage is delayed. For luggage being lost the maximum
| liability is $3,800 for domestic flights and about $1,800
| for international flights
|
| https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/19/what-travelers-need-to-
| know-...
| harha wrote:
| In theory yes, but in practice it could easily cost you
| more to deal with the airline and it might well be that
| you don't have the receipts anymore.
|
| With another European airline I recently waited exactly
| one day less than the three weeks required for them to
| deliver a child seat. That's almost three weeks of not
| having one to safely transport my child, no support or
| compensation. Since I was returning to my country of
| residence the credit card company also didn't refund.
| twelvechairs wrote:
| Every job, every person, every industry mistakes happen.
| You can minimise them with better systems but its never
| going to disappear
| yamtaddle wrote:
| The ones that don't suck are _happy_ if you can help them
| fix their error, though.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| polynomial wrote:
| Don't bother us, we're trying to help you.
| rowanG077 wrote:
| My heart breaks for them. They have to do the job they should
| have been doing in the first place.
| rconti wrote:
| I get that it's inconvenient and could be used nefariously. I'm
| not sure what kinds of worker protections airline staff have in
| Europe, but I can see why it might be problematic that I'm
| tracking the employee as they drive their van full of lost
| luggage to my hotel.
|
| Still, it's my stuff, so I'm going to keep putting AirTags in
| every bag I travel with. I'm sorry, but.. what are they going
| to do? Ban me from the airline?
| svnpenn wrote:
| > I'm sorry, but.. what are they going to do? Ban me from the
| airline?
|
| Um, yeah.
|
| why do you think that you're special, and that you can
| blatantly ignore the rules? I don't agree with the rule, but
| if you brazenly ignore it, and they catch you, they have
| every right to ban you from future flights. Just look at what
| they did with the mask people who started trouble. Bam,
| permaban from flights. You wanna push your luck go ahead, but
| don't cry if it happens to you.
| KerrAvon wrote:
| Look at the actual cases, though. You had to be really
| aggro to get the permaban instead of just getting walked
| off the flight with a warning. IMHO, they were not
| aggressive enough.
| yreg wrote:
| They cannot ban all of us.
| svnpenn wrote:
| yeah, they really can. Flights are a sellers market, they
| run near empty flights often. Plus less people are using
| AirTags than you think.
|
| Again, I think its a dumb rule. But don't think you are
| special and can just ignore it forever with no
| consequences.
| [deleted]
| chrisseaton wrote:
| > at least not while airlines are still constantly losing
| luggage
|
| Does that actually happen to people still? I thought it was
| just a 90s meme. I get a push notification every time they move
| my bag anywhere. 'Accepted into the system', 'loaded onto the
| plane', 'unloaded off the plane', 'popped out at the carousel'.
| Seems pretty bullet proof these days.
| dghlsakjg wrote:
| American Airlines self-reported a baggage mishandling rate
| just short of 1% this year. That seems really high to be
| honest.
| aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
| https://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-asks-airlines-to-
| cancel-...
| duxup wrote:
| My bags have air tags in them... just by default when I travel.
|
| My kids are tagged when traveling. Elderly in laws at times.
|
| This rule makes them look like they know they're terrible/ don't
| want to get caught.
| nortlov wrote:
| If transmissions truly are a problem, I would hope they'd protect
| passengers and vehicles (e.g. faraday cage luggage compartments)
| rather than hoping customers do not leave dangerous devices such
| as AirTags in their luggage.
| PLenz wrote:
| Next headline: Lufthansasa installs faraday cages in all their
| cargo holds
| hangonhn wrote:
| TBH, that seems the more reasonable way of dealing with it. If
| they are truly worried about transmissions while in flight,
| then yeah do that. Once the luggage is on the ground and
| unloaded the AirTags will still work. Seems like a win win for
| everyone -- if what they say about in flight transmissions is
| the real reason.
| andy_ppp wrote:
| They are just tired of people with lost luggage making their
| staff go find it... there is absolutely zero risk, the amount
| of energy involved is minuscule.
| runjake wrote:
| For all the people commenting "How would they know?", AirTags are
| scannable by NFC readers and identify themselves as an AirTag.
|
| You can test this yourself by downloading the NFC Tools app on
| your iPhone (or one for Android) and doing a read on the AirTag.
|
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nfc-tools/id1252962749
| coder543 wrote:
| NFC has a range of around 5cm and has nothing to do with how
| AirTags work for tracking purposes. Do you really think AirTags
| only update their location when someone with an iPhone comes
| over to intentionally scan it?
|
| Even if you bury the AirTag in the middle of the luggage, it
| will still be trackable, but NFC will absolutely not come even
| close to reaching it.
|
| They're not going to have off the shelf equipment capable of
| locating an AirTag quickly enough to matter even if they can
| tell there are AirTags _somewhere_ in the general vicinity of
| the luggage area. That's just not how any of this works.
|
| Whether the rule itself is ridiculous or not, as others have
| pointed out, the main benefit seems to be that they can tell
| customers to stop bothering them about luggage that they've
| lost.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Or they could just notice the battery sitting in your bag when
| you scan it. Hell, it's probably automated in the same way they
| check for firearms or other paraphernalia.
| googlryas wrote:
| I put an airtag on the inside pocket of my luggage, and am
| having no luck scanning it from the outside. It seems unlikely
| this will work. I can still find it with my iphone though.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| Yeah but security scanners don't have NFC readers built into
| them, and even if they did, the range is too short to be useful
| the way scanners are built.
| Gigachad wrote:
| If you stick it in the middle, it's out of range. Unless you
| have some super powered scanner perhaps
| [deleted]
| antman wrote:
| If it is not connectable you won't locate your luggage either
| fritolaid wrote:
| I did not expect anyone on HN suggesting sticking it deep
| into the luggage so it's out of range.
| yreg wrote:
| And you are confidently wrong since the NFC has very
| short range.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| 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.
| swyx wrote:
| if its out of range, its not much use as an airtag. circular
| logic
| ceejayoz wrote:
| NFC and Bluetooth have different ranges. AirTags use both
| for different purposes.
| runjake wrote:
| It still beacons. And sticking it in the middle will
| attenuate the beaconing by quite a bit (per my own testing),
| which defeats the purpose.
| robswc wrote:
| Wow... AirTags on your luggage? What an incredible idea, lol.
|
| Really though... can someone who knows what they're talking about
| (or a pilot?) tell us if the transmitting excuse is a cover or
| BS?
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| Next AirTag software update: when any nearby phones indicate they
| are in Airplane mode via Bluetooth (which they can do because
| bluetooth isn't blocked in airplane mode), put all nearby airtags
| on standby for an hour). Apple can figure out all the nuances. Or
| they'll add cheap pressure monitors and determine tag is on an
| airplane. Repeat. Your move, Lufthansa.
| jasonpeacock wrote:
| An airline that actually cared about customers would figure out a
| way to temporarily provide all bags with an Airtag (or
| equivalent) and encourage customers to track their bags.
|
| Or at least, encourage customers to provide their own Airtags.
| jupp0r wrote:
| I just ordered AirTags for exactly this purpose. Thanks for the
| hint Lufthansa.
| forrestthewoods wrote:
| Need the ability to program them to not transmit for X hours.
| Problem solved.
| savoytruffle wrote:
| Well, also a GPS receiver to detect flights to or from Germany.
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