German airline Lufthansa bans Apple AirTags for luggage tracking, says 'danger to flight'

Lufthansa, citing International Civilian Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines, said baggage trackers are subject to the dangerous goods regulations.

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German air carrier Lufthansa has banned Apple AirTags for luggage tracking on its flights, calling them a 'danger to flight'. Lufthansa has cited regulations by the International Civilian Aviation Organisation (ICAO) saying that the baggage trackers are subject to the dangerous goods regulations. However, as per a report on AppleInsider, the guidelines cited by Lufthansa say no such thing. The report states that the guidelines are not meant for small luggage tracking devices including Apple Airtags.

Following initial reports in the German media, the airline's Twitter account was asked to confirm that a ban is in place. In one tweet, Lufthansa wrote: "Banning activated AirTags from luggage as they are classified as dangerous and need to be turned off."

Pressed further on the classification, the carrier claimed: "According to International Civilian Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines, baggage trackers are subject to the dangerous goods regulations."

Furthermore, due to their transmission function, the trackers must be deactivated during the flight if they are in checked baggage and cannot be used as a result.

But, the claim that the airline is making about ICAO guidelines is completely wrong, the report said. Specifically, the regulation that Lufthansa is citing talks about lithium-ion battery regulations, such as those used in larger devices like a MacBook Pro.

The Apple AirTags, and other such tracking devices uses a battery that is too small to be considered an issue under the guidelines.Secondly, the AirTags uses CR2032 cells that aren't lithium-ion batteries and as such, not covered under the regulation.

The CR2032 cells were, in fact, used in wrist watches as well and using the same CR2032 would be disallowed on flights -- and they are not, mentioned the report.

With IANS inputs