When Apple AirTag was first released back in April 2021 and in the following months, some airlines expressed concerns about the tracking devices due to the potential for them to cause interference with aircraft navigation systems.
The FAA put an end to those baseless concerns saying, “Luggage tracking devices powered by lithium metal cells that have 0.3 grams or less of lithium can be used on checked baggage.” The battery in an Apple AirTag is a third of that size and poses no risk to aircraft operation.
Dorothy R emailed us about her experience with AirTags. Here’s what she had to say:
Kurt, I think I saw you on FOX N Friends when you suggested buying Apple AirTags. I followed your advice & gave an AirTag to both of my daughters for our trip to South Africa over the Xmas holiday. It was a lifesaver. One bag was left in Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 1 while we were in Cape Town. Neither United or Lufthansa wanted to know about it.
Three days later, the bag was over the Atlantic Ocean, 200 miles south of Greenland. We had only one more night in Cape Town. Time was running out. Our next notification said the suitcase was in Munich. We could only pray that it made the flight to Cape Town.
With 9 hours to go, our final notification said it was at the Cape Town airport.
The airline didn’t want to give us the suitcase b/c they wanted their courier to deliver it. Begging took place & we got the suitcase. You are the bomb!!!! Thx!
– Dorothy R
The main thing that airlines may dislike about AirTags is that the trackers can potentially do a better job at locating a lost bag, as proven by Dorothy’s situation we mentioned above.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s AirTag uses a small CR2032 battery, found in many wristwatches. It is not considered dangerous to the safety of a flight.
Airlines initially claimed AirTags need to be switched off while in flight. The only way to “switch off” an AirTag is to remove its battery.
Of course, once you remove the battery, the location of this AirTag is no longer visible to its owner and incompetent airlines that can’t figure out a system to transport their overcharged customers’ luggage with any reasonable degree of accuracy can continue screwing up what should be a simple logistics process ad infinitum. — MacDailyNews, October 11, 2022
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Any airline that wants to ban AirTags needs to be immediately and permanently boycotted. Their ridiculously stupid nonsense is only equalled by AC’s insanity, and such dubious and utter nonsense MUST BE SEVERELY PUNISHED.
AirTags are great. I always put one in my checked suitcase. They also helped my daughter to recover her missing jacket from a guarded wardrobe. And I could locate my „lost“ key in the pocket of my jacket that I was wearing. 🙂
I’m told Tim Cook likes a bit of an AirTug.
As with all comedy… that touched on a sensitive topic and wasn’t very ‘woke’. I loved it. Laughed out loud at my desk. Not because I dislike Cook or care about his sexual partners, but because it was FUNNY. In the same way jokes about old straight white men wearing white New Balance shoes is funny.
” In the same way jokes about old straight white men wearing white New Balance shoes is funny.”
I happen to resemble that comment completely and I’m not laughing. The nerve of some people.
I used to use Tile, but have found AirTags to be MUCH better at near items with the location direction; and great for things left behind intentionally. I purchased 8 a month ago for my wife and myself. Then called each of my adult daughters urging them to get AirTags for themselves since they travel across country and internationally often. So much better than Tile.
When Tile first arrived, it made me smile, but after AirTag, Tile is just a vile pile of icky bile that takes a while, which riles me. AirTags go the extra mile.
Now that the FAA has approved the use of AirTags, airlines have no say in the matter.
Airlines… Roy Kent would be right to say EFFING WAN-CARS
The airlines’ poor public reactions to AirTags has pretty obviously just been a manifestation of their fear that their poor performance in baggage handling services was going to be publicly exposed .. as it now has.
Granted, any new & unknown transmitter is a safety risk concern, but this technological assessment is pretty simple as a non-issue: it is BlueTooth and the FAA knows about BlueTooth, but only required ‘Airplane’ mode to turn off cellular.
Having the official FAA approval is a good thing, as the airlines are denied their “but safety!” line of argument. They don’t have this as an excuse to obstruct customers ability to have an independent check on an airline’s baggage handling performance.
In India, there is no such rules. And in my opinion its not a solution, Any airline do not have such authority
We take our responsibility to negotiate the best price for your family and business extremely seriously. Rural loans are allowed as long as the borrower complies with the credit norms and conditions set by a national finance broker, such as Regional Rural Finance at https://www.regionalruralfinance.com.au We are a group of professionals who work with the nation’s citizens to provide the greatest loan alternative.