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.]