Lufthansa sets records straight on policy for Air Tags in checked luggage after confusion over ban

One of the world's largest airlines has set the record straight on its policy for Air Tags, capping several days of confusion over whether the carrier was in fact banning the popular coin-sized tracking device that some travellers have turned to for monitoring their checked luggage.

German airline Lufthansa on Wednesday clarified its policy, saying in a statement that German aviation authorities had agreed with its risk assessment that tracking devices like Air Tags pose no safety risk.

"These devices are allowed on Lufthansa flights," Lufthansa concluded.

It was unclear when the airline's risk assessment took place; the company did not respond to questions Wednesday about the Air Tags policy, including why four days ago it was miscommunicated in tweets from its verified Twitter account.

Confusion over the policy at Lufthansa, which last year transported nearly 47 million passengers, briefly added to the pileup of headaches that air travellers have endured this year: The pandemic-hobbled airline industry saw a particularly brutal summer full of delays and flight cancellations, labor shortages and lost luggage "nightmares."

But while there's little consumers can do about an understaffed flight or overworked crew, Air Tags and similar tracking products like Tile and Chipolo have emerged as a popular way for travellers to keep tabs on checked luggage that gets lost en route to baggage claim. Since Apple introduced the $US29 coin-sized tags last year, people have used them to find hauls of stolen luggage, catch a moving company driver in a lie and track all manner of lost or stolen goods, from car keys to dogs.

Baggage that's mishandled - industry speak for "lost, damaged, delayed, and pilfered" - remains a significant problem for travellers around the globe. Domestically, in July alone, 275,582 checked bags were mishandled by U.S.-based carriers, according to the US Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report from September.

Before it reversed course Wednesday, Lufthansa appeared to be the only major carrier that had specifically banned Air Tags from passengers' checked luggage. In response to a customer's question about the rumoured ban, the company on Saturday replied from its official Twitter account that it considered activated Air Tags to be dangerous; turning off Air Tags renders them useless. It followed up to say baggage trackers were subject to dangerous goods regulations, citing guidelines from the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Lithium batteries can catch fire if damaged, which is why regulators like the Federal Aviation Administration require objects such as cellphones, tablets, vape pens and cameras to be completely deactivated if stowed in checked baggage.