Lufthansa wants private Airtag data for lost luggage

For many people, flying is part of the ultimate down on a vacation trip. But often it is over with relaxation shortly after arrival: luggage is lost on the trip again and again. Especially during the holiday season, the baggage chaos begins every year. According to the Airhelp complaint service, 36.1 million luggage was either lost worldwide in 2023, were damaged or late.

Lufthansa is now introducing a new service for its passengers. If you are traveling with the airlines Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, you can integrate the Apple Airtag location function into the luggage determination.

Airtags are small location devices from Apple that work using the ultra-line tape technology. It is possible to see exactly where the devices are located via the iPhone. Now passengers can use the function to provide the location of their Airtag of the Lufthansa baggage determination, as the Lufthansa announced.

When asked by the star An Lufthansa spokesman explains how exactly the new system should work: The passenger is informed 48 hours after loss of his luggage that it can pass on the location of his Airtag to Lufthansa. This will then be transmitted, for example, via the Lufthansa app of the luggage investigation. This should make it easier to find the lost luggage.

Oliver Schmitt, head of the Lufthansa Group Digital Hangar, said that the integration of the Customers’ Airtag data opens Lufthansa additional ways to “act even more efficiently and faster.”

In the past few years, more and more people have stowed Airtags in their luggage so that they at least know where it is – if it hasn’t ended up on the right baggage risk. For a long time, however, it had been lacking in clear guidelines for taking trackers in the task baggage. Different airlines had therefore made different regulations whether air travelers were allowed to stow minisers in their suitcases. The Lufthansa itself had assessed and banned Tracker in the abandoned luggage as a security risk for a while.

It is only since May 2023 that passengers have been able to officially use location trackers such as Apple’s Airtags or Samsung’s smart tags in order to be able to locate their abandoned luggage.

The international civil aviation organization had carried out an examination of the technology in order to be able to set up clear rules. Since then, trackers have been allowed, the batteries of which have not exceed a lithium content of 0.3 grams. In addition, an output of 2.7 watt hours must not be exceeded. The devices must continue to be protected against damage.

The fact that the Lufthansa Apple’s Airtag is now integrating into its processes shows that in -house solutions such as the “Bagtag” are not accepted by air travelers. The tracker developed by Lufthansa has even been around for longer than the Apple Airtags.

Lufthansa was still confident in 2018 to succeed. The “Bagtag” won the Lufthansa Prize as “Best International Innovation”. In the future laboratory of the Lufthansa subsidiary Miles & More, they were already looking forward to a “tailor-made address”, as laboratory director Matthias Krohne said to the business magazine “Capital” at the time.