Air New Zealand has officially banned Apple AirTags, even while suggesting that its policy could change at a future point. My response: good luck enforcing that…
Air New Zealand Bans Apple AirTags – Will Use Honor System To Enforce
An update to the Air New Zealand website now indicates that battery-powered baggage trackers are only permitted in checked baggage if they can be switched off.
“As products such as the AirTag and Tile are portable electronic devices that cannot be turned off, dangerous goods regulations currently prohibit them from being carried in checked-in luggage. As part of Air New Zealand’s safety management system, a review of these products is likely to take place in early 2023. Following this, discussions with the regulatory authority may be undertaken.”
Air New Zealand indicates it will review this policy in 2023, but offers no timeframe for determining when it will be completed.
Oddly, JetStar openly permits the use of AirTags and the New Zealand Aviation Security Service has indicated it will not be searching for these “banned” items in checked baggage.
That leaves it up to passengers to voluntarily comply unless Air New Zealand will start rifling through checked bags in search of these coin-sized devices.
One Mile At A Time wants the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to issue guidance over AirTags and I concur with that assessment. Technically, these AirTags are battery-operated and therefore not permitted in checked baggage. At the same time, not only are AirTags worthless if not turned on, but the risk of battery explosion has not been shown to be present. Here, the benefits of allowing passengers to track their bags outweigh the possible danger of a battery exploding inside a checked bag.
AirTags and other baggage tracking devices hold airlines accountable and that is a very good thing.
CONCLUSION
Air New Zealand has banned AirTags from checked baggage, but will rely upon passengers to comply via the honor system. While I do not have any Air New Zealand flights coming up and generally do not check baggage, I certainly will include an AirTag in any bag that I check.
image: New Zealand Aviation Security Service (AVSEC)
I’m with you. It’s not practical to enforce this, and there’s considerable value to passengers and carriers alike in allowing people to know where their bags are.
I dont believe they have any interest in attempting to enforce the ban, the mere fact that they banned it will give them the power to deny any passenger baggage claims and requests that are based on airtag loocation.
ML, you’re qualified for government work.
That’s exactly the point of the ban: Passengers who are fretting about their lost baggage won’t be able to say “I know it’s in Carson City instead of Miami… so get me my bag!”
Interesting recent story of mine about airline rules: I booked a RT ticket for my father-in-law where he flew out via Lufthansa transfer to United and vice-versa. So when he flew with Lufthansa, he had to abide by their baggage rules but flying back, United sort of us cut him a break (gave him a generous baggage allowance he otherwise wouldn’t have gotten.) Gotta love codeshare! In that case, it’s unlikely that most passengers will know or care about the rules for NZ Air if their codeshare originates with another airline.
Yep. 100%. They’ll plop something in the Contract of Carriage about AirTags-like devices and the second someone uses AirTags to refute an Air New Zealand claim about missing luggage, they’ll have violated the CoC and their claim will be denied. Pretty easy procedurally.
New Zealanders love following the rules, so they’ll likely comply, but everyone else will ignore it. One time I was getting petrol (gas) and a random guy made a comment about be using my phone at the pump, because that is the rule, which I just ignored. When I got in my car to drive away he had a small child in the front seat of his car with no car seat. So maybe they just like to follow some rules now that I think of it.
Why would they ban it when it could alleviate the huge problem of lost/missing baggage? I agree with you that it will also be impossible to enforce!
What’s being lost sight of is that the Air Tag is powered by the ever popular CR2032 battery. These tiny little coin batteries are everywhere and are not the kind of battery that airlines have been rightly concerned about. And frankly whether the AirTag is on or off doesn’t affect the chances of some sort of battery casualty at all.
If Air New Zealand wants to ban AirTags then it’s should similarly ban any and all batteries of any kind from being in checked luggage.
I was about to say same. They are not classed as dangerous as lithium ion’s (the rechargeable ones). No one is ever worried about a 2032
IME Air New Zealand always, a bit like the rest of the country operates behind the curve. This is unenforceable and a load of nonsense.