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Comment by bilekas | Hacker News Reader

> This is specifically because of the transmission function. Lufthansa claims that the transmission function needs to be turned off during flight when in checked luggage, just as is required for cell phones, laptops, etc.

While this is negligible and I can see a lot of people saying "Well who cares it's just one" if you imagine a lot of interference from a lot of baggage with them on a flight.. I haven't tested, but personally I would prefer to be safer rather than sorry.

It's also worth noting this is a de-facto rule for US domestic flights too. All carriers, switching to airplane mode is a federal requirement on U.S. domestic flights.

Edit : I found an article saying they were compliant with US but no sources.. https://thepointsguy.com/news/bag-tracking-apple-airtag/

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These things are bluetooth at only 2.8 mw UWB in the GHz range[1]. Anything with that power at that band in an aluminum walled cargo hold is probably nil: kitchen foil attenuates 80 dB over 100 Mhz [2] and bulkheads are much thicker.

So yeah it's not for technical reasons.

1. https://fccid.io/BCGA2187

2. http://www.aluminium-foil.org/aluminum-foil-for-electromagne...

>All carriers, switching to airplane mode is a federal requirement on U.S. domestic flights.

How many people do you think actually do this. (I mostly do, when I remember.)

If it's actually a problem, the FAA would be dealing with it other than hoping passengers individually pressed all the right buttons.

> How many people do you think actually do this. (I mostly do, when I remember.) I'm EU based and not flying every day but any flight at all it's always in airplane mode. It's like a seatbelt on a car for me, it's just done.

I'm biased but I would like to believe most people remember,

That is almost certainly optimistic but given that planes are not falling out of the air or reporting a lot of electronic interference issues it's probably OK as things stand.

I'd be a little surprised if 50% of cell phone owners even know how to turn on Airplane Mode.

Yes, I know it's usually right there on a screen you'd think they'd look at pretty often.

I stand by that.

Beyond that, several on every flight who might do it, will forget to, and several more just don't give a fuck. Despite this I've never once seen anyone get hassled over it.

How would attendants even know to hassle someone. Yes, there are some people who pay attention to the announcement and some others who want to preserve their battery. But, yeah, I'm guessing well south of 50% turn on airline mode at least in the US--and I'd probably be a bit surprised if Europe were that different. Certainly no one makes a show of caring all that much these days as they did when turning off cellphones was such a big deal at takeoff.

AFAIK you are still allowed to use Bluetooth and wifi in all phases of flight which is what the AirTag uses (ble).

If you aren’t then someone should tell United because I stayed connected to their network watching a movie all the way from cruise altitude to the gate.

That's fair enough I guess. In the case of bluetooth I don't see an issue.

I don't put my stuff in airplane mode, and I travel with a cell phone, an iPad w/ cellular, and my laptop. And my friends do the same. Sometimes we'll fly together.

So I know that doesn't do anything. I bet if I put one of these in airplane mode, I've won enough RF budget for everyone to have Airtags on

I wonder if cargo bays could have a mesh or paint that would act as a faraday cage. I will admit that I suspected at first glance that this was to avoid accountability for luggage that is lost.

Well the fuselage does already, but the cargo bays are a faraday in a faraday ?

That's what I'd assumed, but I'm trying to use the most charitable interpretation of what their concern might be. I don't think it's an EM issue -at all-. I think it may be an accountability issue and the inconvenience of having to fly back individual parcels for no added profit in the face of proof.

Processing it a bit more, particularly on the blutooth only 'mode' I think they are just creating a backup defense for luggage logistic nightmares.

It’s not reasonable to implement something like that. Any gap would need to be <0.5cm in size in order for it to work on a 2.4GHz Bluetooth signal.

Considering that half of the passengers are likely forgetting to put their device in airplane mode - and they’re all using Bluetooth headphones, there is effectively zero risk to the airplane.

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