[txcwpalpha]

Various airline regulatory bodies have rules that prohibit both devices that transmit wireless signals being carried in the cargo hold, as well as devices that have batteries being carried in the cargo hold. AirTags, while probably not the intended targets of such rules, technically fit both of these categories.

The airline is effectively just saying "we follow the rules we are supposed to follow". In practice, I doubt they care at all, and you're not going to see anyone trying to sniff out AirTags to prevent them from being in luggage... but you're also not going to see the official spokesperson of an airline make an announcement saying "yea go ahead and just ignore the rules, it's fine".

[tsimionescu]

Even worse, the response would have been "we ignore these rules that govern our right to fly our planes all the time, don't worry!".

[ghaff]

The bottom line is that a lot of literal rules related to electronic devices are arguably broken tens of thousands of times a day. At the same time, airlines also have a generally consistent approach to the things they actually decide to care about which they have almost certainly discussed with regulators.