Lufthansa Drone Policy – sorry, there isn’t one!

CBoardingGroup - Business Travel Blog

5 years ago

What is the Lufthansa Drone Policy? Can I bring a drone on Lufthansa? All great questions. We answer this and more in our detailed look at the Lufthansa Drone Policy.

Be sure to check out all of our Airline Drone Policies here and of course, the TSA Policy on Drones here.Â

Lufthansa Drone Policy

For a company that has an entire division of the company (SafeDrone) focused on drone related services you’d think the their drone policy would be clear. But…it’s not. In fact, it’s impossible to find anything at all on Lufthansa’s policies about drone.

Thus, like we saw with Delta we are forced to cobble together some independent information about baggage or batteries in general to come up with the effective Lufthansa Drone Policy.

In this article we dig into the following questions:

Are drones prohibited on a Lufthansa Flight?
Are drones allowed on a Lufthansa Flight?
Carrying a drone onto a Lufthansa Flight
Checking your drone on a Lufthansa Flight
Clarity on the Lufthansa Battery Policy

I asked Lufthansa what their drone policy was!

Since I couldn’t find anything on their website that gave any sort of indication whether I could actually bring my drone with me on a Lufthansa flight I reached out via their website to them.

And…crickets. No answer.

So, we were forced to cobble together a Lufthansa drone policy based on general knowledge and other Lufthansa policies.

What do we know?

We know that drones are not explicitly prohibited by Lufthansa.

We know that they have Lithium battery policy (batteries that are also common in drones) and that they allow various types of other electronic gear to be brought on the plane.

Our conclusion? They are allowed.Â

Carrying a drone onto aÂ LufthansaÂ Flight

When carrying a drone on a plane you really ought to carry it in a purpose-built drone backpack. Travelers can easily find a drone backpack that will fit your specific drone gear. Carrying your drone on you will give you some peace of mind as it sits safely above you in the overhead bin or beneath the seat back in front of you.

Example Drone Backpack on Amazon

If for some reason you decide to check your drone be sure to get a hard case for your drone and a TSA approved lock. And maybe some drone insurance.

Checking your Drone onÂ Lufthansa

When checking your droneÂ be sure to use a hard case for your drone (like pictured below) to help minimize the chance of it getting damaged in transit.

DJI Hard Case (check price)

How many drone batteries does Lufthansa allow?

Lufthansa, like most airlines, allows Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries on their planes under certain conditions:

General Rules:
- Batteries must meet the UN Manual of Tests and Criteriaâ€™, Part III, Section 38.3 (almost all commercially available drone batteries do)
Checked
- Allowed
- Must be switched off
- Do not have to be removed from the device (although it’s advisable)
- Up to 100 Watt Hours battery size can be checked (if higher they must be carried on)
Carried On
- Allowed
- Up to 160Wh size batteries can be carried on
- But only two spares

See the full Lufthansa Battery policy here.

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If you are interested in buying a travel drone please check out our detailed analysis of the very best drones for travel.Â

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Thanks for stopping by

Thanks for stopping in and learning about the Lufthansa Drone Policy. We’ve covered several other airlines drone policies so if you aren’t flying Lufthansa, check out our entire section on airline drone policies!

We also encourage you to check out our incredibly detailed of the best drones for traveling. If you are trying to figure out just which drone to buy & take with you on your next amazing trip, we have got you covered.

Be sure to check out these great articles including more travel drone related content, travel tips and more.