Lufthansa’s LH453: How An iPad Caused A 3 Hour Delay

Airline blogs are calling this the “most expensive iPad nap in history.”

Getting delayed midair is never fun. But usually, it’s because of something serious like mechanical issues, weather, or sick passengers. For the 461 travelers aboard Lufthansa flight LH453 this week, the reason was a little less significant.

Because yes, a single lost iPad really did send a 509-seat Airbus A380 hundreds of miles off course, all the way to Boston.

In this post:

A Small Tablet, A Big Problem

For some context, Lufthansa’s flagship LH453, the daily A380 service from LAX to Munich, had just settled into cruise over the sprawling wilderness of Canada when a business class passenger realized they couldn’t find their tablet.

Now, before you roll your eyes at how insignificant this sounds, this is actually a serious hazard. Lithium-ion batteries on a plane are a disaster waiting to happen. When these devices get wedged into tight spaces, they can get damaged or punctured and catch fire.

That’s the last thing you need when you’re six miles above the ground. Given several recent inflight battery incidents (looking at you, Southwest and Air Busan), Lufthansa’s crew made the call to land the plane as soon as practical.
In Lufthansa’s own words:

“To eliminate any potential risk, particularly with regard to possible overheating, the cockpit crew and air traffic control jointly decided, as a precaution, to divert the flight to Boston. There, a Lufthansa Technik team safely removed and inspected the damaged tablet. (...) At Lufthansa, the safety of our passengers and crew is always our top priority.”

Hard to argue with that logic.

A Hard Detour

The aircraft involved, an Airbus A380 registered D-AIMC, had lifted off from LAX at 5:47 PM local time, running a tad behind its 5:30 PM schedule. But by the time the issue was discovered, the plane was around 300 nautical miles northwest of Winnipeg. Not exactly a quick hop to anywhere.

Despite Boston being a three-hour detour (and the A380 still being overweight for landing), the crew handled the situation with textbook precision, putting the aircraft down safely on Runway 33L at Logan.

Boston Logan, not exactly accustomed to surprise visits from giant A380s, scrambled to accommodate the uninvited guest. The jet sat on the ground for about an hour while technicians hunted down the tablet, retrieved it safely (thankfully no damage or overheating), and cleared the aircraft to continue to Munich.

The frustrated passengers shared photos and sarcastic updates of their delayed arrival in Munich, and sure, I’d be pretty mad too. But the situation could have been a lot worse. After all, I’m sure we’d all rather deal with 3 hours of boredom than a cabin fire and nowhere to escape to, some people just don’t realize it.

Final Thoughts: Safety First, Always

Recently, Air France made a similar diversion after a passenger lost their phone on board, and sure, it’s easy to laugh at the idea of a $400 million aircraft full of hundreds of people rerouting because of one lost device. But when you consider the alternative, the decision to divert feels like a no-brainer.

In fact, the crew’s response was the only logical thing to do, and it made me respect the quality of Lufthansa’s staff. In the worst timeline, this quirky headline could have been a tragedy. People are so quick to criticize, but I’m sure if there really was a disaster, no headline would be about how “dumb” it is to follow safety protocols.

Pro tip for travelers: When the crew tells you to secure your electronic devices, they mean it. And when you’re going through security, be thankful they check for lithium batteries.