Steam Deck offline mode not working?

So I’m currently on a trip and took my deck with me, putting it into offline in my room so it can verify connection before going offline. Get on the plane, attempt to boot up a game and this comes up:

So, I cannot launch games because downloads disabled? Well….yeah, I’m in offline mode, the whole point is I have no internet?

I‘ve played in offline mode before and have never encountered this issue, anyone know what the problem is?

The problem is mostly Steam, but maybe it could be the game?

The problem with Steam is that their "offline" mode isn't truly offline. You have to verify the game first online and eventually you'll need to reverify the game in online mode because it'll stop working in offline mode.

Looking online this seems to be a general Steam thing. Many games you need to run the game at least once and then exit before you can go into offline mode on Steam. Then after that you can switch between online/offline no problem.

Sometimes an initial connection needs to be made maybe to authorize the game if an account is required, or sometimes a few files need to be downloaded for compatibility.

Most people don't run into it because they just stay online.

Yeah I guess I need to start games up at least once before leaving just to check. Strangely it seems to need to verify a final time once after offline mode is turned on, then works.