Airlines start to ban laptops with battery problems

It all started with Qantas, they banned Dell laptops due to overheating batteries:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/safety-...6012601607.html

Now Korean Air is banning not only Dell, but also Apple iBooks and PowerBooks:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2019

So, if you've got one of the affected laptops, please check it with your airline before taking it into the plane. A major pain for long flights...

Luiz

It figures! I'll be flying out in 2 weeks and have a G4 Powerbook. I think they are definately over reacting. I know some of the Dell's have caught fire and a recall was issued, but never heard of a Mac catching fire. They just run hot.

thanks Luiz-

I'll be checking my powerbook..

M.

I am sure as soon as they see a dip in the numbers of business travellers as a result they will suddenly decide it is no longer a safety issue.

A couple of years ago in Europe the airlines all wanted to restrict hand luggage to 5 kg because of the safety risk of heavy items falling out of lockers and injuring pilots. Then the airlines realised that if they encouraged passengers to hand carry more and send less weight through the hold - the airlines would have to pay less baggage handling charges to the airport. So low and behold, heavy hand luggage was no longer an issue. And airlines started to encourage you to hand carry as much as you could carry...

Alex

I fly out of London LHR often and they made the carry on size 45cm, width of 35cm and depth of

16cm (17.7"x13.7"x6.2"), cut from BAA's website.

I can no longer carry my photo backpack and camera gear with me. I was stopped and had to check in my gear. Just a few days earlier, I flew to the US with the same bag and I was let through. Well since I did not want to watch my gear go down the blackhole, I strapped almost everything to my body. 1DM2 was strapped around my neck, A1U was in my jacket pocket, Lens were in all my pants pockets. I might get a photovest for travel now.

Anyone else traveling out of LHR?

Curtis

I had the same problem on Tuesday at LHR on a BA flight. Small hand-luggage only, no fluids, no toothpaste, etc... But you can buy anything once you're in the duty-free area.

Flying back to the UK wasn't a problem. Standard hand-luggage policy.

Regarding the laptop, BA didn't say anything about the Powerbook. Mine is one of the dodgy ones and I've ordered a new battery on the Apple website. If I fly Quantas, I guess I'll have to prove that the faulty battery has been replaced, then ?

When I flew out of heathrow 2.5 weeks ago you weren't allowed anything in the pockets of your clothes. And the women in front of me was sent back to the check in desk from the security point because she had an extra carrier bag of stuff (although she was from an ethnic group who are more likely to draw the attention of the security, rightly or wrongly).

I have heard that they have chilled out a bit now. I will find out again in a few days.

Alex

I'm flying this sunday to the US for a week. Since it's a week trip, I usually just hand carry everything. Now I need to add few hours on to both ends of the trip.

I wonder how we can all get together and force BAA to lift these silly restrictions. It's not the size that matters, it's whats being carried.

I realized that living out here in the UK, everyone wants to make changes but where do we start?

Curtis

I hate to post a political answer. But if the Government admitted there was no longer a threat then we would all get back to questionning various issues of foreign policy. Much better to keep us all scared - stops us questionning decisions.

Alex

edit...

bad joke and too lazy to come up with a new one....

It figures! I'll be flying out in 2 weeks and have a G4 Powerbook. I think they are definately over reacting. I know some of the Dell's have caught fire and a recall was issued, but never heard of a Mac catching fire. They just run hot.

If Apple says this to their customers, which they do in their current battery recall regarding specific model numbers: "Apple urges you to stop using your battery, remove it from your system, and order a replacement battery immediately." Why should the airlines feel comfortable with having Apples and Dells in operation in the cabin? Should they wait until the first fire starts or should they be proactive and heed the caution shown by the computer makers?

Both Dell and Apple have been issuing recalls on certain Lithium Ion batteries with Sony cells for over 3 years now. These are the sites for their current recalls (the Apple recall deals with only batteries from G4 laptops, though not every battery from every G4 on the market):

http://www.apple.com/support/batteryexchange/2006/faq/

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global....l=en&s=corp