If you’re one of those people who still have not returned their new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 despite the recall issued by the OEM and you’re planning to ride a plane to or from Australia, you might want to pay close attention to this news item. Three Australian airlines, namely Qantas, its budget unit Jetstar, and Virgin Australia, have issued bans on the use and charging of the new phablets, given that there have been cases when the device caught on fire while users were charging it, prompting the recall in 10 markets.
While you can still carry your Galaxy Note 7 on board the plane, you are not allowed to use it before and during flights, and probably even when you land. This includes plugging in your device to in flight entertainment systems that have USB ports. While aviation authorities have not given guidelines yet on this issue, the three have decided to issue the ban as a precautionary move to avoid any incidents that may cause harm not just to the user but to all passengers in the flight.
Samsung Australia said they were liasing with the airlines after the recall was issued in 10 markets, including Australia. There have already been two reported incidents in the country where the Galaxy Note 7 caught on fire while the users were charging the device. This is a very unfortunate problem for Samsung to be facing right now, since they were riding on the momentum of good sales from their previously released flagship devices, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on crafting a response and maybe creating guidelines to instruct airlines on how to deal with this problem. They previously banned “hover boards” because of the battery-fire risks. The International Civil Aviation Organization issued a ban on putting lithium ion battery powered devices in the passenger’s check-in luggage because of fire risk as well. Let’s see what they come up with this time.
VIA: Reuters
