The Federal Aviation Administration has finally removed the mandatory warnings about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 at the airports and before flights. It’s not that the phablet suddenly became safe for flying but rather it’s because they believe there are not that many people traveling carrying it around. The Korean OEM has recently announced that 96% of the units have already been returned for the U.S. Note7 Refund and Exchange Program and so it’s probably no longer a public concern that people are carrying devices that may suddenly catch on fire.
If you’ve been living under a rock or something, Samsung got into hot water last year when several owners of the Galaxy Note 7 reported that the batteries caught on fire while charging. Apparently it wasn’t just isolated incidents and so they issued a recall of the device and replaced it with supposedly fixed phablets. But then the incident reports continued until they had no choice but to go for a global recall and stop production of the once promising smartphone.
The FAA started issuing pre-boarding warnings, saying you cannot turn on or charge the Note 7 during the flight. But now it seems they’re satisfied with the numbers that Samsung has given them, saying that 96% of all Galaxy Note 7 devices in the US have already been returned. Hopefully, the other 4% will not be traveling on planes anytime soon.
Over in South Korea, Samsung was considering bricking all the Galaxy Note 7 devices that have still not been returned as part of the program. Apparently, there are still those who love their phone so much that they’re willing to risk it catching on fire. Hopefully by this time, their return program is now more successful.
SOURCE: Samsung
