Last month, we questioned why we could take a laptop with a potentially dangerous battery on a plane but not a simple bottle of water. Obviously, the airlines have been following our blog, Techfreep reports that yesterday, Virgin Atlantic announced that passengers with any Dell or Apple laptops will not be allowed to use the laptop in flight. The announcement stated that passengers may carry on the laptops, but the battery must be properly wrapped and stowed away in carry-on for the flight.
What properly wrapped is, we do not know. However, their ban is on all Dell and Apple laptops, not just ones that were subject to battery recall. Also, the full laptop with battery can be stored in checked luggage, not that many do. Apple and Dell, quite logically, are getting involved to convince Virgin Atlantic to reverse its decision.
Korean Air and Qantas have already banned these brands of laptops, although not others. As Techfreep further reports, a Sony battery(the type that was recalled in Apple and Dell), was also found to explode in a Thinkpad. The battery in that laptop was not on Sony’s list of recalled batteries.
Either way, research is being done on alternatives that are safer and more efficient than existing technology. But in the mean time we must put up with potential dangerous items which are everywhere, including on planes. Ordering the removal of all batteries from two brands that have had problems on only some models is an illogical decision. Had they ordered the removal of all laptop batteries from laptops in flight, while we would have, as the riding public, not liked it, we would understand more.
We will continue to monitor this as it develops. In the meantime, we wonder…if your laptop goes up in flames, will the company replace it? Hopefully so.