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UK Pilots Want Lithium Battery Powered Devices In the Cabin

AmiMoJo writes: The professional association and trade union of UK pilots The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), has asked airlines to require travelers to carry devices that run on lithium-based batteries with them in the passenger cabin instead of in checked luggage. The union hoping to address what it considers a significant potential safety risk, baggage fires going unnoticed in the hold. BALPA explains, "when they short circuit, [they] have a tendency to burst into high intensity fires, which are difficult to extinguish." They further point out, "lithium battery fires have caused at least three cargo aircraft crashes and the UN safety regulator has banned a specific type of lithium battery (lithium metal) from being carried as cargo on passenger aircraft."

69 comments

  1. Great by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I need TWO bags for my vibrator collection.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It can happen at home too.
      My house burned down, and the fire started in a battery pack.
      I suspect that there have been many house fires caused by these things.
      Don't leave them charging overnight or when you are not at home.
      They are like a bomb waiting to go off.
      Your smartphone can do a lot, but there is no smoke detector app.
      And it can't put out a fire.

    2. Re:Great by hawguy · · Score: 1

      It can happen at home too.
      My house burned down, and the fire started in a battery pack.
      I suspect that there have been many house fires caused by these things.
      Don't leave them charging overnight or when you are not at home.
      They are like a bomb waiting to go off.
      Your smartphone can do a lot, but there is no smoke detector app.

      Yes there is. Though I don't need a smoke detector app on my phone to hear the smoke detector in my bedroom go off if my phone catches on fire at night.

      And it can't put out a fire.

      Depends on the size of the fire. My phone could put out a match.

    3. Re:Great by CaptQuark · · Score: 1

      Since when do you need Lithium batteries for your vibrators? Alkaline batteries aren't good enough for use while on vacation?

      Unless your vibrators are as big as a Dewalt drill, I would think you can do without Lithium cells for a few days.

      --

    4. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are aware that pretty much everything is powered by lithium batteries nowadays, from your DeWalt drill down to your car keys? Not all of them are rechargeable though. If the battery is built-in, it's most likely a lithium battery. You can't replace them with alkaline as a) they won't fit, b) the voltage is different, and c) they behave totally different when discharging. He/she would be out of luck.

    5. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like my junk comfortably PH neutral. Not acid. Not alkaline. Neutral.

    6. Re:Great by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      You have no idea what you are talking about!! How big is YOUR vibrator collection?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  2. I don't understand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I thought we all kept our stuff in the cloud and we can just 3D print a new device at the destination?

    Have I been misinformed or am I just a Luddite?

    1. Re:I don't understand? by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Yes.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:I don't understand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great! Which devices do you find 3D print the best?

    3. Re:I don't understand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dildos?

  3. Please sir can I have more mass! by ramriot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a laudable suggestion with three small caveats, assuming you don't ban our iPhones, laptops all together :-

    1/ If we are required to carry these batteries in the cabin then a mass dispensation needs to be made to accommodate them and what they are powering if non-removeable (I've had situations in the past where I needed to check my laptop power supply and batteries to get under the cabin Mass allocation)

    2/ TSA etc cannot require that devices be activatable to be carried as a dead battery would mean nowhere else to carry them. (To be honest I nere understood this rule as all previous instances of 'converted' electronic devices used on planes would have passed this test but not the chemical sniffers.)

    3/ If they do catch fire in the cabin, what you gonna do in the short period of time before toxic fumes start killing passengers. My suggestion, get an empty food trolley and keep duct-tape on hand.

    1. Re:Please sir can I have more mass! by Xiaran · · Score: 2

      Number 3 is known as a fume event and there are already procedures in place.

    2. Re:Please sir can I have more mass! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, that's why they tried to jam a champagne-cork up my ass?

    3. Re:Please sir can I have more mass! by Demonoid-Penguin · · Score: 1

      Of course you can have more mass. Just not lithium batteries (the kids might swallow them). Take lead acid batteries instead.

      Now I know what to do with all those old 2V storage batteries I was planning on sending to scrap - just hook up eight in series so I can continue to use my laptop the next time I fly.
      Sure there'll be some inconveniences, like getting them on and off the plane - but if I weld a bigger base onto a fork trolley I can just wheel them on and off, and park them in the aisle. I know there'll be some complaints about exceeding the carry-on size but it's only fair after all those years of only taking a down jacket and a laptop bag. The bonuses will more than make up for those minor inconveniences - no more trying to get a battery charge in-flight, no more carting around that stupid little plane power adaptor cable, and they should give me more than enough charge to get me between here and the USA, maybe even a return flight.

      Of course if they really want to reduce the risk of fires on planes they should stop making them out of aluminium and magnesium, and having all that NaClO (with powdered Fe) about the place - those cylinders of oxygen underneath could also be a problem.

    4. Re:Please sir can I have more mass! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, size and weight are a problem but the airlines will probably not like you bringing containers of concentrated sulphuric acid on the plane either.

    5. Re:Please sir can I have more mass! by SimonTheSoundMan · · Score: 1

      Never had a problem with carrying lithium batteries on an airplane. Carried v-mount and many others, as long as the terminals have tape over them or have a case so they do not short they allow them onboard. Also, you can buy batteries (alkaline or lithium AA's for example, even digital camera batteries) in duty free and carry them on-board, this is after check-in and security.

    6. Re:Please sir can I have more mass! by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1
      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  4. The logic escapes me, by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
    Why is a difficult to extinguish fire safer in the passenger cabin rather than in cargo? Especially since there are oxygen canisters above the luggage rack strewn all along the passenger cabin...

    Is it some devious logic that if the battery kills the owner first, there would be some justice? Or it would gradually dawn on to the passengers that these batteries have very high energy storage densities and are dangerous, slowly they would stop carrying them?

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:The logic escapes me, by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I assume that the problem is with noticing the fire. A small Li-ion battery can self-ignite and burn fairly enthusiastically; but isn't too dangerous if it is prevented from setting anything else on fire. The smoke is noxious and any one directly exposed the the flame will be burned; but it just isn't a very big fire. If the battery is hiding down in the cargo hold in somebody's suitcase, it has a better chance of recruiting all the nearby luggage and getting a proper fire started; at which point suppression becomes more difficult and release of enough energy to actually damage the aircraft becomes likely.

      I'd be interested to know what the current standard for fire detection in the cargo area is; and how difficult and costly it would be to achieve better early warning.

    2. Re:The logic escapes me, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Multiple reasons...

      1. If your phone catches fire in your pocket you'll probably notice it quickly. A fire in the cargo hold could take hold before triggering the smoke detectors. If in the overhead locker it's possible that it might actually ignite, but it's doing it in the proximity of 300 human noses which are particularly adept at detecting smoke.

      2. Regardless of where it is in the cabin, it can be easily isolated. Current practice is to drop it into an aluminium container and pour water on top to cool.

      3. Halon doesn't work on a lithium ion fire, so the fire extinguishing equipment in the cargo hold is useless.

    3. Re:The logic escapes me, by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      If a fire is detected in the cargo compartment, we could release very large amount of carbon dioxide into the hold and vent all oxygen out to extinguish the fire. Cant do this to passenger cabin. But I am not sure if airplanes use such a fire suppression technique for the cargo.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    4. Re:The logic escapes me, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For a lithium metal fire, most common suppression systems behave like they were pure oxygen. If you were to flood a lithium fire with CO2 it'd likely explode.

      Fortunately, the cargo hold doesn't use CO2 to suppress fires, they use Halon. Unfortunately, Halon also fuels the fire more than the suppresses it.

    5. Re:The logic escapes me, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2. Regardless of where it is in the cabin, it can be easily isolated. Current practice is to drop it into an aluminium container and pour water on top to cool.

      3. Halon doesn't work on a lithium ion fire, so the fire extinguishing equipment in the cargo hold is useless.

      While Halon doesn't work on lithium water has the bad habit of reacting violently with lithium.

    6. Re:The logic escapes me, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Unfortunately, Halon also fuels the fire more than the suppresses it.

      Where have you got this from? Halon 1301 is very inert (that's one of the design ideas behind it). A lithium fire would not have the energy to break any chemical bonds in the compound. It is not, however, as efficient in combating a lithium fire as we'd like, but it still works.

    7. Re:The logic escapes me, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lithium Ion cells carry their own oxygen in a weak bond with cobalt, which you can't "suppress" with CO2.

    8. Re:The logic escapes me, by St.Creed · · Score: 1

      From http://batteryuniversity.com/l... (I looked it up because I was thinking the same as you did):

      "If the fire occurs in an airplane, the FAA instructs flight attendants to use water or pop soda. Water-based products are most readily available and are appropriate since Li-ion contains very little lithium metal that would react with water. Water also cools the adjacent area and prevents the fire from spreading. Many research laboratories and factories also use water to put out Li-ion battery fires."

      This doesn't work on Lithium Metal batteries, so:

      "When encountering a fire with a lithium-metal battery, only use a Class D extinguisher as water would react with the lithium metal and make the fire worse. With all battery fires, allow ample of ventilation while the battery burns itself out."

      I translate that as "fumes will still kill every passenger on board, but at least we can recover the bodies."

      --
      Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
  5. not all Lithium batteries - by drwho · · Score: 1

    LiFePO4 are a class of lithium batteries which do not have this thermal runaway problem. The disadvantage is that they have less energy density when new, but because other lithium battery technologies quickly lose capacity, this disadvantage is eliminated at a year of age, and thereafter, LiFePO4 has a higher energy density. LiFePO4 batteries are what should have been used in the Boeing 787 in the first place, in order to prevent the problems that grounded the fleet.

    1. Re:not all Lithium batteries - by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Sadly they are expensive as hell. I really hope the prices drop on them and adoption takes off.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  6. first cheeked bag free will help as well by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    first cheeked bag free will help as well as people will be taking see stuff in side the main cabin

  7. How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Words by mtrachtenberg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No. UK pilots want lithium batteries OUT of the cargo hold. They don't have some odd desire to populate the cabin with lithium batteries.

  8. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you sure they may have some batter powered devices fetish.

  9. better handling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe if the baggage handlers didn't miss treat the luggage they would less damage

  10. Hold on! by Wowsers · · Score: 1

    Gadgets with Lithium batteries in the cabin instead of the hold. I'm okay with that. Anything that goes in the hold is likely to get stolen. Heathrow* didn't earn it's nickname Thiefrow for nothing!

    * London Heathrow.

    --
    Take Nobody's Word For It.
  11. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No. UK pilots want lithium batteries OUT of the cargo hold. They don't have some odd desire to populate the cabin with lithium batteries.

    Just ban lithium batteries outright. No problems in the cargo hold, no problems in the cabin although passengers maybe pissed by not being able to use/carry on the plane ipads, iphones and other modern day life gadgets.

  12. Re:There will be more crashes by mark-t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would you assume that Allah would need to or even want revenge for such a thing? Assuming, for the moment, that Allah is actually opposed to gay marriage, and assuming that said deity even actually cared about what it was that we do, what would be the point of an omniscient and omnipotent being giving humans what is supposedly a free will if said deity was going to be petty and actually try to micromanage human behavior via swift vengeance for every infraction?

  13. Re:More union thuggery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I bet they can't produce their American Birth Certificates either.

  14. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No. UK pilots want lithium batteries OUT of the cargo hold. They don't have some odd desire to populate the cabin with lithium batteries.

    Just ban lithium batteries outright. No problems in the cargo hold, no problems in the cabin although passengers maybe pissed by not being able to use/carry on the plane ipads, iphones and other modern day life gadgets.

    Fuck you. I want to be able to take a fucking camera on holiday and I don't think bringing it is a huge risk to life and limb.

  15. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are aware every single tablet a mobile phone uses lithium batteries, as do all modern laptops? Likewise for cameras, portably DVD players and just about every single rechargeable electronic device made in the last decade.

    Good like trying to ban that! There's more chance of getting twats like you off the net.

  16. Obligatory xkcd by Tyrannosaur · · Score: 1

    In a weird opposite meaning, https://xkcd.com/651/

  17. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time for the device manufacturers to enable changeable batteries and flexible power for their products. Can't bring the battery to the plane? Leave it a out and power the device from the seat integrated power. Buy or rent new batteries at the destination.

  18. Re:There will be more crashes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    what would be the point of an omniscient and omnipotent being giving humans what is supposedly a free will if said deity was going to be petty and actually try to micromanage human behavior via swift vengeance for every infraction?

    If you stop assuming a "good" god than Abrahamic religions will make a lot more sense to you.

  19. three cargo aircraft crashes [citation needed] by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

    lithium battery fires have caused at least three cargo aircraft crashes

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    2? 3? Not sure - plenty of "implicated but not proven" or "something caught fire, landed safely, nobody hurt but extensive damage".

    This is an interesting read, though - lengthy report of incidents, including minor (e.g. smoking bag before being loaded) between March 1991 and April 2015:
    http://www.faa.gov/about/offic...

  20. Lithium hype? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The plane(s) that supposedly went down (Malaysia Air?) from lithium in cargo, would obviously be a problem. The current regulation for Class 9 requires these not to be shipped on passenger aircraft. Adherence to the rules may have been botched. Also, Class 9 requires the series T-tests according to the UN 38.3 spec, and put very severe limits on lithium content, and includes crush testing.

    Ever since the famous Sony laptop fires, how many laptops, phones et cetera have been transported on board aircraft? Billions? Millions? How many fires? How many downed aircraft from burning phones, digital watches, tablets or laptops? None? Not that the common Lithium polymer and Lithium Ion cells could in most cases be replaced by the much safer Lithium Iron Sulphate cells, it seems like this may be overblown.

    The lithium in the cells is not the primary problem, but the flammable electrolyte is. It has a very low boiling and flashpoint. Lithium Ion and poly commonly contain a LiCoO2 where the weak cobalt-oxygen bond breaks under stress and oxygen feeds the fire internally. Regulations are addressing the problem as "lithium problem", makes it harder for safer lithium technologies to be readily adopted. LiFePO4 is the safest Lithium battery yet. It has a 30% weight and size disadvantage which should not be to hard to accommodate in most cases.

    If there had been a rash of cabin lithium battery fires I'd think we would have heard about it, and the aircraft would be equipped with sand-buckets whatever to dispose of burning laptops.

  21. Re: There will be more crashes by tandavanadesan · · Score: 0

    I wouldn't trust a Muslim with a lithium battery in the cabin. How long before one of them sorts one out with some convenient jewellery chain or chocolate wrapper?

  22. Re:There will be more crashes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you stop assuming a "good" god than Abrahamic religions will make a lot more sense to you.

    Indeed, there is a dichotomy in religions since the Zorastrians. Most of the Abrahamic religions descended from Zoroastrianism have both a "good" and a "bad" god. Some examples:

    Angra Mainyu (Zoroastrian)

    God and Satan (Christian)

    Allah and Shaitan (Islam)

    The more monotheistic religions (such as Judaism after the Babylonian exile, and Baha'i) are either recent or were polytheistic originally.

  23. Re:There will be more crashes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you stop assuming a "good" god than Abrahamic religions will make a lot more sense to you.

    Indeed, there is a dichotomy in religions since the Zorastrians. Most of the Abrahamic religions descended from Zoroastrianism have both a "good" and a "bad" god. Some examples:

    Angra Mainyu (Zoroastrian)

    Ahura Mazhda and Angra Mainyu (Zoroastrian)

    God and Satan (Christian)

    Allah and Shaitan (Islam)

    The more monotheistic religions (such as Judaism after the Babylonian exile, and Baha'i) are either recent or were polytheistic originally.

  24. Did I miss something? by DigitalSorceress · · Score: 1

    Did I miss something? the part where planes are dropping out of the air left and right due to someone's iPhone in the hold?

    I think it's one thing to talk about say... shipping a palate or two of LiON batteries in the hold of a passenger airliner? sure, ban it, but I think this is a serious over-reaction to a problem that really is not exactly the most pressing thing threatening us today.

    --

    The Digital Sorceress
  25. Re:There will be more crashes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll take both. There's nothing wrong with letting two adults keep things between themselves however they want to. On the other hand, religions themselves tend to have peaceful teachings; it's people that fuck up the implementation and destroy lives.

  26. Um, fire suppression anyone? by davidwr · · Score: 1

    Perhaps I am naive, but I just assumed airplane cargo holds had some sort of fire-suppression mechanism.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Um, fire suppression anyone? by St.Creed · · Score: 1

      Well... apparently, not always. In 2010, "the National Transportation Safety Board had asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to install automatic fire extinguisher systems in the holds of cargo aircraft. UPS Airlines followed FAA regulations, which stated that pilots should depressurize the main cabin and climb to an altitude of at least 20,000 feet (6,100 m) upon detection of a fire so as to deprive the flames of oxygen."

      In other words, the procedure was to climb to high altitude and depressurize the main cabin. For UPS Airlines flight 6, that didn't work out. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ).

      However, they had a whole container with thousands of Li-Ion batteries going up. That was the reason passenger flights are now banned from taking on such cargo. It's very dangerous. On july 29, 2011, another cargo flight (an Asiana Airlines B747) with a similar cargo was lost at sea after the pilot put out a mayday shouting "cargo fire" and "emergency". They were carrying Li-Metal and Li-Ion batteries in the hold as well.

      Since then, recommendations are that: containers with batteries should be declared; such containers should be put in a class C hold or another hold with alternative fire suppression (not Halon because that is ineffective against Li-Metal fires) and people would have to be aware what to do in case of a cargo hold fire.

      I'm not sure those recommendations are now mandatory.

      --
      Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
  27. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by kimvette · · Score: 1

    ... and most watches

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  28. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by kimvette · · Score: 1

    modern automobile keys...

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  29. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They don't have some odd desire ...

    As pointed out, this would ban most battery-powered devices from aircraft. Which is not practical for passengers who will have 1 or 2 devices with rechargeable lithium batteries. (Calculators, watches, car keys have single-use lithium batteries.) The easiest option is to provide a detection system for inevitable fires, such as the owner. Another alternative is to eliminate the trigger (air pressure, vibration, what?) for the fire.

  30. Re: There will be more crashes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lithium batteries protect themselves from shorts.
    You must be thinking of a cell.

  31. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by TarpaKungs · · Score: 1

    Fuck you. I want to be able to take a fucking camera on holiday and I don't think bringing it is a huge risk to life and limb.

    And so you can:

    http://www.leslikescameras.com...

    --
    Why can't women be like Hedy Lamarr - beautiful, talented and inventors of frequency-hopping spread-spectrum techn
  32. Noooooo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, before I got a BSc in CS, I went to college and got an AD in Electronics Engineering (specializing in Avionics --Aviation Electronics). Lithium batteries are *NOT SAFE* in the Cockpit or E&E pit. When the lithium meets air, it wants to *BURN HOT*. VOR? DME? HF radio beacons? Glide Slope? ADS-B? Radar data? GONE! Flying on by guess and by God! Boeing had major problems with the 787 Dreamliner due to Lithium Ion cells. Lithium Ion Cells can store a lot of energy, but are not intrinsically safe. Getting power from engines and storing power in capacitors is a better solution (up to several hours) if you want a "the engines are dead and we want to have all instruments still working including all telemetry and radio" scenerio. Capacitors only blow up if you plug them in backwards, but nicks and scratches on LiOn batteries cause them to burn.

  33. Re:There will be more crashes by Gadget27 · · Score: 1

    Why would Allah need to seek revenge? One would think he would be very pleased with the fact that he can now legally marry.

  34. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would seem like they would like to move the issue from the Hold, where the batteries will burst into flames and apparently the automatic sprinklers cant put them out. To the Cabin, where they will still burst into flames, but they will probably start not only an intense fire but also a deeply poisonous smoke cloud as all the plastics in the cabin start to burn. I'm not quite sure of the merit of the proposal . It would appear that they would prefer to kill the passengers with smoke rather than killing them by crashing the plane???

  35. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately that would require standardised batteries. While most alkalines have decent standardisation (AA AAA C D PP3 etc) at least until you start looking at watch/camera batteries, every single laptop has its own type of battery. You just wouldn't be able to stock enough of them to be able to run a shop that could cater to everyone. Indeed most high street electronics shops (eg Currys/PC World) no longer sell spare batteries because they'd have to stock too many kinds to be practical. Even for their current range of devices. Instead they sent you to a website/phone number that ships out of a large warehouse. Renting from somewhere like that may be an option, but it'd mean you'd only get your battery several days into your important business trip.

  36. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Manufacturers have their own battery types for a good reason: LiPo batteries (the most common type nowadays) are very flexible and can be made to fit devices in a custom way, wasting as little space as possible. Previous types were much bulkier. Good luck with your standardization effort, you can eradicate world hunger when you're at it. It's probably just as easy.

  37. Re:How to Miss the Point Completely in Only Ten Wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The devices must go somewhere. Just about everything contains a potentially flammable lithium battery nowadays so you can't ban them.

  38. Already done in China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is already done from Traveling from China. I literally was asked if I had any batteries in my checked bags when I checked in 22 hours ago to fly back to the US from China.