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Laptops Could Be Banned From Checked Bags on Planes Due To Fire Risk (cnn.com)
Readers share a report: Laptops could be banned from checked baggage on planes due to a fire risk under a proposal being recommended by an international air safety panel. According to a report, an overheating laptop battery could cause a significant fire in a cargo hold that fire fighting equipment aboard the plane would not be able to extinguish. That could "lead to the loss of the aircraft," according to the proposal. The ban will be considered by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations organization, at its meeting this month. Even if the organization endorses the proposal from its Dangerous Goods Panel, which is making the recommendation, it would be up to regulators in individual nations to pass rules to enforce it. The U.S. FAA has no comment on the proposal. But it is represented on the panel that is supporting the ban, and its research on the risk of fires from laptops is included in the proposal.
You insensitive clod! You can't remove batteries from Apple products!
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
I was going though some of the rules and guidelines on american flights(I can't remember if it was FAA or other) because I was carrying some hobby camera equipment(*). And it stated that the batteries were not allowed in checked. So I was puzzled when I heard about the ban on laptops in carry-on.
(*) I did the stupid thing and asking at checkin about a controller for a camera slider/dolly I had in my luggage that had 8 regular AA batteries and I had to open my luggage to uncover it at put it in carry-on. And some of my rechargeable battery banks just about reached the maximum allow capacity.
Lithium-Ion batteries are little bombs with the amount of energy they store. As XKCD pointed out, they're trivially easy to explode.
The only logically safe course of action is to ban all devices containing lithium-ion batteries from flights.
I knew we were going to reach this point where our desire for safety was going to conflict with our vast desire to be entertained when contained in a tin can flying through the sky!
So what's it going to be slashdotters? Fly entertained with the risk of being engulfed in a Lithium-Ion fire or be bored senseless and go back to the days of flying with a book?
I choose entertained, screw going back to the days of flying without electronics!
Is this a thing? I thought we all quit doing this years ago because it was a guaranteed way to get your laptop stolen.
How do you know that Jimbo the Baggage Handler's new laptop isn't working?
Seriously, they're very powerful and want to setup kiosks at every Jetway.
Boarding, return the battery, departing rent a battery.
They're a hegemony, I tells ya, a HEGEMONY.
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I have to question how many laptop fires have there been and how many have caused the loss of an entire aircraft. If this was an issue I'm sure it wold have been all over the news and everyone would already be talking about how to make laptops safe.
Yeah, first they made you put your laptop into your checked baggage, now they're going to prohibit it? I wish they would make up their mind already.
But I agree, checked luggage is a bad idea, better in the cabin where the crew can fight the fire. (Cabin crew is trained and equipped to do so, at least in my company).
If you remove the battery from your checked-luggage laptop, the baggage hander assigned to stealing your laptop will probably take a big dump in your luggage to teach you a lesson about providing him with incomplete merch.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Just a couple of months ago wasn't the TSA trying to ban laptops in the cabins of aircraft from different countries? And discussing pushing it to all flights? Sure it wasn't renewed but shows where they want to go So they don't want it in the cabin and now you cant check it... Really trying hard to kill business travel.
You can't remove batteries from Apple products!
Sure you can!
Once.
With a hammer.
I pack my laptop in the middle of my suitcase. I've never had any damage. And in some cases I'm required to check my laptop as baggage and am not allowed to carry it in cabin.
Examples include:
* if my laptop is fully discharged and I cannot boot it for the TSA agent.
* if I am travel to a country where I cannot bring a laptop in cabin for security/safety reasons.
* if the carry on is limited and I am forced to check my carry on at the gate. if given the choice between my laptop bag and my medication, I'm going to check my laptop.
certainly all the rules and requirements can be adjusted to somehow let us travel with laptops. but every day it seems like the processes are changed and end up being more convoluted and harder for travelers to comply with.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
... are in our near future. I don't know why bans are the solution when we have fire containment bags on the markets. Why hasn't TSA decided to certify these things and require passengers to store their laptops in such bags? And if they don't have one, just sell them at the checkpoint for a premium? I'd rather have this than have the peace of mind of my laptop or tablet vanishing into oblivion in the checked luggage system.
Laptops and lithium batteries are already banned from checked baggage in all flight originating from Japan (and probably other places as well) -- I ran into this a couple of months ago flying back from Japan. There are prominent signs reminding you to ensure that all laptops be in carryon bags only, and all checked baggage is screened (via xray machine) for laptops and spare batteries before being checked.
Some people need these devices when they arrive. There was a story of band trying to tour the mid-East with their gear, which included iPads and laptops that drive their instruments and display their sheet music. Laptop/tablet ban put a stop to all that.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
simple solution: don't fly anywhere near the TSAs jurisdiction.
your so called "freedom" in the US is a joke.
That's not the only reason: checked luggage is handled worse than UPS packages. Why would you put your $500-3000 laptop in your checked baggage where the gorillas will toss it around and abuse it? That's even more likely to cause a problem leading to a battery fire, but why would someone be stupid enough to trust their expensive laptop to the baggage handlers?
Lithium ion batteries store a LOT of energy, and it's not that hard to get them to ignite, at which point they burn VERY hot. Plenty of YouTube videos with lithium ion battery fires. Go watch some before attempting to explain how safe they are on an airliner.
A bunch of bad people could carry laptops on the same flight, and short out the battery packs with a paper clip. Not very difficult with most batteries. Even Apple products could be modded to make the batteries vulnerable.
Checked baggage or carry-on, lithium ion batteries are a problem either way. A laptop could serve as it's own timer, with a hardware mod to close a relay and short out the batteries while the damn thing sits in the cargo hold. As an added bonus, nobody can get in while the plane is in flight. Sure, there is a fire suppression system, but I wouldn't bet on it because such fires are difficult to extinguish.