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Airlines Restrict 'Smart Luggage' Over Fire Hazards Posed By Batteries (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Airlines including American, Delta and Alaska have announced restrictions on so-called smart luggage because the lithium-ion batteries found in many of these suitcases pose a fire risk. "Beginning Jan. 15, customers who travel with a smart bag must be able to remove the battery in case the bag has to be checked at any point in the customer's journey. If the battery cannot be removed, the bag will not be allowed," American said in a statement on Friday. The same day, Delta and Alaska announced similar policies on their flights.
American's policy dictates that if the bag is carry-on size, passengers can take the luggage onboard, so long as the battery can be removed if needed. If passengers need to check the bag, the battery must be removed and carried onboard. But if the bag has a non-removable battery, it can't be checked or carried on. An FAA spokesman told The Washington Post that the airlines' policies are "consistent with our guidance that lithium-ion batteries should not be carried in the cargo hold."
American's policy dictates that if the bag is carry-on size, passengers can take the luggage onboard, so long as the battery can be removed if needed. If passengers need to check the bag, the battery must be removed and carried onboard. But if the bag has a non-removable battery, it can't be checked or carried on. An FAA spokesman told The Washington Post that the airlines' policies are "consistent with our guidance that lithium-ion batteries should not be carried in the cargo hold."
Can those bags use battery types other than Li-Ion? A few alkaline AA batteries should be enough to power a transmitter that takes a GPS reading and "squawks" location over the cell network every hour or so.
to purchase an iPhone.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Li-Ion batteries are the best kind for modern detonator design. I guess you could go with throwaway alkaline types, but who really wants to run around the airport looking for a gift shop in a pinch?
WTF is "smart luggage"?
Why would I want it?
Is it even useful anymore if you have to take the battery out of it when traveling?
you can ride it:
http://modobag.com/
it will follow you (and be more secure):
https://travelmaterobotics.com...
But in reality its a solution in search of a problem.
It's about time they started acknowledging the risk of current lithium battery chemistry! I hope they also begun carrying a metal box to throw electronics into for each plane because the thermal runaway reaction isn't going to stop until the battery has completely burned up.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
This might explain why Musk wants launch his Tesla on the first flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Built-in excuse if the rocket goes boom.
WTF is "smart luggage"?
It seems to be an implementation of Discworld's "The Luggage" but with wheels not legs and hopefully without the homicidal tendencies...although perhaps that's why it needs to be banned.
Glad that some airlines are being proactive!
Why does luggage have to be "smart"? Again another example of technology for the sake of technology. We're running out of good ideas.
Could mean that the tsa will steal it after being inspected - not a bomb - then it goes to wherever your shady tsa staff 'sell' stuff to.
Can they make same requirement for Tablets and Phones so that manufacturers bring back removable batteries?
Shouldn't they be disallowing anything with a non-removable battery, perhaps anything rated above a certain number of milliamp-hours?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
There's too many battery things to just prohibit them all. Prohibit them from the luggage compartment, but for the cabin, have aircraft include a small airlock so cabin crew can take your self-destructing phone or tablet or shoe-bomb and just chuck the thing overboard. Include disposable heat-resistant bags with little self-deploying parachutes to quickly distance it from the aircraft and so that some unlucky sod doesn't get killed when the flaming thing hits the ground.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
What does it do, tell you when your underwear is dirty?
The experience of flying in commercial flights has never been overly pleasant. However, starting about twenty years ago it started to deteriorate even further, and today it has become a shameless race to the bottom. Airlines seem to be competing on the basis of who can inflict more nonsense and misery on passengers, while still getting away with making money. Hopefully, at some point the tide will turn - but that is unlikely to happen any time soon.
They don't make explosion- and fire-proof battery bags for smart luggage.
non-removable battery = no apple stuff
Basically the only thing I see happening is people getting really pissed off if they check their luggage at the counter and it never shows up at their destination. Anything brought through security is deemed, well, "secure" so gate checking them isn't going to result in another screening. The airlines banning them from carry-on and checked will be able to do jackshiat about the former.
It's like having the stewardess check to make sure every phone is off before the flight leaves and makes about as much sense..
As I recall, the reason they need the batteries in the passenger area is so if suddently a fire starts, you can grab it and "deal with it". Also they say fires are much more rare when the battery is in the device, and not just loose in luggage. I think the most common fires are when you have a few batteries loose in a bag and they touch something that allows a circuit to complete.
Audible, a nice hotel, and gas is still cheaper than most domestic flights. Sure it takes longer. But you aren't treated like a criminal for just existing. How sad is it that the TSA has made driving long distances more fun than flying?
is anecdotal evidence, you moron.
You didn't observe them. You literally told us hearsay!
Hell, we only have anecdotal evidence of your existence! Actually not even that. All we have, is anecdotal evidence of some pixels resembling text from a moron entering our minds.
Sounds like the airlines don't want people to find out where all of the lost luggage goes!
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
consistent with our guidance that lithium-ion batteries should not be carried in the cargo hold
This is why I fill my luggage with flow batteries and rent out charging ports to other passengers. I just fly back and forth between LAX and JFK/LGA, it more than pays for the trip.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Now what am I going to do with my ride-on luggage! I guess I'll give up my plan to upgrade the motor and batteries to get up to 40mph going through the terminal...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Because the owner is an insufferable asshole. The only reason that somebody buys "smart" luggage.
is my hoverboard bad.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
This is what happens when your economy has run out of useful things to make but your economic model requires constant growth: fucking smart luggage.