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Naughty Dell Notebooks Powerless On Qantas |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Thursday, 24 August 2006 |
Australia's
Qantas is the first reported airline to respond to the Dell lithium ion battery
recall by telling passengers not to use their notebooks onboard according to
news reports.
Qantas is issuing advisories to all passengers on its
flights on the safe use of Dell notebooks according to the Sydney
Morning Herald.
Though reports are a little sketchy, some passengers claim
they had their Dell batteries removed and the terminals taped over by security
staff. A Qantas spokesperson confirmed that the company was advising passengers
of the measures which apply to all Dell laptops regardless of model.
Travellers are apparently permitted to carry their Dell's on
board but must admit to cabin crew that they own a Dell laptop. Flight staff
will then advise them what they can do with their Dell individually.
Although the stringent terminal-taping activities reportedly
carried out at Canberra airport are said to have been relaxed, it seems likely
passengers will be told to let their Dell's sit idle in-flight unless they have
access to the aircraft power supplies available on some first and business
class seats.
Dell recently announced a recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries
manufactured by Sony in what is believed to be the largest ever recall of a
consumer electronics device.
The recall follows a string of highly publicised and
potentially lethal reports of Dell laptop computers bursting into flames and
scorching desktops.
Although Dell and its manufacturing partner knew of the
potential problems for about 10 months the two companies did not issue a recall
of the batteries until reports in traditional and online media mounted causing
the company considerable embarrassment.
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