Dell, Apple Travel Restrictions Grow

Written by Adam Gosling

Saturday, 16 September 2006

Virgin Atlantic has now announced that Mac and Dell laptop users can't run their devices mid-flight unless they are sitting in seats equipped with power supplies. The ban on Virgin Atlantic flights follows similar bans on Korean Air and on Australia carrier Qantas. However, the Qantas restrictions are a little different in that users may use their Dell notebooks on battery power only or on Aircraft mains power only (but with the battery removed). They may not use the two together. Also the Qantas restrictions apply only to Dell notebooks and not the similarly affected Apple notebooks. The Qantas restrictions also only apply to notebooks affected by the recall and only if they have not had a new battery. In contrast, the Virgin Atlantic restrictions apply to all Dell and Apple notebooks regardless of whether they are affected by the recall or have had their battery replaced. A statement on the Virgin Atlantic website says: "As a result of the current problems being experienced by the Apple and Dell Corporations with some of the batteries fitted to some of their laptops, as a safety precaution and with immediate effect, customers wanting to use an Apple or Dell laptop on board can only do so if the battery is removed. Any removed or spare batteries must be individually wrapped/protected and placed in your Carry On Baggage. This is limited to two batteries per passenger." See Virgin Atlantic's Information for passengers carrying Dell or Apple laptops Korean Air restrictions are similarly applied to all Dell and Apple laptops (including those not affected by the recall) and state that these devices are not permitted to contain batteries while on the plane. Faulty lithium-ion batteries pose a significant risk mid-flight as they could spontaneously burst into flames. Related news items Tiny Rugged UMPC WIth Vista -10/10/2007 HP Goes iPaq Mad -06/09/2007 Leather-Bound ThinkPad Has Its Own Nerd -06/09/2007 Semi-Rugged With Grunt -05/09/2007 Fujitsu LifeBook - 12.1 inch; 11 hours; 1.53kg -21/08/2007 Newer news items Lenovo Joins Dell, Apple In Sony Recall -03/10/2006 LAX Firecracker Had A Sony Battery -21/09/2006 Vendors Contemplate Formal Standards For Lithium Ion -21/09/2006 Toshiba Joins Dell, Apple In Sony Recall -19/09/2006 IBM Laptop Explodes At LAX -17/09/2006 Older news items "Missed Call" SPAM Under ACMA Investigation -14/09/2006 Only 6,000? Panasonic Must Have Recall Envy -06/09/2006 Unprotected Phones Abandoned At Airports -03/09/2006 Discarded Handhelds Reveal Secrets -30/08/2006 Apple Follows Dell To Replace Sony Batteries -24/08/2006 Tag This Now: