Virgin Atlantic revises complete Dell, Apple laptop ban

Virgin Atlantic has altered its sweeping policy of banning all Inspiron, Latitude, iBook, PowerBook, MacBook and MacBook Pro batteries from its flights, saying "If the battery is identified as being from the affected batch as identified by Apple and Dell, the battery must be removed. In cabins where the seats are fitted with In Seat Power Supplies, leads/adapters will be offered. Where no ISPS is provided or no laptop leads/adapters are available, the use of these affected laptops is prohibited." No word yet on whether Qantas or Korean Air has gotten the memo that it doesn't need to forbid every Dell laptop under the sun on their flights as well. But we've yet to hear of airlines banning Panasonic, Toshiba, and IBM laptops -- something that may be coming sooner than you think, if someone doesn't figure out pretty fast what the devil is going on.

[Jeffrey903 @ Sep 24th 2006 11:14AM]

I have a MacBook Pro and my battery was not recalled. How will the person at security know that I didn't get recalled? I doubt they will even know what the MBP is compared to the Powerbook. They probably know just to not let "the silver one" on the plane.

[Joe @ Sep 24th 2006 2:19PM]

I don't beleive there is a safety issue with any of the new Mac notebooks (MacBooks or MacBook Pros). The MacBook Pro battery recall was not a safety recall, but rather a performance recall.

[Bob @ Sep 24th 2006 11:25AM]

yay some intelligence

[Benson Leung @ Sep 24th 2006 11:46AM]

Oy... like our security people at airports have nothing better to do than to look up the *exact* serial number of each battery before letting you on the plane.

This is a much harder problem than just looking at a notebook and banning it... what if it is in the group that got recalled? are they supposed to check if your battery is on the list, or do they use the honor system and trust that you're not lying when you say you recalled it?

This is just mindless hysteria.

[Holosoth @ Sep 24th 2006 11:59AM]

There's no reason they can't ban laptops period until they find a fix.

[Alex Brooks @ Sep 24th 2006 12:02PM]

I recently flew to the USA and flew back on Virgin Atlantic, naturally I carried my PowerBook with recalled battery in it. It went through security and was closely inspected once and then I used it on the plane.

Not once did anyone say anything about not using my laptop, when I returned home my new battery was waiting for me.

So all this fuss, means nothing anyway.

[John Edgar @ Sep 24th 2006 12:10PM]

Do they have a list of recalled batts?! Give me a break.

[ROFLROFFLES @ Sep 24th 2006 12:42PM]

Funny how Sony Vaios escape this whole fiasco.

[Nat @ Sep 24th 2006 12:46PM]

I have started thinking that banning laptops is actually a good idea. Dont mistake me, I use my laptops several hours a day and would love to have it with me during boring long flights. But, given the propensity for batteries to go up in flames, I have a errie feeling that these could be diverted for destructive purposes. The evil minds who can think of aerosols can possibly use this as a clever detonator. Not to mention the fact that laptops themselves get heated like crazy if you block air vents. Hey, we never knew penknives could be used so horribly until 911.

Sounds insane? But, hey I am paranoid, so probably I can be excused!

[vesponti @ Sep 24th 2006 12:46PM]

Yes, how come sony didn't get slapped? Could it be that they made a deal with the airline, being the owner of the rights to a lot of music/movies played in-flight?

[Igor @ Sep 24th 2006 2:04PM]

AFAIK sony vaio batteries arent effected
i dont see THAT much of problem as some ppl try to hype it. so there COULD be fire, so what? there the allmighty extingusher (spelling?). Ofcourse fire is dangerous and especially on the plane, but the percentage is just so small...

[duke hafa @ Sep 24th 2006 4:26PM]

find out which manufactures produces these battery bombs and do massive recall, otherwise theres gonna be laptop brand discrimination soon..

"Hey! You with that apple laptop, come with me please"
"You too, Steven, put your hands behind your head and step away from that dell.."

[Shmee150 @ Sep 24th 2006 4:30PM]

Can somebody please tell me what's happening with Sony's own batteries...?...?...? He says posting from his vaio shortly before take-off.

ShMeE

[Shmee150 @ Sep 24th 2006 4:35PM]

I see that questions has kinda allready been answered, but I don't get why Sony would bother using a different technology or process, so what makes the difference between the sony batteries in vaios and the sony batteries in everything else?

ShMeE

[Igor @ Sep 24th 2006 4:43PM]

its not batteries FOR sony vs batteries FROM sony
its more likely different revisions
its not like ALL sony batteries for other brands are "infected"

[Randolph Lee @ Sep 24th 2006 5:47PM]

Well Done Virgin Atlantic for taking a logical stance on this problem.

Banning batteries on the recalled list is not something that they have many options about given the problems that would arise if a unit on the recall list gave problems in flight the liability implications would be huge.

For me it means that I do not have to have a Business (Upper as VA calls them) class seat to use my 17" powerbook on my next trip to the UK; and for that I am greatful. I far perfer my own choices in entertainment to those provided by the airlines and if I choose to I can get some work done as well.

It will be very interesting if Quantas makes a similar announcement this week.

~R~

[morcheeba @ Sep 24th 2006 8:55PM]

Any recalled batteries, if they are traveling on a plane, belong in the passenger section, not in the cargo. In the unlikely event that they asplode, it will be much easier to put them out -- the valujet crash taught us that things burning in the cargo hold is bad. Also, the passenger cabin will have less temperature/pressure variation, so there will be less stress on the battery.

Luckily, none of my batteries have been recalled. I wouldn't take them on a plane if they were.

[Jeff D @ Sep 25th 2006 12:59AM]

The problem here for us Dell users is not from Virgin, but Dell.

My Latitude D610 (battery not recalled) will not power up with the battery removed. Nice design, Dell. Good job.

[duke hafa @ Sep 25th 2006 4:36AM]

the ban is lifted: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Virgin_Atlantic_eases_laptop_battery_restrictions/0,130061702,339271271,00.htm

new procedure is in place added on top of tsa routine: check on apple & dell batteries, so i hope other airlines would follow up too