Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Barred from Airplanes because of Exploding Batteries

According to Andrew Bender

Well, that was something I’d never heard before. As I was boarding two flights this weekend, gate agents made announcements prohibiting passengers from using one particular device: the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. Passengers with these devices were being instructed to power them off completely, not to charge them on board and not to ship them in the cargo hold.

Albeit, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone may
survive underwater, but its exploding batteries are under fire.

That's because since the device’s debut in mid-August, Galaxy Note 7s have experienced incidents of seemingly spontaneous combustion due to faulty lithium ion batteries

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission says

“These incidents have occurred while charging and during normal use, which has led us to call for consumers to power down their Note 7s,” 

And since smartphones – or anything else – spontaneously combusting is decidedly not a good thing on board airplanes, the FAA has weighed in. “The Federal Aviation Administration strongly advises passengers not to turn on or charge these devices on board aircraft and not to stow them in any checked baggage.”

Andrew Bender says

"Many airlines are following that guidance, which explains the announcements I heard on my United flights this weekend."

If lithium ion batteries causing problems on planes sounds familiar, that may be because of some high profile incidents on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jets a few years back (the problems have since been fixed).

Countermeasures has been taken by Samsung since they know it has a problem. Beginning September 2, An unprecedented 2.5 million of the smartphones were recalled.

DJ Koh, The president of Samsung’s mobile communications business, wrote in an advisory to Note 7 users,

“We are asking users to power down their Galaxy Note7s and exchange them as soon as possible,” 

adding that

“we are expediting replacement devices so that they can be provided through the exchange program as conveniently as possible and in compliance with related regulations.”