Airlines Ban MacBook Pros From Checked Luggage Due To Fire Risk
Qantas airlines is now restricting MacBook Pro laptops from checked-in luggage on concern that batteries could catch fire. All 15-inch versions of Apple’s MacBook Pro must be carried in the cabin and switched off, Qantas said in a statement Wednesday. The rule went into effect Tuesday morning. This comes after rival airline Virgin did the same thing. The reason for this ban is that Apple recalled certain 2015 MacBook Pros because the batteries in them had a tendency to catch fire. And you can expect more airlines to do the same shortly.
I don’t blame the airlines for doing this as there’s no practical way for them to tell what is a 2015 MacBook Pro and what isn’t. Thus banning everything from checked luggage is the path of least resistance. Also almost nobody carries their laptops in checked luggage. Thus this really doesn’t change the behavior of most travelers. The only thing it does is give Apple some really negative press that I suspect that it will have to deal with at some point.
August 30, 2019 at 7:53 am
[…] board at all unless those models have received a replacement battery. That goes a lot further than Virgin Australia or Qantas. On to of that, United Airlines has asked passengers not to use affected models during […]