Citing Fire Risks, Virgin, Qantas And Korean Air Bar Onboard Use In Dell and Apple Notebooks

Source: Wall Street Journal
Author: Corey Dade

Concerns about fire hazards posed by overheated laptop computer batteries have prompted three international airlines to stop passengers with Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. laptops from using the batteries in flight.

The bans, which have received little publicity, have been enacted on all flights by Virgin Atlantic Airways, which is based in Britain; Korean Air, South Korea's largest airline by revenue; and Qantas Airways of Australia. Though no U.S. airlines have followed suit, the bans potentially affect thousands of American travelers who fly internationally.

Passengers in first- and business-class seating can use electrical outlets in their rows, but the power sources aren't available in most coach sections. Frequent travelers have long complained that onboard outlets often work unreliably.

The latest incident occurred at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday evening aboard United Airlines Flight 934.

The safety of laptop batteries gained world-wide attention last month when Dell, the world's largest personal-computer maker based on shipments, announced a recall of 4.1 million lithium-ion notebook batteries -- the biggest U.S. recall of a consumer-electronics device. The following week Apple recalled 1.8 million notebook batteries. The cells inside the batteries sold by both Dell and Apple were made by a unit of Sony Corp.

Recent laptop battery recalls due to potential fire hazards:

• Aug. 24: Apple recalls 1.8 million (700,000 in the U.S.).
• Aug. 15: Dell recalls 4.1 million (2.7 million in U.S.).
• April 20: Hewlett- Packard recalls 15,700 (4,100 in U.S.).

Concerns have also risen about the safety of the batteries during air transport, carried both as cargo shipments and in passenger cabins. The Federal Aviation Administration has recorded 60 such overheating incidents since 1991, including five battery fires aboard aircraft during the past two years. The occurrences were the subject of a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal on Aug. 14. The latest incident occurred at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday evening aboard United Airlines Flight 934. A laptop belonging to a passenger in first class began to smoke, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department and the FAA. The flight crew guided the passenger off the plane to the gate's boarding area. A flame ignited from the laptop's battery pack, and it was sprayed with a fire extinguisher. An FAA spokesman in Los Angeles says the agency is investigating the incident.

Korean Air imposed its ban in late August, and Virgin instituted its ban late last week. Qantas was first to impose a ban on Aug. 18, four days after Dell announced its recall. The airline expanded the policy to cover Apple batteries when the computer maker followed suit the next week.

"Why would any airline take the risk that a fire could break out with one of these products?" says Paul Charles, director of communications for Virgin Atlantic. "So until further notice, we feel it's the right thing to do." "It's a safety issue, and that's the most important thing in the business we're in," a Qantas spokesman says.

Dell declined to comment on the status of its recall, but said in a statement that the defective batteries make up 15% of those shipped from January 2004 to July 2006. "Dell is aware of the few airline policies which have been implemented, and is working proactively with these companies to find a mutually beneficial solution," the company said.

"We are working with the airlines to help them understand which Apple notebook models are affected," says an Apple spokeswoman.

Federal regulators say they are pushing to enact new safety regulations on battery shipments aboard cargo planes. Officials declined to discuss when the rule-making process will begin formally, but say the results of fire-safety tests on lithium-ion batteries could be released within the next 90 days. Some passengers say the new policies by the carriers are overkill. Richard Kovalcik, a 47-year-old computer technician from suburban Boston who frequently flies to Europe to see clients, isn't sure if he'll make his next Atlantic crossing on Virgin.

"Given a choice of flying an airline that will allow me to use the laptop or an airline that's going to have a knee-jerk reactionary policy, this is going to factor into my decision," says Mr. Kovalcik.

Marc Blythe, a 36-year-old mining executive from Vancouver, Canada, flies to Australia once or twice a year on Qantas and calls the battery ban "a nightmare." He has a Dell computer that he says isn't subject to the battery recall, but worries that airport and airline workers will impose a blanket policy that requires batteries to be removed from all Dell laptops. "I think they're overreacting," he says.

So far, there is no sign that U.S. carriers are moving to adopt similar rules on laptops. People familiar with the process have said it's unlikely laptop batteries would be banned from passenger cabins in the U.S.

All three airlines are requiring the batteries to be removed from the machines and stored in carry-on luggage. "We did it out of concern for the passengers. It's going to be in effect until further notice," said John Jackson, director of passenger sales and marketing in the Americas for Korean Air. Virgin Atlantic says it will lift the restriction once Dell and Apple have "resolved" the problem.

Product-safety and FAA officials say the best safeguard is proper use and handling of batteries, and a fall or jostling -- such as when they are stowed in a plane's overhead bin -- can cause a short-circuit and overheating. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends covering the contact points of batteries with a nonmetallic cloth and avoiding contact with metal.

Meanwhile, a trade organization representing electronics companies has begun discussions about raising voluntary industry standards for the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries. An official from Dell is leading the group's effort, which includes participation from Hewlett-Packard Co., which also has recalled laptop batteries.

The CPSC says it will participate in the effort. With little fanfare, the agency logged more than 300 cases of overheating, smoke and fire in portable electronics products powered by lithium-based batteries in the past three years, with the incidents increasing in number annually. In that time, electronics companies recalled more than two million lithium-ion batteries.