Qantas Considers Flight Restrictions for Apple Laptops
Qantas Considers Flight Restrictions for Apple Laptops
by , 9:45 AM EDT, August 25th, 2006
Australia's Qantas Airways Limited is considering imposing flight restrictions on Apple's iBook and PowerBook laptops following the recall of over 1 million batteries. APC reports that Qantas is working to determine if the G4 PowerBook and iBook pose the same fire risk as Dell's laptops.
Currently, Dell owners are limited to using their laptops in flight on battery power, or they can use first class or business class electrical outlets if they first remove their battery.
If the airline imposes the same restrictions on Apple laptops, it's likely to be an issue for MacBook Pro owners. The PowerBook G4 and MacBook Pro look almost exactly alike, and flight attendants probably won't be able to tell the difference between the models.
On Thursday, Apple issued a recall for iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 batteries that Sony manufactured. The batteries can potentially pose a fire hazard due to microscopic metal fragments in the battery cell.
Observer Comments
Uhh.... the difference is that one says PowerBook under the screen and the other says MacBook Pro. Same goes for MacBooks vs. iBooks. Would be pretty lame if they can't be bothered to remember 4 simple names (unlike other manufacturers' cryptic model numbers) or even just read them off a sheet of paper.
Big question is, once people get their new batteries from the recall how do they prove that they are safe to use. This restriction could forseeably go indefinitely into the future since there is the possiblity that someone may not have replaced their battery.
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