Not too long ago, Samsung officially got the wheels moving on a product recall for the Galaxy Note 7. What was supposed to be one of the biggest launches of 2016, and another in the storied history of the popular Galaxy Note line, has become a big problem for the South Korean firm instead. Reports of exploding batteries, sometimes while charging, other times not, Samsung had little choice but to recall the device and the speed at which they’ve done so has been impressive so far. After the news that the United States’ Federal Aviation Authority (the FAA) is considering a ban of Galaxy Note 7 handsets for safety reasons, three of Australia’s biggest airlines have gone ahead and taken action themselves.
As Reuters is reporting, three airlines – namely Qantas, Virgin Australia and Qantas’ budget outfit, Jetstar – have banned the use or the charging of Galaxy Note 7 devices on their flights. This is something that can only make things worse for Samsung, especially once the device is fixed and then put back on sale – how will the airline know which devices are certified safe? Either way, these airlines aren’t banning the device outright, but rather taking precautions to make sure that the worst case scenario doesn’t come true. A Qantas representative had this to say on the “ban”; ” we are requesting that passengers who own them do not switch on or charge them in flight”. This is the extent of the ban really, allowing users to bring their Galaxy Note 7 devices onboard, but requesting that they no longer use them during flights and do not charge them from either the provided USB ports or from their own battery packs.
With terrorism seemingly on the rise, it’s no surprise that airlines around the world are starting to become vigilant about the Galaxy Note 7’s potential explosions. Batteries on airplanes have been under scrutiny for some time now, and while the majority of passengers will be able to travel on any flight anywhere without issue, the question mark surrounding the safety of such batteries just got a little bigger thanks to Samsung. To their credit though, they are taking steps to change the battery cells used in the Galaxy Note 7 and they appear confident that they can fix this issue, leading to the device going back on sale in the near future.