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Qantas Watching Out For Dell Users
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-08-24
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Boarding a flight on Australia's Qantas Airlines with a Dell notebook computer will require passengers to comply with their new policy on safety.
It's safety first when it comes to traveling with a Dell computer, according to a report on the Sydney Morning Herald's website. Passengers will have to comply with new requirements upon boarding with a Dell notebook.
Qantas is forbidding the use of a Dell while plugged in with the battery in place. The traveler will have to either run the Dell on battery only, or remove the battery while plugged in to AC power in first or business class.
Their advisory comes on the heels of a massive battery recall by Dell, after incidents of Dell notebooks bursting into flames due to battery problems became hotly-covered events in the news.
Despite the Qantas advisory, it appears not all airports in Australia are interpreting it the same way, the report noted:
One passenger who flew out of Canberra on a Qantas flight on Monday reported that he and his colleagues had encountered security personnel removing the batteries from all Dell computers, and taping up the contact points on the battery.
"They stopped me at the security gate where I was told I couldn't use my Dell laptop on the plane. I told them it wasn't one of the affected units but they said all Dell batteries had to be taped according to an agreement between Dell and Qantas," said Mitch Denny, a technology consultant, who frequently travels for business.
Dell has blamed batteries provided by Sony for the problems faced by consumers who have experienced these overheating issues. A story out of Shawnee, Kansas, reinforced that point of view when a Sony Vaio notebook caught fire in a person's home.
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Tags: Qantas, Dell, Sony
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews, WebProNews, and InternetFinancialNews.
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Qantas, Australia's primary airline, has begun checking the batteries of Dell and Apple computers and in some cases removing them for the safety of the passengers. This relatively new safety precaution was sparked by a battery recall a few months ago. 4 million Dell laptops worldwide were recalled after some of the laptop batteries exploded, causing the laptop to erupt into a fireball.

Although Qantas has yet to release a statement, they are expected to within the next few days. The company said in an interview that the practice has been occurring for a number of months for the passengers' safety to mitigate the rare chance of fire.


: —Sharron, an employee of Qantas.