[FDOS_UK]

Just to add to the previous post, it makes no difference whether the smartphone is connected and charging or not.

Here is another video of a Galaxy being crushed, same result

[AsiaChad]

Flown EK & SQ and had items connected to the in-seat power for the entire flight for short and long haul and never had an issue or been asked to unplug so maybe its a BA issue. Stopped flying them years ago…..

[DerekVH]

On the new 787-9 in First the charging points are contained inside a unit which can be closed so how on earth are the cabin crew going to inspect these in flight?

2 users thanked author for this post.

seasonedtraveller, FDOS_UK

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=714610]On the new 787-9 in First the charging points are contained inside a unit which can be closed so how on earth are the cabin crew going to inspect these in flight?

[/quote]

There’s some nice joined up thinking at BA for you 🙂

[JohnHarper]

I think we all have a duty to respect the safety procedures and policies of the airline we are traveling with.

Like FDoS I wouldn’t fly on BA longhaul (or short haul if I can help it) and I do find this extraordinary as I’ve never heard it anywhere else before. I was on LH from SIN-FRA just after I first read this topic and I showed it to one of the cabin crew who said it was not an LH policy and BA were in the dark ages.

I’ve certainly used the charging facilites throughout the flight on SQ, TG, MH, QF, EK, EY, QR, TK, LH & AF without comment or any sense I was doing anything wrong. I will take particular note from now on and ask the crew if it’s OK to do that. I suspect it will be.

Another reason for ABBA.

[DerekVH]

Maybe its a directive from the bean counters in order to reduce fuel costs!

[JohnHarper]

Thinking a bit more about this I remember 15-20 years ago SQ used to have a policy that there was no charging of electronic items allowed from the in seat power supply. It was stated in the safety video, on the safety card and Singapore Girl did politely remind you about it during the flight if you appeared not to be using the item plugged in – perhaps rather more politely than the OP was treated on BA.

Now of course BA are still using essentially the same cabin products on their long haul fleet as they were 20 years ago although of course we’ve seem much trumpeting about New First and New Club World they are essentially the same tired old, densely configured seats of 20 years ago which may explain why BA still have this policy when no one else does – as we all know, the BA product is just not up to the job.

ABBA.

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FDOS_UK

[Tom Otley]

Still looking for that thread.

This isn’t it….
From DEC 19 Restrictions relaxed on the use of handheld electronic devices on BA flights.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=714834]Thinking a bit more about this I remember 15-20 years ago SQ used to have a policy that there was no charging of electronic items allowed from the in seat power supply. It was stated in the safety video, on the safety card and Singapore Girl did politely remind you about it during the flight if you appeared not to be using the item plugged in – perhaps rather more politely than the OP was treated on BA.

Now of course BA are still using essentially the same cabin products on their long haul fleet as they were 20 years ago although of course we’ve seem much trumpeting about New First and New Club World they are essentially the same tired old, densely configured seats of 20 years ago which may explain why BA still have this policy when no one else does – as we all know, the BA product is just not up to the job.

ABBA.

[/quote]

John, just a couple of thoughts

Firstly, the SQ approach of embedding the info on the safety card and reinforcing it is the right way to go – if there is a concern. Not hiding it in the back of the inflight mag and making a separate announcement when there is a lot going on in the cabin and many people will not even hear the PA or understand the point (whatever Handbag, displaying an obvious cognitive bias against frequent travellers) may think.

Secondly, battery technology has evolved a lot in the past 15-20 years and we moved from NiCd to LiMh to Lion and more important to far higher capacities.

If an old battery ‘let go’, it would overheat and that would pretty much be that. These days it can be much worse, as shown by the two videos that I posted earlier – there is no doubt that Lion batteries can do a lot of damage. This typically starts with the battery being compromised, e.g. by crushing, whether conencted or not.

It seems that BA is out of step with the rest of the industry (and not addressing the real risk) and the more I think about it, the industry should be actively doing more to explain the risks of Lion batteries onboard – pointing out the dangers of damaging devices in the safety briefing would be a good place to start.

[rferguson]

Some background to this – each time there is a ‘safety related incident’ onboard an aircraft an ‘incident form’ is completed by the crew. These are monitored for trends. PED related fires/melting have seen the biggest increase in ‘incidents’ over the past twelve months at BA.

I don’t think BA (nor the crew) are setting out to be difficult here. They are reacting to a rise in safety related incidents happening at 40,000 feet over the atlantic.

As FDOS says the main issue is people that drop PEDS down the side of their seat and then recline the seat and crush the device. An announcement is now made after take off that if this happens please do not move your seat and notify one of the crew.

I’m not an expert on battery types etc etc but we were also told in our recurrent course that some knock-off charging equipment that people are buying on Ebay from China have been known to cause overheating/fire issues also.

At the end of the day on a full A380 we can guesstimate that around 70% of the passengers and crew will have AT LEAST one lithium charged PED advice – some several. That’s hundreds on each flight. And we are simply doing what we can to minimise any inflight risk. And this isn’t because the risk is ‘suspected’. We’ve seen it – at an increasingly alarming rate.

If i’m working in a premium cabin and someone is awake and watching the IFE or eating their meal i’d unlikely say anything. If I see someone getting ready to nod off whilst their device is charging i’d remind them of the policy as it won’t be monitored.

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FDOS_UK, seasonedtraveller

[Tom Otley]

I have merged this with an earlier thread.

[FDOS_UK]

I’m not an expert on battery types etc etc but we were also told in our recurrent course that some knock-off charging equipment that people are buying on Ebay from China have been known to cause overheating/fire issues also.

I’m not an expert, either, but I work with people who are and they say the same thing.

[DavidGordon10]

Fascinating – why is charging your device right through the flight on all those airlines that John Harper lists (“SQ, TG, MH, QF, EK, EY, QR, TK, LH & AF”) OK, and not on BA, and rferguson’s post makes it clear that there have been problems on BA. Is it easier to drop your phone into the innards of a BA seat? Are BA passengers more careless?

Safety procedures that are inconsistent between airlines are likely to be ignored, unless they are clearly explained.

I can add KLM and Aeromexico to John’s list.

[FDOS_UK]

DavidGordon10

I think a bit of cold, hard, analysis is needed.

– is there is real risk from dropping a Lion battery powered PED down the side of a seat, crushing it and causing an incident – yes.

– what conditions are needed for the battery to catch fire if dropped – rupture of the case or a short circuit and the battery holding sufficient energy (charge) to ignite

– does it make a difference if the battery is being charged – we’d have to conduct experiments to discover at what level of charge the batteries no longer catch fire, but the answer is probably that most batteries would still set on fire even if not being charged

– do PEDs get dropped more on BA flights – we don’t know, but Club World seats are not known for having too much personal storage space compared to other airlines – I am happier when there is a deeply lipped space I can put my iPod and ebook into, so they don’t fall off in turb – in a CW seat, the storage tray is unusable with the bed flat

– as a scientist, you will also be very familiar with the alignment of theories as (only) one indicator that they are valid – in this instance, there seems to be a hypothesis that is out of step with the others

It would be interesting to analyse the data for all airlines and in particular the number of incidents caused only by PEDs charging (not being crushed).

[rferguson]

@ DerekVH – missed your earlier post about how the cabin crew would know if a device is charging in the closed compartment. On all the F/J seats there is a small light at the base of the seat in the aisle which illuminates when a device is plugged in to the aircraft power.

I’ve never experienced an issue from passengers charging devices using the seat powering source. I DID however have an incident when some person who had been advised early on in the flight that she could not plug her iPhone into the cabin power outlet used for cleaners hoovers etc decided to ignore that once the lights went out. She had fallen asleep with the phone on the armrest (she was sat at the emergency exit row in Y). In the middle of the flight a passenger came running to the galley saying there was a ‘fire’ at the seats she was sitting in. The phone was literally smouldering. The owner woke up and went to pick it up and burnt herself in the process. The toilets were just adjacent so using the fire gloves we picked up the iPhone and threw it into the toilet sink and basically submerged it in water. The water actually bubbled. On the armrest where the phone had been there was literally an indent of melted material. I know not exactly related to the discussion of charging your phone using the specific equipment provided to do so but just an example of some of the dangers we encounter with people charging their devices – and how daft they can be. Apparently those aircraft hoover outlets through out a huge amount of power.

[Author]

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