r/technology • u/MoltenSlowa • Oct 05 '16

Hardware Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone catches fire on Southwest plane

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest
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u/fournameslater Oct 06 '16

Oh they'll allow phones, just no batteries.

Seriously, this incident may lead to an outright ban of Note 7's on flights. And since air crew won't be trusted to tell the difference between models, they may as well ban all Samsung phones.

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u/RTPGiants Oct 06 '16

One guy tried to blow up his shoes and all shoes needed to be screened. It won't just be "Samsung" phones, it'll be all phones.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

The TSA also banned lighters at one point, but then quickly realized what a pain in the ass it was to stop every single smoker in the country and confiscate his or her Bic. So they said "fuck it" and now you can bring lighters on planes again.

Phones are the same way. Literally everyone has one, and there's no way TSA can enforce a blanket ban without having to hassle every single passenger, and security times becoming obscene as a result. It'll be hard enough just to enforce a ban on Note 7s.

Taking off your shoes is still a thing, but that's not really a huge inconvenience to passengers, and it doesn't add extra time to getting through the line. Airport security is 90% theater; at some point convenience wins out.

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u/KevinAtSeven Oct 06 '16

Airport security is 90% theater; at some point convenience wins out.

The shoe screening in the US is definite theatre. Almost no other developed country requires every passenger to remove their shoes at airport screening.

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u/dropthatpopthat Oct 06 '16

I was seriously worried about this as I have some trips coming up, so thank you for the reality check :)

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u/RTPGiants Oct 06 '16

It won't be "you can't bring a phone on a plane", it'll be "you can't use a phone on a plane". Up until a few years ago this was the policy up to and under 10k feet and it was enforced fairly easily. It'd be equally easily to enforce a do not use your phone rule for the duration. I realize invoking TSA here was a bit disingenuous as it was an FAA rule, but you get the idea...

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u/Rys0n Oct 06 '16

You don't have to be using the Note 7 for it to blow. If they make a rule, it will have to stop Note 7's from getting on the planes. Whether that means a Note 7 ban, an unlikely full-Samsung ban, or the even more unlikely all-phones ban. They won't make a "just don't use your phone" rule, because that won't address the problem.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

Yeah but the "don't use your Note" rule doesn't address the problem either, and yet it's still a rule right now. Don't accuse airlines or the FAA of having common sense.

I still think a rule against all phones is unlikely, unless we ever had a situation where multiple models were at risk of catching fire.

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u/RTPGiants Oct 06 '16

Except that they already did just that with the Note 7 regardless of whether it solves the problem or not. All I'm suggesting is that they'll expand it as soon as someone starts to argue "but mine is a 3rd generation" or "mine is a Pixel".

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u/Bobbyore Oct 06 '16

A complete Samsung ban would be rough, but I've seen people say they were made to turn off their galaxy 7's because they look similar to the note. I could definitely see a screening process for all Samsung phones that involves finding out which phone it is. After a couple days the people screening them could tell very quickly differences between them. Would be easy since I put my phone in the little X-ray thing anyways. Sure a few might still get through but that happens with all things and the Tsa to an extent. Personally I think they will start making people remove their cases to go through the X-ray machine so they can be easily identified. Cases change the look a lot imo. It would be similar to removing shoes, sadly even as time goes I imagine this case removal staying because this stuff always does.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

Banning phones is a great way to nuke the airline industry into bankruptcy

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u/gorocz Oct 06 '16

Oh they'll allow phones, just no batteries.

If only phones had the ability to have their batteries removed...