Dell: Don’t Leave Home *With* It…

…At least not if you want to fly. 

After the well-publicized Dell-explosions and a recall of over 4 million batteries (made by Sony) Qantas Airlines issued new rules:  travelers are allowed to bring their Dells on board, however, they can only use them if they first remove the battery, then plug it into an outlet – which is only available on business- and first class.

Security at some airports apparently goes a bit further:

“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 ” – reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

I guess from  now on there are three classes of notebooks: the Mac, the Win and the Dell.

Also read  Engadget, Gizmodo and The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Update (8/24):  As Jim points out in a comment below, after Dell now Apple issued a battery-recall, too.  I suspect the story is far from being over, a lot of other manufacturers use Sony’s batteries.

Update (9/6):  Korean Air joined the ban, in fact they go a step further: passengers have to remove the batteries and pack them in their check-in luggage.

Tags: dell, laptops, notebooks, dell+recall, dell+batteries, dell+explosions, airlines, air+safety, airline+safety, qantas, apple, apple recall, apple batteries, sony recall, sony batteries