[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Pilots are against this ban. And I can completely see their point of view.

What if an innocent laptop catches fire? Lithium-ion batteries have done so, out of the blue. So, that laptop is in the hold, catches fire, starts to burn through the clothing in the suitcase, fire gets bigger, starts to consume the suitcase, gets even bigger and you have a huge problem. Which nobody can easily handle. You must put the plane down.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/....1494916642152

According to the European Agency for Security of Aviation (EASA), airlines need to take the responsibility to check if all devices in checked in luggage is turned off. Can you imagine the lines at the checkin desk if every single person had to open up their suitcase so that every single device can be checked if it's turned off?

Electronics ban adds frustration to flying

An extra line at check-in for anyone checking electronics required that an extra four Emirates employees be on duty to pack dozens of laptops in cardboard boxes, a process that added to the boarding time. A frequent Emirates traveler from the U.K. told me it never used to take so long to board, and an Emirates gate agent said that every flight to the U.S. was leaving between five and 10 minutes late because of the ban. My flight left Dubai 30 minutes late. Onboard, a flight attendant told me that the cabin crew felt less safe having laptops in the cargo hold due to the risk of fire from their lithium-ion batteries. They are all trained to put out fires in the cabin, but for a fire in the cargo hold they depend on the sprinkler system to do the job.

Lithium-ion battery fires, however, are hard to put out with water and, once doused, sometimes smolder and burst into flames again. To date, at least two cargo planes have crashed due to lithium-ion battery fires in their holds.