14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung and CPSC have recently announced that 1 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones will be recalled in the US and that replacement units will start arriving on September 21. Until now, it seems that about 92 cases of Note 7 batteries catching fire have been reported in the US alone.
A few days ago, the FCC issued a warning regarding the use of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on airplanes. The FCC didn’t specifically ban passengers from carrying the smartphone on planes, but it did warn them against charging the units in flight.
Now it seems that the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a notice regarding airline passengers and crew traveling with a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
"Our primary concern is always public safety. Anyone who chooses to travel with a recalled device must take precautions to ensure its safe handling," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
Passengers traveling with Galaxy Note 7 smartphones must follow clear instructions
The report comes with some instructions that passengers must follow. Firstly, passengers must turn off their Galaxy Note 7 device and disconnect it from any charging equipment. Secondly, they must disable all applications that could activate the phone, like alarm clocks.
They must also protect the switch to prevent the phone from being unintentionally turned on and keep the device on themselves or in the carry-on baggage, not in checked baggage. The PHMSA also mentioned that it issued a special permit to Samsung with clear instructions retailers must follow when shipping recalled devices.
Fortunately, Samsung has announced that safe Galaxy Note 7 units will start arriving next month, so the usage ban won’t be in place for long. It will be interesting to see how airlines will identify safe Note 7 units, considering that those shipped to Canada recently, only had markings on the retail box and not on the phone itself to differentiate it from unrecalled Note 7 units.