from Europe? From 4 to 15 days depending on the type of cargo ship.
Well TSA did swab all my lithium
ion batteries on my medical equipment in flight between HNL and IAD on Monday to be sure no explosives had been near them.
I find this proposed ban a bit illogical since presumably would-be terrorists read the news, know which airports are banning laptops, and will simply use other airports. They could also make the “weaponised laptops” within the US and load them on to flights leaving US airports. Indeed, the planes that hit the Twin Towers left from domestic airports. If the worry is that laptops could be weaponised, then you’d want to ban all laptops.
Update: just up on Politico - an EU official confirms the US has backed off on the potential laptop ban at this time. One reason cited was EU concerns about storing lithium batteries in the cargo hold.
All I can say is “duh!” Common logic prevailed.
sigh and Business Insider has an article saying a DHS spokesman emailed BI saying the Politico story is wrong.
http://www.businessinsider.com/europe-laptop-ban-report-dhs-2017-5
When is a decision a DECISION these days?
Sorry if I jumped the gun on this one…
Tourism to the US is already down 11% this year.
That only happens nowadays if the battery and/or the device concerned was defective from the factory to begin with as most devices produced in the last decade at least have safeguards built into the battery and device to prevent overcharging once the battery reaches 100% or instability condition if the battery is ran to absolute zero for too long a period*.
Most of the publicized incidents of lithium ion batteries catching fire in the last decade were due to manufacturing defects(i.e. What happened with Sony batteries in laptops/devices across the computing/electronics industry in the late '00s which was traced to contamination of the lithium ion cells themselves during the manufacturing process in the factory), exposure to excess heat/fire, or the lithium ion cells coming into contact with water or other liquids.
- This is the reason why you don't want to run lithium-ion batteries to absolute zero or leave them in a low-charge state(Less than 15-20%)...especially in extremely cold temperatures(due to extreme cold temperatures causing such batteries to sometimes spontaneously discharge to zero overnight).
If lithium-ion batteries are left in a zero charge state for too long, all industry-standard compliant batteries have placed a “safety switch” to permanently disable the battery to prevent the possible dangers from the instability of such batteries being at absolute zero charge for too long. This does mean the battery is effectively rendered useless for further use though the inconvenience of getting a new lithium-ion battery is far better in the greater scheme of things than a potentially much more serious incident from such batteries being in a prolonged unstable state due to being at absolute zero charge for too long without that safety “kill switch”.
Whether you’re talking about a short circuit or electrolyte breakdown, batteries catching fire is related to the charging process. You shouldn’t ever be able to discharge a battery to absolute zero charge. Your smartphone or tablet or laptop should shut off before then due to inadequate voltage.
My medical device lithium ion batteries shut off when they’re 80-90% discharged. You can’t go beyond that, or at least I haven’t found any way.
Good to know since DS leaves for UK on Sunday!
Last night, a Jet Blue flight from JFK to SFO diverted to Grand Rapids due to smoke emanating from a laptop in a carryon bag in the cabin. Most news reports have termed this a fire but don’t know if it got to that point or was just smoking. Fire/smoke was put out on board but landed in GR as a precaution. No specific word on whether the laptop was charging when the smoke started but my impression is that it was in the overhead bin. But the reporting thus far as been pretty 2nd-3rd hand. Flight did continue on to SFO last night so must not have resulted in much if any damage.
Does this make you feel better about potentially banning electronic devices from the cabin? 
^^^ That incident is an argument for keeping electronics in the cabin where they can be monitored and corrective action taken. If that laptop had been in the cargo hold it would’ve continued smoking, potentially causing a fire with much more serious consequences.
In the case of an actual bomb though, as opposed to an accidental fire, I’d probably rather have it down in the cargo hold and as far away from me and my pressurized cabin as possible. I don’t think there’s any “good” solutions, just maybe a “least bad” one.
If it was in an overhead bin, very unlikely to be charging as the only outlets to charge such devices tend to be around the passenger seats.
Judging by previous similar incidents of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if this incident is due to the battery itself being defective from the factory as was the case with the infamous Sony batteries incident in the mid-late '00s which affected the computer/electronics industries which used their batteries in their notebook/electronics.
It’s almost trivial to put fire safes on board to store electronics in the cargo area.
@roethlisburger agree. So what’s the answer? I don’t see putting all electronics in the cargo hold as THE solution for a number of reasons, not just the possibility of fire - do you?
There is no easy solution. Terrorists will continue to exploit the use of electronic devices as bombs because of their ubiquity and essentialness in peoples’ lives. You either accept the risk of an attack or accept the new reality of inconveniences and living without the devices.
Electronic devices… Who needs to go that far. A can of soda can take out an airplane apparently. All you need is a terrorist among the folks that service aircraft.
It’s all about multiple threat vectors. They focus on the mechanics, then the passenger can bring the bomb on board in electronics, shoes, underwear, or check it through as luggage (as they did on Pan Am 103). Etc…
@NoVADad99 I was just thinking the same thing!