U.S. Airlines are Quickly Banning Smart Luggage and Bags

If Santa brought you a shiny new smart bag or smart luggage for Christmas, you’d better check to see if it has a removable lithium-ion battery.

If not, you will be banned from bringing it aboard the airplane.

As of this writing, three airlines have banned any so-called “smart bag” that has a non-removable lithium-ion battery for fear that they might explode and cause a fire on the plane in flight.

Remember the mess over the exploding Samsung smartphones a while back?  Same thing.

Here’s a press release from Delta:

“Effective Jan. 15, 2018, Delta and Delta Connection will no longer accept as checked or carry-on luggage so-called “smart bags” or smart luggage with non-removable lithium-ion batteries, due to the potential for the powerful batteries to overheat and pose a fire hazard risk during flight. The safety of Delta’s customers and employees remains the airline’s top priority.

Smart bags with removable batteries will still be allowed if the battery can be removed on site and taken on board the aircraft with the customer, similar to Delta’s policy today requiring customers to place spare lithium-ion batteries in their carry-on luggage.

Smart bags have grown in popularity in the past year and often include lithium-ion batteries to power built-in features like GPS and Bluetooth locators, weight scales that prevent overpacking, USB ports to charge personal devices and motors to propel the bag.*

Delta in 2015 banned hoverboards and other battery-powered self-balancing personal transportation devices over similar concerns. As with the hoverboard ban, other airlines, including American Airlines, have also implemented a smart bags ban. Also, the International Air Transport Association has provided guidance on restricting the carrying of smart bags on board.

Many smart bag manufacturers advertise their products as being approved by the Federal Aviation Administration or Transportation Security Administration, which may give customers the false impression that all smart bags are accepted for transport. To date, neither the TSA nor FAA have endorsed a smart bag as approved.

With the proliferation of powerful lithium-ion batteries used in devices, and as a result of high-profile instances of overheating smartphones and other devices in flight, Delta last year equipped all of its aircraft as well as regional jets operated by its Delta Connection partners with in-cabin containment bags in the event a device powered by a lithium-ion battery experiences a thermal runaway event or fire on board.

*NOTE: Smart bags with a motor allowing them to be used as personal transportation devices, either as stand-up scooters or sit-on vehicles, do not meet the definition of mobility devices.”

While this is going to be a problem for some folks, imagine being the manufacturer of a piece of luggage with an un-removable lithium-ion battery.  Recalls, returns, and re-engineering.  Oh, my! 🙁

Smart luggage photograph courtesy of Bluesmart Luggage website.
 
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