This follows an incident in Perth, Australia, where a burnt Samsung Galaxy Note 7 caused ,800 worth of damage in a hotel room after it scorched the bed and carpet. It seems that Samsung didn’t initially provide any free accessories with the Galaxy Note 7 in India, as opposed to other countries where customers will receive free 256GB microSD cards.
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A Qantas spokesperson later confirmed that the Australian airline was asking customers not to charge the smartphones in the air, telling the Herald, “Following the worldwide recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 Personal Electronic Device (PED), we are requesting that passengers do not charge them inflight”.
For now, it’s quite unclear when the Galaxy Note 7 will be available for purchase again, but considering that the replacement program could take a few weeks, we might see the device back on shelves sometime in October at best.
Even Moto has joined in on the fun, with the Lenovo-owned company now running a new promotional campaign which pokes fun at Samsung safety standards.
Qantas, its budget unit Jetstar and Virgin Australia said they had not been directed to ban the use of the phone by aviation authorities, but did so as a precaution following Samsung’s recall of the phones in 10 markets. The carriers said that they could still be to brought onto aircraft but were not to be operated nor plugged into USB charging sockets.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7’s battery issues are well-documented by now, but none of the reported cases of phone explosion can touch the latest.
The firm said that those who received their Galaxy Note 7 before the official, and promptly halted, United Kingdom launch will have their devices replaced from 19 September.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering its response to the Samsung recall and “working on guidance related to this issue”, according to a FAA statement quoted by technology website Gizmodo.
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Airlines have previously banned hoverboards from planes for similar reasons.
