Singapore Airlines (SIA) said on Saturday that it has joined other airlines in banning the inflight use of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phones after reports of exploding batteries in some units.
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In case you haven’t heard, Samsung has issued an unprecedented recall on the Galaxy Note 7, after isolated cases of phones catching fire during charging. These devices are also not permitted to be stowed in checked baggage.
USA aviation safety officials also on Thursday took the unusual step of warning airline passengers not to turn on or charge the phone during flights, or put them in checked bags.
Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. tumbled 4 percent Friday, the worst decline for the company’s stock since January.
The U.S. government action heralds more fallout for the South Korean manufacturer, which may take a financial hit from the recall and lose customers who are concerned about the quality of its flagship phones. Top airlines banned hoverboards during the Christmas holiday season, and the U.N.’s aviation agency prohibited shipments of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft.
In some instances, they have caused emergency landings, as when a camera short-circuited and started a small fire in the overhead bin of an American Airlines flight in September 2013.
But in a statement Friday, Samsung Electronics America asked Note 7 owners to shut off their phones and exchange them now for another device. Canada’s transport ministry made a similar recommendation on Friday. It’s worth noting these instructions come from Samsung Australia, but we imagine a similar system will be in place in the USA once the CPSC makes the recall official.
“Can anybody tell that particular model of phone by sight?” said consultant Robert Mann, noting that flight crew will have trouble verifying if a customer has a faulty Note 7 or a replaced version.
“The cost of the recall is going to be astronomical”, said product liability expert and chief executive officer of Real-World Forensic Engineering, Jahan Rasty.
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This is “a huge black eye for Samsung”, he said.
