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Recalled 2015 15-Inch MacBook Pro Models With Faulty Batteries Banned From Flights in U.S.

citysnaps said:
No it won't.
[doublepost=1565743685][/doublepost]Makes sense...

My wife's 2015 MBP was on the battery recall list. We took it in for repair two weeks ago.

The rep at the Apple store said if it went to the Austin repair facility it would need to go ground due to the battery issue. But would be returned via air.

As it turned out the turnaround time was just 1 week. Based on that I suspect the battery was replaced at either their Sacramento or Cupertino facilities.
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Yup same here. Was told the procedure is to discharge it at the store and lock the battery from re-charging. Hold at the store for 24 hours, ship ground to repair facility and got my MBP 2015 back in 6 days.
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CarlJ said:
No, see, they'll check the serial number once (which will only take them 10 minutes, per machine), and then they'll attach a "harmless" unremovable "this one has been checked" sticker to your MacBook Pro (at an odd angle), "for your protection/convenience", so it doesn't need to be checked again.
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It's TSA so the sticker will be in a readable area. How the lcd?! and "it doesn't need to be checked again" means they will need to check it every time you enter into the airport. Yes... even to give Tom a ride home!
 
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Airlines should start stocking “Battery Emergency Bins” that are fireproof and large enough for electronics that catch fire.

Not pointing fingers at Samsung or Apple here. Just in the interest of general safety.

Edit:
Regarding screening I assume it’s a shift in responsibility - passengers will be required to disclose whether their electronics are affected under risk of persecution. If the plane catches fire it’s now the users’ fault instead of Apple’s.
 
Does this apply even if the battery has been replaced by Apple? I have a 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro (best MacBook MacBook Pro ever)
that got the battery replaced and am a frequent flier. Would hate if I can’t take it with me anywhere anymore. Luckily I have an iPad Pro with iPadOS 13
 
huge_apple_fangirl said:
Does this apply even if the battery has been replaced by Apple? I have a 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro (best MacBook MacBook Pro ever)
that got the battery replaced and am a frequent flier. Would hate if I can’t take it with me anywhere anymore. Luckily I have an iPad Pro with iPadOS 13
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No, the replacements are considered safe.
 
CarlJ said:
Even if they were on the ball and had a PC or tablet set up at the gate, connected to the website, to check serial numbers, getting the serial number from one machine (which may be in someone's carry-on and you have to tell them you need to look at it, and then explain why you need to look at it, "yes, really, yes, you", and then have them get it out, and turn it on, and maybe plug it in, and maybe boot it up, and maybe log in, to get to "About this Mac", and then read out/transcribe the serial number without error)... now multiply that by, say, 20 users... that's quite a pile-up at the gate.
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Or you know just flip it over and read the serial number.
 
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ruslan120 said:
Airlines should start stocking “Battery Emergency Bins” that are fireproof and large enough for electronics that catch fire.
Click to expand...

Some do have containment bags, but the issue is that you only know when things are going wrong is after the laptop catches on fire, and at that point it quickly becomes very difficult to handle. They have thick gloves and face shields and such but it takes time to get those out and put them on.

The other problem is the effectiveness of bags is not that great against the large batteries in laptops, they're really for cell phones. A Li-Ion runaway (not technically a fire) does not need oxygen to continue, it will continue to "burn" even underwater, until the battery is consumed. The existing procedure is to drop it in a metal sink and keep it cool in order to prevent anything around it from catching on fire.
 
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konqerror said:
Some do have containment bags, but the issue is that you only know when things are going wrong is after the laptop catches on fire, and at that point it quickly becomes very difficult to handle. They have thick gloves and face shields and such but it takes time to get those out and put them on.

The other problem is the effectiveness of bags is not that great against the large batteries in laptops, they're really for cell phones. A Li-Ion runaway (not technically a fire) does not need oxygen to continue, it will continue to "burn" even underwater, until the battery is consumed. The existing procedure is to drop it in a metal sink and keep it cool in order to prevent anything around it from catching on fire.
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Makes sense. Ty.

If those bags are too small then they should be at least made bigger. Banning batteries beyond a certain size (done) and then being able to handle any potential threat from batteries at the limit or below, as well as a small number of affected (ie burning) items, would seem like a no brainer. It seems to me that we’re lacking in the latter.
 
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newyorksole said:
How exactly are they going to screen for this? The average TSA employee probably doesn’t know a 2010 MBP from a 2019 MBP.

How did it work with the Galaxy phones? I can’t tell which Galaxy is which Lol.
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Probably will involve internal memos describing the form factor and design, how to look for serial #s etc. I'm sure the individual will have to demonstrate that it is either repaired or not an afflicted model. But I wouldn't be surprised if they struggle to discern the difference.

You're absolutely right that there is a type of person out there who will have a 2010 & 2019 mbp in front of them and declare that they look "virtually identical" even though they're clearly not the same device.
 
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MrGimper said:
Bang goes our "well at least it didn't ground flights/blow up" banter about Samsung :rolleyes:
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You'll see all those old snarky anti-Samsung pro-Apple comments disappearing from social media very shortly.
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AppleHaterLover said:
I’ll take my butterfly keyboard over an exploding laptop thank you very much
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I'd take my chances with an exploding laptop over a butterfly keyboard and touchbar. That's how much I like them.
 
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jinnj said:
Yup same here. Was told the procedure is to discharge it at the store and lock the battery from re-charging. Hold at the store for 24 hours, ship ground to repair facility and got my MBP 2015 back in 6 days.
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Wouldn't it be great if they could undo a few screws on the bottom of the machine, pop off the panel, and just lift out the battery? No, that's crazy talk! It would never be possible to build a MacBook Pro like that!
 
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CylonGlitch said:
This is going to be interesting. I'm flying this weekend, with my 2015 MBP 15" that WAS on the recall list. I have already brought it in to have the battery replaced. Wonder if they will even ask. I guess I should print out the receipt to take with me, just in case.
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You are probably better off not bringing it. What will you do with it if they turn you away? Miss your flight and bring it home?
 
I've purchased a lot of Mac's over the course of my life and most of them were bought used, from private sellers, from 3-5 years old. They're new enough to still run current OS & apps but old enough they're affordable. Unfortunately the pervasive quality issues with this whole range of MacBook Pros (MacBooks Pro?) has totally ruined the used market for them. While the used market isn't a direct revenue generator for Apple, it allows the ecosystem to grow and ultimately makes Mac's a stronger platform. It's a shame to rule-out a whole range of laptops due to these quality issues, but these clearly weren't up to Apple's high standards.
 
I damaged the keyboard on a 2016 13" MBP recently (my fault) and sent it in for repair under Apple care
When I got it back they had also changed the battery without me asking which was fantastic, but it did make me wonder if there is quietly something going on.
It didn't have any signs of battery health problems.
So far I've always been lucky and had fabulous service from Apple.
 
CarlJ said:
Even if they were on the ball and had a PC or tablet set up at the gate, connected to the website, to check serial numbers, getting the serial number from one machine (which may be in someone's carry-on and you have to tell them you need to look at it, and then explain why you need to look at it, "yes, really, yes, you", and then have them get it out, and turn it on, and maybe plug it in, and maybe boot it up, and maybe log in, to get to "About this Mac", and then read out/transcribe the serial number without error)... now multiply that by, say, 20 users... that's quite a pile-up at the gate.
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Or you can just connect it to another Mac running Apple Configurator 2 similar to in iPhone or iPad. This only removed the step by "read out/transcribe the serial number"
You still have to:
- Get Mac out of bag
- Turn on
- Log in
- Connect to other Mac with Apple Configurator
- Check Serial number.

Yes the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was much easier in terms of identification, as you could identify it by visual inspection only.
 
Question. I just checked my 2015 MBP 15", the serial number is not effected. The serial check returns with error message just like the screen shot below. I'm going on a trip to China this month and I'd like to take this laptop with me for work stuff. So can I show TSA that my MBP is not effected and I can take it with me on the biz trip? It's very very inconvenient for me if I have to leave my MBP at home.
 

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Great.... I'm already on a trip with my 2014 15" MBP... Can't wait for TSA to tell me I can't take it on the plane home and that I'm gonna have to find another way to get it home after I'm already in the airport.
 
topgunn said:
The Note 7 was recalled after a month and discontinued after 2 months. The Macs in question are 3-4 years old.
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Yea, so Apple had an issue before the Note 7! Took Samsung a 2 months to do a total recall of much bigger number of devices..took Apple 4 years to accept the same issue.
 
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WardC said:
I have a 15-inch mid-2015 Retina MacBook Pro. It was purchased from Apple Store Online Refurbished. It has the Iris Pro 1536MB Graphics, not the MX370. I went to the Apple page, and plugged in the appropriate serial number for the unit, and this is what came up:

mbp.jpg


------------------------

So, apparently this mid-2015 Retina 15-inch MacBook Pro is a Refurbished model, and is not affected, and has a newer replaced battery. So how in the world are the airline security checks going to know this?? Without having a serial number checker on hand??
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When I checked mine I had the same answer so it must be a small amount of affected models.

Something very odd happened about 2 years ago though. I took it to my local Genius Bar for an unrelated issue and just mentioned the battery was running out faster than expected. I was out of warranty but without me saying a word he offered me a free battery. I wonder if Apple knew back then?
 
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Ah TUI.... The once and only time I travelled with them, your carry on was limited to 5Kg and they weighed everything at the checkin and again at the gate.
Like RyanAir, EasyJet and Thomas Cook they are on my own No-fly list.
 
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