Airports of Thailand Issues Warning on Carrying Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone

The restriction of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 onboard all aircraft comes after numerous reports of the devices’ battery exploding.

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CHIANG RAI – Mae Fah Luang–Chiang Rai International Airport (AOT) has issued an advisory against passengers placing Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in their checked luggage for safety reason. THAI Airways has joined other airlines worldwide on the ban of this device.

The AOT’s advisory goes in keeping with other announcements from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on the prevention of charging and using the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone onboard the aircraft. The advisory also discourages the device from being loaded into luggage in aircraft cargo.

THAI Airways Vice President on Aviation Safety, Security and Standards Department Flt Lt Pratana Patanasiri has revealed passengers who own the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone traveling with THAI Airways, are asked to turn their devices off throughout the flight, and must not place the device in their checked luggage.

Passengers are also asked to immediately notify flight attendant should they find any electronic device which is broken or show irregular conditions such as heat, smoke, or trapped within seats.

This restriction to Samsung Galaxy Note 7 onboard all aircraft comes after numerous reports of the devices’ battery exploding.

On Saturday Samsung Electronics urged it’s consumers worldwide to stop using Galaxy Note 7 smartphones immediately and exchange them as soon as possible, as more reports of the phones catching fire emerged even after the company’s global recall.

The call from the South Korean company, the world’s largest smartphone maker, comes after U.S. authorities urged users to switch the Galaxy Note 7 off and not to use or charge it during a flight. Several airlines around the world asked travellers not switch on the jumbo smartphone or put it in checked baggage, with some carriers banning the phone on flights.

In a statement posted Saturday on its website, Samsung asked users around the world to “immediately” return their existing Galaxy Note 7 and get a replacement.

Samsung said it had confirmed 35 cases of the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire as of Sept. 1, most of them occurring while the battery was being charged.

There are at least two more cases that Samsung said it is aware of — one at a hotel in Perth, Australia, and another in St. Petersburg, Florida, where a family reported that a Galaxy Note 7 left charging in their Jeep had caught fire, destroying the vehicle.