Qantas has issued on advisory on Dell laptop batteries--they can come on the plane, but you can't leave the battery in and plug in your computer. This is only supposed to apply to recalled batteries, but some people have had to remove any Dell battery:

Qantas is issuing an advisory to all passengers on its flights on the safe use of Dell notebooks following the recall of 4.1 million batteries announced by the PC manufacturer last week.

The airline said that although passengers would be allowed to carry their Dells either as checked or cabin baggage, they could only use them on battery power or through the aircraft power supply available in some first and business class cabins once they have first removed the batteries from the unit.

Qantas said cabin crew would be advising passengers of the measures which apply to any computer affected by the recall, that has not yet had the battery replaced.

However not all airports were following these procedures this week. One passenger who flew out of Canberra on a Qantas flight on Monday reported that he and his colleagues had encountered security personnel removing the batteries from all Dell computers, and taping up the contact points on the battery.

...via Gizmodo

Posted by dcoates at August 30, 2006 02:16 PM