U.S. bans e-cigarettes from checked baggage on flights

[onehandle]

Source: Mashable

Federal authorities are cracking down on dangerous materials on airplanes — and the latest target is the electronic cigarette. A new federal rule forbids passengers on all airlines in the U.S. from packing electronic cigarettes or other battery-operated electronic smoking devices in their checked bags to protect against in-flight fires.

The rule still allows e-cigarettes in carry-on bags, so travelers who use the devices have that option. However, passengers cannot recharge the devices while on the plane.

There have been at least 26 incidents since 2009 in which e-cigarettes have caused explosions or fires, including several in which the devices were packed in luggage, according to the Department of Transportation. Usually, they have been accidentally left on or the battery short-circuits.

The Federal Aviation Administration warned airlines about the risks of e-cigarettes in checked baggage back in January. Several incidents were tied to the devices, including when "an e-cigarette in checked baggage stowed in an airliner’s cargo hold caused a fire that forced an evacuation of the aircraft," the FAA said in a statement.

Read more: http://mashable.com/2015/10/27/electronic-cigarettes-banned/#z888gNzPyGq3

[uppityperson]

1. I've never heard of that but it sounds like rather a problem. It will be interesting to read

what other duers have to say.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I think part of the problem

other than the obvious lithium battery issue (within a cargo hold that is minimally or not pressurized), is that some vapers may have thrown their ecigs into checked bags forgetting to separate the atomizer from the battery or box mod. And if the batt or mod doesn't have an automatic cutoff or safety feature for the button, and that button gets pushed when pressed against clothes, objects, etc in a suitcase, then the atomizer heats and heats until it potentially ignites something nearby.

When I went on vacation a couple months ago with my gear in my carry-on, I had it in clear, 1 gallon ziplock bags, with batteries for my box mods isolated in their own battery cases, and the atomizers in a separate case placed open within the bag for inspection. The juices were in a small clear bag within my 1 qt liquid bag. Going to my destination, the (obviously new) TSA agents were flummoxed but eventually let it pass through. Coming home, no one even blinked.

I had always thought this stuff was already required to be in carry-ons - at least when I was researching it before I flew.

[HassleCat]

2. There is a problem

I'm familiar with the way checked bags are screened, and I doubt if even a fraction of e-cigs would be detected. They would be detected in carry-on bags, but they're allowed there, so that doesn't help much.

[rjsquirrel]

3. ANY lithium-ion battery

presents the exact same risk. It's got nothing specifically to do with e-cigs.

[Kurska]

4. You're not allowed to put laptops in your check bags either

Lithium Ion batteries unattended on a plane is a bad idea.

But the fun police will find anyway to demonize the newest vice.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. The last time I had a laptop in a checked bag,

I saw a baggage handler drop my bag on the tarmac.

[Egnever]

6. I have no problem with that

You can still carry them on. Makes sense to me and I vape.

[Botany]

8. 26 cases in the last 6 years and the government does something but .....

.... 180,000 gun deaths in the same time period and the government does nothing?

Fuck the NRA.

[hack89]

9. 3.5 million smoking deaths in the same period. Why are e-cigs even legal? nt

[snooper2]

10. e-cigs are legal so people can argue about them on the intertubes

LOL

[Xithras]

11. Because the e-cig death toll is zero?

And because they're a regulation nightmare. I don't do nicotine but I DO vape caffeine and, on occasion, certain other substances of a less legal nature. Banning vape pens themselves makes about as much sense as banning pipes and rolling papers. Banning nicotine e-juice won't get you too far, because the high demand means that you'll simply create an instant black market (a path only a brain dead drug warrior would venture down). It's relatively easy to make your own e-liquid, and there are tons of 10 minute videos on YouTube showing you how to do it at home. If you think that banning nicotine e-liquid WON'T result in thousands of black market liquid nicotine labs popping up overnight, you're fooling yourself.

[hack89]

13. So prohibition is not a panacea for society's ills?

Makes sense to me.

[Throd]

12. This is about the batteries. Not the e-cigs themselves.