Tag: safety

What Batteries Are Allowed On A Plane?

As we’ve become more technologically advanced, we’re using more and more gadgets that require batteries. Cell phones. Tablets. Laptop computers. Cameras. Handheld games. Digital scales. “Smart” luggage. Electric wheelchairs & scooters for mobility. E-cigarettes. Hearing aids. And the list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, these are some of the headlines you see if you Google BATTERY EXPLODED PLANE.

  • Portable battery explodes on Ryanair flight
  • Phone battery bursts into flames on flight
  • How planes can be brought down by a single battery

Scary, huh? Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

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Airbnb’s Problems Are So Bad That The FBI Is Now Getting Involved

We’ve only stayed at an Airbnb once, back in 2016. It was down in Miami, for the night before we had an early morning flight to Havana. I suppose the stay was OK. I mean, the place was clean and it had what we needed in terms of 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom (it had a kitchen too, but it was sort of superfluous for our 10-hour stay). So it served its purpose. But unless I know someone really, really well, I just don’t feel comfortable staying overnight in someone’s house.

I wasn’t even super well-read about Airbnb at the time; in fact, it was the couple we were traveling with who made the reservation. It wasn’t until after our stay that I started hearing about the horror stories:

That’s on top of all the cities that have made Airbnb illegal, or have made certain rules law (i.e. in NYC, owners have to live on-premises), to help protect renters from all the ways owners have tried to work the system.

So I’ve been very hesitant to use Airbnb ever since. But now, after this past weekend, when the FBI has gotten involved in TWO Airbnb incidents? I’m staying FAR away.

Here’s what happened:

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Battery/Charger In Luggage Explodes at Chicago’s Midway Airport (But Not How You’d Think)

Here’s another reason why you want to keep batteries and chargers in your carry on bags.

For the past several years, airlines, following FAA regulations, have required that lithium-ion batteries – those that power smartphones, tablets, cameras, laptops and E-cigarettes, among other things – be stored in passengers’ carry on bags instead of check luggage.

The reason for this is that they can catch fire if they’re damaged or if the battery terminals are somehow short-circuited. Although a fire in the cabin is an absolute emergency and oftentimes cause for an emergency landing, a fire in the cargo section, where no one and nothing will see/smell/detect it for a longer amount of time,  could wind up being even more potentially deadly.

That being said, there’s another reason you don’t want to keep those batteries (or frankly, regular batteries. Or chargers) in your checked luggage…

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Details Of The First State Where Hotels Must Have Panic Buttons For Safety Emergencies

We’d all like to think that all guests and staff in a hotel are safe, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. So one state is taking matters into its own hands and proactively making a law about a higher level of hotel safety.

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