A week after issuing a statement "strongly advising" airline passengers not to use or charge Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 — which has been formally recalled over a series of explosions due to battery malfunctions — the Federal Aviation Administration has officially banned use of the device during flight.
"Passengers may not turn on or charge the devices when they carry them on board a plane."
"Passengers may not turn on or charge the devices when they carry them on board a plane," the FAA said in a statement. "Passengers must also protect the devices from accidental activation, including disabling any features that may turn on the device, such as alarm clocks, and must not pack them in checked luggage."
The ruling comes down after the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced there has been 92 reports of overheating Note 7 batteries in the US, with 55 of those events resulting in reports of property damage. So far only 130,000 of the 1 million recalled Note 7 devices in the US have been exchanged. So if you're the owner of an affected device and will be flying before September 21st when replacement units are expected to be in stores, plan accordingly.