Passengers on an American Airlines flight arriving at San Francisco from Miami were forced to evacuate the aircraft after a laptop emitted smoke and heat upon arrival at the aircraft’s assigned gate. The passengers were forced to use the emergency evacuation slides to escape the aircraft, causing injuries to three individuals.
The flight involved in this latest incident involving a laptop onboard a passenger plane was American Airlines flight AA2045 from Miami International Airport (MIA) to San Francisco (SFO) on July 12, 2024. The flight departed Miami at 08:34 and landed at San Franciso at 10:52 – all times local.
As the passengers began to disembark the aircraft, an Airbus A321 registered N917UY), one of them noticed smoke and heat coming from a laptop computer stowed in their carry-on baggage. Having alerted the crew to this, an emergency evacuation was ordered via the escape slides while others already using the attached airbridge were allowed to continue doing so. According to reports, three passengers sustained minor injuries while using the escape slides, with one requiring further medical attention.
As reported by CBS News, a statement from American Airlines said: “The bag was quickly removed by our crew members and all customers exited the aircraft.”
The Fort-Worth-based carrier also apologized for the inconvenience caused to its customers and thanked staff for their professional handling of the situation.
However, according to footage posted on social media, the emergency evacuation was somewhat chaotic and hampered by some passengers insisting they take their luggage from the overhead bins as they disembarked in action some other passengers branded “selfish”.
This latest incident follows just two months after a laptop caused a United Airlines flight from Zurich to Chicago to divert to Shannon, Ireland after it became wedged beneath the mechanism of a business class seat. Fearing the device may pose a fire risk, the crew elected to divert the aircraft so that the wayward laptop could be safely recovered, as reported at the time by AeroTime, here.
Battery-limiting regulations began rolling out across the global airline industry towards the late noughties, as the potential dangers of overheating lithium-ion batteries began to be better understood.
Current airline regulations state that laptops should be only carried in hand luggage (rather than stowed in hold baggage) and should only be powered by batteries rated at 100Wh or lower. However, up to two extra battery packs of up to 160Wh are permissible with the airline’s approval.