Flew yesterday out of Dulles and they were inspecting and ordering "no fly" on certain models. Was a complete shit-show.
I hope they at least have a separate line for that. Apple folks are used to waiting in extra long lines anyway, right?
FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
221–230 of 254 posts
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually took an 10 inch screwdriver on to a flight accidently. When I was unpacking at the hotel I was like "how the F did this get past the security check?" Another time I was running late for my flight and forgot to empty my 16oz water bottle. After my bag went through the scanner I realized my mistake and told the TSA agent about it. He uncapped the bottle, swirrled the water around, sniffed it, and then handed…
Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) allows you to bring a full waterbottle (openend and unopenend) through security. Also you don't have to unpack your bag anymore. Just take it of your back and it will go right through the machine. I am not sure what changed because I haven't seen this before. Even modern airports like Changi (Singapore) required me to empty my bottle. If anyone knows what changed, always interesting to re…
Strange. I had to unpack at Schiphol two weeks ago. And go through the scanner even though I wasn't headed to the US. All in all, one of the worst airport security experiences in Europe.
In Lisbon I didn't have to unpack.
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#223Can Apple just send a notification to all affected devices?
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#224Just adding my mbp anecdote.
I purchased my MacBook Pro in 2015. A year ago I noticed the top 15% of my trackpad wasn’t clicking. I did a little research and saw that this is sometimes the first symptom of an expanded battery and to bring it in. I finally made an appointment a few months ago and came in to have it investigated further. In the appointment they told me they “disassembled and confirmed everything was functioning properly.” They did a software diagnostic which also confirmed the same. The service person came out and said the very top of the trackpad never clicks and that’s how it was designed. They sent me on my way... a few weeks ago I received an email saying the battery was recalled.
In summary, the “genius” looked at an expanded battery and proceeded to tell me everything is fine. I respect the fact that apple has a presence that allows you to have your devices inspected but it gave me a false sense of security. I had even researched replacing the battery myself up until that appointment
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In addition to the 432,000 Macbook Pros sold in the US from mid-2015 to 2017 being outright banned from flying, there will be all the other Mackbook Pros sold from about 2013 to mid-2015 that outwardly look just like the banned ones. Am I missing something? Weren't the 2016 models the ones that changed to USB-C, q flatter keyboard, etc.? Those don't look identical to the 2015 and earlier models
Apple built and sold the 2015 model for another couple years alongside the USB-C ones.
I bought a refurbished mid-2015 in 2017. Looking up the serial number Apple indicates it's either not affected or already addressed. Pretty sure this model would get flagged for a flight. A few weeks ago replaced one of the speakers and the batteries looked a little puffy. https://imgur.com/3Dav7hH. Probably shouldn't be flying.
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
They absolutely should be criminally liable for risking the lives of everyone on board because they won't take a different laptop, or none, with them. If the search is only 5% effective then the deterrent needs to be something you wouldn't risk a 5% chance of happening, year in prison, or a fine of 2 times your average annual income seems about right?
You mean something like dying a fiery death because your laptop caught fire on a plane?
That's a lot rarer than a 5% chance. If 5% of these laptops exploded every few hours, there wouldn't be many of them left by now.
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#227In addition to the 432,000 Macbook Pros sold in the US from mid-2015 to 2017 being outright banned from flying, there will be all the other Mackbook Pros sold from about 2013 to mid-2015 that outwardly look just like the banned ones. I suppose all those lookalikes will be pulled out and have their serial numbers checked, which is in microscopic print on the back, which will definitely slow down Pre-check when you wou…
You can open the MBP up and show the agent your About Mac window in the setting menu. It has the serial number, but more importantly, it will tell them the year of the laptop (mine says mid 2014).
And what if you had the battery replaced?
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a recent thermometer there is no mercury anymore. By recent i mean in the last few decades.
You are a little bit too optimistic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-in-glass_thermometer#L...
I just googled for my country (France) and found an article from 1999 (?!) stating that it is forbidden.
https://www.lexpress.fr/informations/thermometre-la-fin-du-m...
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#229Just adding my mbp anecdote. I purchased my MacBook Pro in 2015. A year ago I noticed the top 15% of my trackpad wasn’t clicking. I did a little research and saw that this is sometimes the first symptom of an expanded battery and to bring it in. I finally made an appointment a few months ago and came in to have it investigated further. In the appointment they told me they “disassembled and confirmed everything was fu…
Apple Geniuses aren’t trained in electronics & troubleshooting. They get some recipes and when none of those have an answer they fallback to “Lie to the user.”
Source: colleague who was a manager of a Genius team at a big city Apple store.
They are meant to help Apple save face. Put that old school customer service in person touch on things.
It’s not explicitly stated like that in training. They just don’t know, and concoct an answer that the avg customer won’t know is bullshit. It’s how it shakes out given the recipes they’re not allowed to deviate from and the hiring of Apple users, not trained electronics technicians.
Re: FAA Bans Recalled Apple Laptops from Flights
#230Just adding my mbp anecdote. I purchased my MacBook Pro in 2015. A year ago I noticed the top 15% of my trackpad wasn’t clicking. I did a little research and saw that this is sometimes the first symptom of an expanded battery and to bring it in. I finally made an appointment a few months ago and came in to have it investigated further. In the appointment they told me they “disassembled and confirmed everything was fu…
A growing problem since Tim Cook took over as CEO seems to be Apple techs trying to slither their way out of providing service. I've dealt with a number of flat-out lies that I had to actually call techs out on to get my devices serviced. Examples:
I bought Airpods last year. When they were about 10 months old, it was December in NYC, where I live. It gets a little cold, but not that cold -- freezing point is about the lowest it gets, maybe a few degrees below that at night. When I ran with my Airpods, they started to shut off randomly on colder days (40 Fahrenheit or below) -- clearly a sign of an aging battery not providing enough charge. Particularly since they started working again when I took them back inside. I brought them into the Apple Store, and the tech tried to convince me that "Bluetooth just doesn't work well in the cold" and that they couldn't do anything about the issue. I had to basically beg the "Genius" to replace them, which promptly fixed my issue.
My iPhone SE would become randomly unresponsive to touches after they replaced the battery. I had to come in 3 times, reinstall iOS without using a backup twice, and beg the Genius (again) to replace my phone because their touchscreen test "didn't see any issues"... because it was a spurious issue that wasn't present all the time. I only got it replaced becaused I lucked out and the issue surfaced when the Genius was trying to start a diagnostic.
They've also tried to sneak their way out of servicing my Macbook Pro for "staingate" (coating wearing off the screen, covered by a 4 year extended policy) because, and I quote, "it isn't that bad."
Apple stores have clearly been prioritizing margins instead of customer experience. Those of us in the know can usually fight our way around these customer hostile policies, but I feel awful for my parents, grandparents, etc. -- they've been bamboozled by Apple into upgrading their phones for issues that should have been covered for free, just because they're trusting of the techs. It's gotten to the point that I don't recommend Apple products to them because the in store experience has gotten so bad.
It wasn't always this way. I remember when the original iPhone first came out that they were much, much, much more lax about replacing things pro bono, both for laptops and for phones. It's only since ~2012 or so that I've noticed service went really downhill, which happens to coincide with some restructuring of the Apple Store.
I miss the old Apple.