We were not able to get a Flight! We Lost all the money (flights, trains, excursions, hotel)

[Irantzu90]

Yesterday my partner and I were supposed to Travel from Siem Reap to Hanói. We were not allowed inside the plane because of our MacBook Pro 15". Nobody grave a solution to us, nobody helped us (neither police or the aithorities)! I tried to speak with Apple and it was impossible. We started our trip over 2 months ago around South East Asia and we had no problem. We were not aware of this Mac issue problem! Now, who takes responsibility of all the money we lost (lost flight, hotels, excursions all paid)? We have now to take a +30h trip (different buses and trains) up to our next destination. We were treated as we had a bomb. It is crazy.
Reading in the internet I see that a battery replacement is provided in Mac stores, but it takes 2/3 weeks (too much for our time in here). We are from Spain, just in the other side of the glove.
Do you know any compensation processes from Mac? Thank you.

 

[majus]

Try calling Apple about it. This forum is hardly the place for that kind of question.

 

[chscag]

Calling Apple will likely get you nowhere. It was the US FAA which first put out the ban on MacBook Pro computers with Lithium batteries that possibly could explode. Airlines throughout the world are complying with the restriction for the safety of their passengers.

The only compensation you may get from Apple is that they will replace the battery in your MacBook Pro.

 

[960design]

Yesterday my partner and I were supposed to Travel from Siem Reap to Hanói.

So sorry to read about your travel troubles. You now have a great story. Sell it to the newspapers and tell it to your grandchildren. They will love that grandma had to take crazy buses across the world because of a computer battery.
Thank you for sharing! Good luck with the rest of your travels.

 

[Wondercow]

Yesterday my partner and I were supposed to Travel from Siem Reap to Hanói. We were not allowed inside the plane because of our MacBook Pro 15". Nobody grave a solution to us, nobody helped us (neither police or the aithorities)! I tried to speak with Apple and it was impossible. We started our trip over 2 months ago around South East Asia and we had no problem. We were not aware of this Mac issue problem! Now, who takes responsibility of all the money we lost (lost flight, hotels, excursions all paid)? We have now to take a +30h trip (different buses and trains) up to our next destination. We were treated as we had a bomb. It is crazy.
Reading in the internet I see that a battery replacement is provided in Mac stores, but it takes 2/3 weeks (too much for our time in here). We are from Spain, just in the other side of the glove.
Do you know any compensation processes from Mac? Thank you.

The compensation would come from your trip cancellation/travel insurance. But, like most people, you probably didn’t buy it. Credit cards often have travel insurance when used to pay for certain parts of a trip, so check if your credit card has travel insurance and file a claim. If you didn’t use a credit card or it doesn’t have travel insurance you’re probably eating the costs yourself.

 

[iGobbleoff]

Isn't the ban just for putting it in checked baggage? you can still carry it on board, just not turn it on?

 

[Queen6]

Isn't the ban just for putting it in checked baggage? you can still carry it on board, just not turn it on?

Just maybe some carriers value the safety of their customers more than the customer values their notebook or more to the point any issue will cost a great of money and inconvenience many. Such unplanned instances are why one has insurance, if not...

Q-6

 

[Howard2k]

Did you buy travel insurance?

Isn't the ban just for putting it in checked baggage? you can still carry it on board, just not turn it on?

It would depend on the airline and probably even on the individual flight crew.

 

[adrianlondon]

This thread belongs in the community discussion forum.

It should actually be in some airline forum relating either to the airline that stopped the OP flying or the airport (if it was a generic ban maybe at security).

The guidelines are that these iffy Macbooks can't be checked in but can be carried as hand luggage. I believe some rules around the number of batteries also come into play, so if one had a few MBPs on them then there'd be issues.

As for the comments on travel insurance, I think they'd claim "Being refused to fly due to the airline stating you have unsafe objects on you" would mean they won't pay up.

 

[Irantzu90]

Thank you all for your messages.
I will try to change the battery in Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) Apple authorized store. Let's what happens next.

 

[Fishrrman]

I think the OP's comments are VERY appropriate for the MacBook Pro forum.

The main followup question:
Re the OP's MBP: does it fall into the "affected recall group" of MBP's with a bad battery, or is it "outside of" that group?

Here are the "real-world" results of what [at least some] MacBook Pro owners can face when traveling with their computers. Not a good image for Apple.

Having said this, I'll never have this problem, because I haven't been on a big jet since 1984 and will never fly again.

 

[_Kiki_]

Which year of MBP?

 

[JPack]

Now, who takes responsibility of all the money we lost (lost flight, hotels, excursions all paid)?

You do.

Seriously, take some responsibility. Every government agency in the world tells travelers to be aware of what you can pack in your carry-on and checked baggage before arriving at the airport.

The compensation would come from your trip cancellation/travel insurance. But, like most people, you probably didn’t buy it. Credit cards often have travel insurance when used to pay for certain parts of a trip, so check if your credit card has travel insurance and file a claim. If you didn’t use a credit card or it doesn’t have travel insurance you’re probably eating the costs yourself.

Insurance would be useless in this situation. Trip cancellation insurance will only pay out for eligible "covered causes" such as medical, employment, weather, travel visa, etc. Trying to bring a prohibited item onto a plane is not a covered cause.

 

[Wondercow]

Insurance would be useless in this situation. Trip cancellation insurance will only pay out for eligible "covered causes" such as medical, employment, weather, travel visa, etc. Trying to bring a prohibited item onto a plane is not a covered cause.

It wasn’t prohibited when the trip started, thus its likely covered. Of course it depends on the policies of the company and laws of the country where the card was issued.

 

[ilikewhey]

woeee this forum's first testimony! sucks to hear this is happening to you OP, unfortunately there isn't much you can do except throw the laptop in the trashcan at the airport or ship it to your relative so your not carrying around a prohibited item.

 

[alter_ohm]

this could really be a deal breaker for many people thinking about buying a new macbook pro. i doubt that all the personnel at airports in the world will be able to differentiate the affected macbooks from the non affected ones. since all the macbooks have a similar aluminium design it's more or less a complete ban of apple laptops. the risk alone is enough.

bringing colors back to apple laptops could be a quick fix for this problem.

 

[jbarley]

woeee this forum's first testimony! sucks to hear this is happening to you OP, unfortunately there isn't much you can do except throw the laptop in the trashcan at the airport or ship it to your relative so your not carrying around a prohibited item.

Considering the $$$ the OP claims to have lost, dumping the laptop sounds like a cheaper alternative.
Other possibilities might be remove and trash the offending battery, or rip out and salvage the hard dirve/SSD and then dump the laptop.
Any of the above would seem less expensive then losing all the deposits and purchased fares they claim to have lost.

 

[mikzn]

Which year of MBP?

15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Recall Program

"Apple has determined that, in a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units, the battery may overheat and pose a fire safety risk. Affected units were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017 and product eligibility is determined by the product serial number."

 

[Hieveryone]

Wow that's crazy and seems like a tough situation. I don't know what I'd do tbh. Hopefully I'd have known about the ban before leaving.

 

[mpainesyd]

This is a nightmare, especially for people travelling through non-western airports. There is little hope that security staff will be able to recognise the affected computers or, particularly one that have not had the battery replaced. Note that the "ban" applies to hand luggage as well as checked luggage.
We can expect some instances where any computer with an Apple logo is "banned". As the OP has found there is nothing that can be done if you are about to board a plane, other than putting it in the bin with all the water bottles at security.
There is more info here
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/08/29/macbook-pro-some-airline-restrictions/
And here
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/...s-carry-on-luggage-after-apples-recall-2019-8

 

[HDFan]

It wasn’t prohibited when the trip started, thus its likely covered.

I purchased United Airlines trip insurance for a tour. The tour was cancelled by the touring company. Insurance refused to cover the canceled flight as it was not covered by their policy.

I had purchased trip insurance for the tour, but not the flights, from my tour company. Even though the cancelled flight were not covered by their policy they covered them as they wanted to keep my business.

My experience with insurance is they will do everything they can not to pay.

 

[chabig]

My experience with insurance is they will do everything they can not to pay...

...for losses they are not obligated to pay under contract.

 

[Pangalactic]

I think it would be best to get rid of the Macbook ASAP. Sell it on eBay, or in person for at least some $$$, and then continue the trip. This would definitely be a lot cheaper than losing out on all the things you've planned.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Why not just FedEx/mail the Macbook to your next destination or back home?

 

[0906742]

Just out of curiosity, doesn't this mean this model is banned for flights forever? I guess it does, since I don't know how they could differentiate the machines that have been serviced to fix the problem. I mean surely they can give you some paper about service but do the airlines really have the time and interest to examine each machine and possible documents to make sure. I don't think so. They will just visually see if the machine looks like the one they have banned and determine actions based on that...