How Much Longer Can We Travel for Business?

I want to travel safely. I bet you do too. What does this require? No ice picks, no lighters, no baseball bats -- no problem. I don't want to be on a plane with possible weapons. No toothpaste, no deodorant, no double lattes? They could be ways to smuggle explosive ingredients on board, though (thankfully) it has never happened. But what about gear with batteries?

One restriction, while seemingly the most annoying for business travelers, is trying to prevent something that actually has happened, many times: electronic devices catching fire.

I love my laptop. (Actually it's an IBM Lenovo ThinkPad that gives me lots of problems, but that's for another discussion.) I love what a laptop does for my productivity. I've been loving laptops since 1982 when I got a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100, the very first laptop. Just 15 years ago, traveling with a laptop was so rare that when I popped one open on an airplane I'd draw a crowd. I've traveled around the world -- literally -- with a laptop and don't want to stop now.

But, I don't want a laptop that catches fire, which has been happening to some laptops (and mobile phones) for some time. I'm not aware that safety experts have found anything actually dangerous in a Starbucks coffee carried on board, but liquids are banned, just in case. (I've never seen toothpaste explode, have you?) Meanwhile, there have been several actual encounters with flaming batteries.

Laptop makers ignored the problem for several years, in spite of growing evidence -- smoldering remains, actually. But now some are recalling suspect batteries for replacement. But, will that do it? Will all the millions of at-risk batteries get replaced quickly? Do laptop makers really know which batteries are dangerous? Why believe that they are finally on top of the situation and "doing the right thing"?

Unless a plane is carrying only Luddites or snakes, there are usually plenty of laptops on a flight. Apparently not willing to trust laptop companies to assure in-flight safety, several international airlines including Korean Air, Quantas Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways have banned certain laptop/battery combinations from being used in-flight. This might be a solution, and more airlines might adopt the same practice. But it's not focusing on the real problem.

The up-front problem is that airlines are not staffed or qualified to evaluate and monitor all the laptops and other devices and batteries that might be toted on board. Beyond making stern announcements, they can't reliably control mobile phones -- witness all the "off" phones that start ringing once the plane descends into range. They can't reliably control other radios that could cause the much-feared "navigation interference" -- Wi-Fi should be off in-flight, but most laptops are blasting out a signal whenever they are one, even at 32,000 feet. And there are transmitters and RF (radio frequency) generators in all kinds of other gadgets, from video games to PDAs to music players. But security and gate agents and flight attendants don't have the training, time or opportunity to catch them all.

The second big problem is the presumption that bad batteries are only in certain brands of laptops. It's true that Dell, Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo have reported problems with Sony-made Lithium-ion batteries that had internal shorts, overheated, and caught fire. So focusing on them is worthwhile. But this same risk, and other ways to overheat, exist in many batteries. It's relatively rare, but unpredictable and extremely serious when it happens.

When a battery "shorts out" internally or externally, it has a very low resistance path that allows excessive current flow, which generates high heat, which can cause the battery, and/or the device it is in, and/or adjacent materials to get very hot and possibly catch fire. It has happened in laptops, mobile phones and other gear in cars, airplanes, carrying cases, purses, and just about anywhere.

Did you see the guy on TV whose pickup truck was destroyed when a Dell laptop on the seat burst into flames? September 15 at Los Angeles International Airport, a Lenovo laptop began to smoke on board a United Airlines plane. Fortunately, the flight was still at the gate, so they got the computer into the terminal before it caught fire, which it did, but was quickly extinguished.

Does this sounds like a good reason to ban laptops from using battery power on planes? Maybe, but the solution announced by some airlines is laughably wrong. Apparently, if the airline says your laptop/battery is on their "banned" list, you are supposed to remove the battery and put it in your bag. You can still use the laptop if you happen to be in a seat that has a power outlet.

The problem is, the battery is dangerous, not the laptop. Putting the battery in a bag on the same airplane just moves the danger, and can make things worse. The batteries at highest risk can be internally shorted by being jarred or vibrated, whether in a laptop or anywhere else. The only solution to an overheating battery is to cool it down and extinguish any fire that is starting. Quick action is essential. If a battery has this risk, is it better to overheat unnoticed in a bag in an overhead bin, or in a laptop on the tray table right in front of the user?

Even a basically stable battery can get hot if shorted, and removing it from its normal installed location exposes the battery's poles. Picture shoving a bare battery into a carry-on case or purse that has a gum or candy bar wrapper of metallic paper, or a pen or lipstick or keys or anything metallic that presses across both of the battery's poles. Fireworks, anyone?

If airlines are serious about reducing the threat, they need to be sure all loose batteries are stored in insulating bags or otherwise capped to prevent being shorted. And make sure high-risk batteries aren't allowed on board. And watch out for shampoo, radios, dynamite sticks, and suspicious passengers. And fly the plane.

And it's not just flying that is at risk. Do you want a fire starting in your battery-powered gear anywhere?

Optimists are saying the battery problem will blow over -- we just need some widely-publicized recalls. But what if that doesn't solve the real problem? If batteries are banned or restricted, what will happen to travel, especially business travel?

What's your view?