The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has banned certain MacBook Pro notebooks — MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) — with recalled batteries on flights after Apple recently said that some units had batteries that posed a fire risk, Mark Gurman and Alan Levin report for Bloomberg:
In a statement, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it was “aware of the recalled batteries that are used in some Apple MacBook Pro laptops” and stated that it alerted major U.S. airlines about the recall.
The watchdog also reminded airlines to follow 2016 safety instructions for goods with recalled batteries, which means that the affected Apple laptops should not be taken on flights as cargo or in carry-on baggage by passengers.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a warning about these MacBook Pro models earlier this month, telling airlines in the region to follow 2017 rules that require devices with recalled lithium-ion batteries to be switched off and not used during flights.
MacDailyNews Take: Make perfect sense. You never want a bad battery going off on a flight.
According to Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Recall Program, the affected units were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017.
Apple has voluntarily decided to replace affected batteries, free of charge.
Eligibility
First check to see which 15-inch MacBook Pro you have. Choose About This Mac from the Apple menu () in the upper-left corner of your screen. Confirm your model is “MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015).” If you have that model, enter your computer’s serial number on this page to see if it is eligible for this program and, if so, follow the replacement process.