Latest news with #passenger safety
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Nightmare aboard Delta Boeing 757 after passenger's rechargeable battery burst into flames
A Delta Air Lines flight made an emergency landing after a passenger's personal battery burst into flames. The unidentified passenger's device caught fire while on Delta Flight 1334, a Boeing 757 traveling from Atlanta, Georgia, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Monday. Crew was able to extinguish the fire and keep all 185 passengers and six crew members safe, but the pilots still made an emergency landing in Fort Myers 'out of an abundance of caution' due to the 'residual smoke' left behind. 'Flight attendants worked quickly to extinguish a probable burning personal battery belonging to a customer while pilots followed procedures to safely divert the flight,' Delta told Daily Mail in a statement. 'We appreciate the quick work and actions by our people to follow their training, and we apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels.' The aircraft is being evaluated, and passengers are being rerouted to their destination. Video from inside the cabin showed a load of firefighters come onboard to check everything out before the passengers were allowed to offload. 'We have to wait for the fire department to clear the plane,' passenger, D'Andra, said in a TikTok. D'Andra said she was sleeping when the flames broke out, but was awoken by someone screaming: 'Fire! Fire! Fire!' 'I turn around it's pure smoke,' she said in a follow-up video. 'They had to use a fire extinguisher, it was a whole mess.' It is unclear what caused the personal battery to catch fire. Portable chargers contain lithium batteries and are allowed in passengers' carry-on luggage. The devices can experience thermal runaway, when the battery overheats rapidly and can cause a fire or explosion. Passengers are limited to two grams of lithium per battery and can have up to four devices with these batteries onboard. 'These incidents are on the rise, but the good news is they are largely preventable,' Jeff Marootian, a safety expert, told 11 Alive. 'Passengers should be aware of what they're packing, especially when it comes to lithium-ion battery-powered devices.' Marootian advises fliers to make sure to follow directions and keep these batteries in carry-on bags only. 'It's critical to keep these devices within arm's reach. If a fire were to happen in checked luggage, the outcome could be very different. 'Thankfully, in today's situation, the flight crew knew how to respond, and a major catastrophe was averted.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Real I.D. implemented for all domestic flights in United States
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Passengers at every airport in America had to provide a federally certified form of identification to get through security and board their flights Wednesday, May, 7, 2025. The Real I.D. implementation date has been on the radar for months and Wednesday, it finally went into full effect. The Real I.D. Act was passed in February of 2005, more than 20 years ago to address concerns of passenger safety on domestic flights. After multiple delays, the implementation was finally given an official date and enforced for those flights today. In order to get a Real I.D., you have to provide more certified documentation at the DMV office than you would for a normal driver's license. It proves anyone using a Real I.D. to fly would have already gotten their information certified prior at their DMV office. Passports and government issued I.D.s are also acceptable if you don't have a Real I.D., but they must be official and not expired. With all of the implementations taking effect, officials at PGV Airport in Greenville said the passengers departing Greenville were prepared. 'People in Eastern North Carolina are well prepared. I spoke with TSA earlier and they said for the outbound flights today everyone had a Real I.D. or passport, so people in this area are very prepared,' Executive Director of Airport Operations at PGV Bill Hopper said. Hopper also talked about the additional layer of safety this brings. 'It means that we know who is on the plane and it's just another layer of security,' he said. 'We could all use that layer of security, so that we feel safe when we travel.' DMVs across Eastern North Carolina are still seeing long lines as people try and get their new I.D. before the busy summer travel season. 'If it doesn't work out today, I'll probably come tomorrow about 8:30 a.m. and not eat or drink anything so I won't have to go to the restroom,' Mike Shugart said. 'Nobody likes to wait for two or three hours, but everybody seems to be cordial and realizes this is what you have to go through and it's just a couple of hours of your life and then you got it taken care of for the rest of your life.' Not needing their Real I.D. today, some customers are remaining patient in hopes that they can get this errand taken care of before they fly this summer. 'We have to have patience, you know there are worse things in life than waiting,' Claudine Forbes Parra said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.
