Jet Airways on Thursday joined major international airlines and issued rules outlining safety-related procedures on the carriage of ‘smart’ luggage by passengers from January 15.
Over the past few days, major carriers such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Qantas, British Airways have issued issued similar regulations. Smart bags or luggage come fitted with USB charging stations, GPS tracking and built-in hot spots.
In a statement, a Jet Airways spokesperson said in accordance with the regulations issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) towards ensuring flight safety, guests carrying Smart Bags (also called Smart Luggage), on board Jet Airways flights must follow the following safety-related procedures which will be effective January 15.
Lithium batteries powering smart bags have been known to overheat and explode. “If the batteries are fixed into the bag, airlines worry flight attendants will not be able to reach them in the overhead compartments before they do serious damage to the aircraft,” a Jet Airways official said.
Passengers will be required to uninstall the batteries of their smart luggage prior to check-in. Post uninstallation, the batteries can only be carried as spare batteries in cabin baggage.
Passengers carrying smart bags as cabin baggage will have to uninstall the batteries and can reinstall them only upon disembarkation at the destination. Smart luggage with non-removable batteries will not be permitted on board either as part of cabin baggage or as check-in baggage, on all Jet Airways flights, the statement said.
Jet Airways said that the removal of batteries from the smart baggage and to declare them to the airline’s check-in staff would be the sole responsibility of the passenger and damage or malfunction of the said baggage in any form due to un-installation and/or re-installation of the batteries would not be the airlines responsibility.
A Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) official said that smart bags were in a nascent stage in India. “It is more of a U.S. trend, where smart bags come fitted with lithium ion batteries and motors allowing it to be used as a personal transportation device, either as a stand-up scooter, or sit on vehicle. These devices do not even meet the criteria of a mobility device. Since Jet Airways has a sizeable U.S. operations, the new regulations were being effected,” the official said.
