E-cigarettes banned from checked bags on planes
A customer smokes an electronic cigarette at the Vapor Shark store in Miami. The U.S. Department of Transportation is banning e-cigarettes from checked bags on planes.
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Add something to the list of things you can’t pack in your checked bag before a flight: electronic cigarettes.
The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a final rule last week prohibiting any battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices from being packed in a checked bag.
In addition, the federal agency has prohibited passengers and crew members from charging the devices or their batteries in the plane.
Why? E-cigarettes have been known to catch fire.
A federal study by the U.S. Fire Administration reported 25 incidents of fires or explosions caused by e-cigarettes from 2009 to 2014.
A checked bag that arrived late at Los Angeles International Airport in January and missed its connecting flight caught fire in the luggage area because of an overheated e-cigarette packed inside.
Passengers can still tote e-cigarettes in their carry-on bags or pockets but they can’t smoke them in the plane.
To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow me on Twitter at @hugomartin.
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