My laptop battery gave out mid-flight - here's what happened

Honestly, I was flying from Dallas to Chicago last Tuesday and my laptop battery just swelled up and died. The screen started bulging and I panicked a little. I had to power it down and pray it didn't catch fire until we landed. After that, I replaced the battery myself with a $40 kit from Amazon and backed up everything to a cloud drive. Has anyone else had a battery fail on them during a trip?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannah_wells14d ago

Calm down, it's a laptop battery not a bomb. Planes have strict fire safety protocols, so you were probably fine the whole time. Swollen batteries happen and they're annoying, but acting like you survived a plane crash is a little dramatic.

singh.harper13d ago

Honestly, did you check if your battery was from a recall batch before you swapped it? I had a swollen battery on a work trip two years ago and the airline let me store it in a fireproof bag in the galley - might be worth asking next time. Folks saying it's no big deal haven't had to explain a bulging laptop to a flight attendant, trust me.

xena58213d ago

Wait, did the airline really let you do that? That's actually good to know, I always thought they'd just make you toss it or something. I had a puffed battery once and the whole experience was so awkward, so I feel your pain on having to explain it to staff like that. For real though, people who haven't dealt with it don't get how sketchy a swollen battery feels, even if it's probably fine.