Oliver Haslam on October 15, 2016, 5:51 am

Carrying A Galaxy Note 7 On A Flight Could Now Get You Arrested Or Fined

Anyone who tries to take a Galaxy Note 7 onto a flight in the United States could find themselves in very hot water indeed, after the device was officially banned from airplanes over the country’s airspace.

Urging owners of the now infamously temperamental devices to contact their carriers and have the smartphones exchanged/refunded, the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration have issued a blanket ban on the devices going anywhere near something that can fly, and that includes transportation of the devices themselves. Samsung was already keen to avoid the Galaxy Note 7 being transported via the air when being recalled, and now the United States government has stepped in to ensure that doesn’t happen.

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This isn’t the first time the Note 7 has been deemed unsafe for air travel, with the FAA issuing an official warning in September against bringing or using the phone on flights. Samsung, for its part, is still repeating that it wants everyone with a Galaxy Note 7 to hand it in, if anything, for their own safety.

Any Galaxy Note 7 owner should visit their carrier and retail store to participate in the U.S. Note 7 refund and exchange program now. We realize this is an inconvenience but your safety has to remain our top priority.

Samsung is in the midst of its second and final full recall of the Galaxy Note 7, which only went on sale this past August. With Samsung now confirming that the device has been killed by the company for good, all eyes are now on what the company will do next. It remains to be seen whether the whole situation has damaged Samsung long-term, or indeed whether any phone bearing the Galaxy Note moniker will be allowed to succeed in the future.

Samsung has some hard decisions to make in the coming weeks and months, not least about what to do with over two million smartphones.