The FAA is banning some MacBook Pros from flights—here’s why

The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that it is banning select MacBook Pros from flights in the U.S., reports Bloomberg. The MacBook Pros banned on flights include 15-inch models sold between September 2015 and February 2017. The reason for this is that these laptops contain batteries that could overheat and cause an explosion or fire.

Back in June, Apple announced a voluntary recall of the laptops so they could replace the batteries in them free of charge. At the time, Apple said:

Apple today announced a voluntary recall of a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units which contain a battery that may overheat and pose a safety risk. The units were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017 and can be identified by their product serial number. The recall does not affect any other 15-inch MacBook Pro units or other Mac notebooks.

The recall affects about 432,000 MacBook Pros that were sold in the U.S. and around 26,000 units sold in Canada. It’s unknown how many units in other regions of the world are affected. The good news for owners of these MacBooks is that once you get the battery swapped out by Apple, the FAA will allow you to take your laptop on planes again.

But until then, if you’ve got one of the affected MacBook Pros, leave it at home before you go to the airport—because it’s not getting on the plane with you, either in the cabin or in the cargo hold. To see if your MacBook Pro is subject to the recall and FAA ban, you’ll need to find your MacBook’s serial number first and then check if it’s part of the recall. Here’s our guide to doing that.