November 01, 2016
An American Airlines flight at Philadelphia International Airport faced a three-hour delay Tuesday afternoon after officials worked to find a "prohibited phone" they believed to be on board.
Flight 2051, bound for Miami, was scheduled to leave Philadelphia at 9:55 a.m. but stood still until it reboarded around 1 p.m.
Victoria Lupica, a PHL spokesperson, said that crews responded to an unconfirmed report after a "hot spot" was detected. Nothing was found.
"With an abundance of caution, the captain wanted to make sure," she said.
Though Lupica couldn't confirm that it was a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that officials were searching for, PHL officials did have Samsung representatives available at the airport in late October to exchange or return the devices before boarding a flight.
The Department of Labor banned the phone from all U.S. airlines after reports came in of the device's battery pack spontaneously catching fire.
Samsung was forced to discontinue the phones two months after their launch because of the explosions.
Passengers who bring the phone on board are subject to up to 10 years in prison and could pay as much as $180,000 in fines.
“We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement when the ban was announced. “We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident in-flight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk.”
The American Airlines flight is scheduled to arrive in Miami around 4 p.m.
