The Australian woman whose headphones ‘exploded’ on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne earlier this year has had her compensation denied by Apple, the manufacturer of the device.
According to CHOICE, the claim was dismissed after an investigation revealed that the source of the explosion was not the headphones themselves but the disposable batteries inside them.
The woman reported waking up on the flight to the sound of an explosion, followed by a burning sensation on her face. “[I] grabbed my face which caused the headphones to go around my neck,” she said in the original complaint, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)
“I continued to feel burning so I grabbed them off and threw them on the floor. They were sparking and had small amounts of fire.”
Though the manufacturer of the headphones were not originally known, they have been confirmed to be an Apple product – specifically a noise-cancelling model by Beats, purchased in 2014 at a duty free store. Apple purchased Beats for $3B in August 2014.
The woman expressed disappointment in the verdict. “The headphones don’t work without batteries, yet nowhere on the headphones – or their packaging – did it specify which brand of batteries should be used,” she says.
Source: CHOICE.
Photo: ATSB.
