Just been turned down by Raru - apparently the new rule of air freight - can't fly lithium batteries, or any device containing lithium batteries... this has got to have a major impact on cellular market in SA
Been like this with DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc for years already. It used to be that you could still airfreight batteries within a device but this seems to be changing now too.
Wow, first time that I hear about that... I fail to see the difference in safety risk between a cellphone in my pocket in the cabin, and the one bubblewrapped in the hold... there again, those guys are not exactly famous for their logic...
I'm probably speaking straight out of my arse but I think the cargo hold isn't pressurized like the cabin is. I don't know if it has an effect on the batteries but was the first thing that came to mind.