Update | Samsung sets up booth to swap Note 7 smartphones at major US airports

Samsung Electronics is letting travellers exchange their Note 7 smartphones at special booths set up at America’s busiest airports.

The programme is part of Samsung’s worldwide effort to recall millions of Galaxy Note 7 phones, which are prone to catching fire and exploding. Customers can exchange the phones or get a full refund, a company representative said in a statement. Samsung didn’t specify which US airports or how many would be part of the exchange programme.

Regulators have banned the model from carry-on and checked baggage on all US flights and last week said passengers who try to carry Note 7 smartphones onto planes will have them confiscated and may face fines. Samsung is urging customers to get the refunds or exchange the phones before arriving at the airport.

After aviation agencies around the world banned the phone, Samsung has had to “scramble to figure out how to do the recall effectively and on a global basis -- it’s handled differently in different regions based on laws and customs and regulations and such,” said Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen, who has been following the recall crisis. “There’s no other benchmark in the industry for how to handle something like this. This is basically emergency reverse logistics.”

American Airlines will take any Note 7 phones discovered at airports and follow existing procedures for any hazardous material. The devices will be held for 30 days, during which the owner can claim them.