An iPhone got trapped in Club Class Business seat and started smoking, we were approaching the Artic Circle and as the phone could not be removed from the seat the Captain was concerned it could become a fire, so we made a 1.5 detour to Anchorage where US Immigration would not allow us to deplane, and as the crew would not have enough hours to reach LHR after being 2 hours on the ground whilst the phone was removed were sent to Toronto and I transferred to the 18.30 to LHR. It was a very long day!
Would it not be beyond BA, in this case, but to ALL the airlines to make a re-design of the seating to block access/ingress of our mini-computers ? It just seems that in the last few years the number of such incidents both similar or lesser have occurred the world over. I appreciate that these Business and First seats are both expensive and complex, but there must be a relatively simple retrofit solution that would allow full function of the seat whilst preventing smartphone incidents.