New Ban to be announced Tues: Forbids any device larger than cellphone on airlines from 13 countries

Lipos can only be carried on and not put in baggage because there is chance they can catch on fire. Now they are doing the opposite for some airlines. United, Delta, and American are terrible. Who actually wants to fly them?

 

Watch this order get retracted after the next visit by a Qatari, Jordanian or Emirati royal.

 

...to a Trump-owned property

 

....and my United Airlines (UAL) buy order just went in.

 

I'm not upset about this on face value given that there's examples of weaponized laptops on flights (Mogadishu to Djibouti last year), but an anti-competitive angle doesn't seem far-fetched. Security at some of these airports is laughable (thinking of stories I've heard from family about Alexandria and Istanbul in particular) which is why I think a blanket ban is another example of ham-fisted messaging from this administration. I've felt more "secure" leaving Dubai and Abu Dhabi than I have some American airports.

 

I thought initially it was flights that originated from those countries, but you're saying it's the airlines that are targeted? If it was the former, I'd have no problem with it. If it's particular airlines, it sounds like un-Republican picking winners and losers in private industry.

 

No US airlines fly directly to/from those cities. United used to fly between DC and Dubai, Kuwait City, etc., but they were forced out of business by Emirates superior service.

 

No joke - Abu Dhabi airport even has a US pre-clearance facility AT their airport, meaning you clear US Customs at the Abu Dhabi airport before even boarding your US-bound flight.

 

Can someone elaborate on the technical merit of this? What the **** can't I do on a smartphone that I can do on a tablet?

In fact, smartphones are often more capable because they all have cell radios and many tablets don't.

 

I doubt it has anything to do with the specific Emirates flight. Emirates already has a fifth freedom route (New York - Milan) and they've been flying it for a while now. If Trump really cared about that specific flight, he couldve had the DOT suspend Emirates's application for the fifth freedom route. However, this does seem to be a broader attack on middle eastern carriers. Abu Dhabi (which is also targeted in this rule) even has a US preclearance facility. So you literally clear customs and immigration there but you still have to check your laptop and tablet.

This is just another dumb Steve Bannon/Stephen Miller policy designed to somehow stick it to Middle Eastern airlines. I work in the airline industry. This policy is beyond dumb. The screening process for carry ons is much more thorough than the screening process for checked baggage. Furthermore, IATA (the airline trade industry body) has always stated that electronic items in checked baggage always represents a more significant threat to a plane. Plus most of the airports targeted actually have more stringent airport security processes than the US. For example, in Istanbul, you clear security 3 times (including once where they physically verify that you turn on your laptop). There's no actual logic behind this other than to damage the Middle Eastern carriers.

From an airline economics standpoint. This will kill first/business class sales for ME3 airlines. No business traveler is going to check in a laptop. Electronics theft is a real issue in other countries. Those travelers choose another airline if that avoids this rule. And the front of your plane pretty much determines whether a flight is profitable. This is absolutely insane policy.

 

There's no technical merit. This is a straight and transparent attack on Middle Eastern airlines.

 

You folks have me dreading my flight from Austin to Cairo, and later from Copenhagen to Austin in May. sighhh

 

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Hence, I loaded the boat with UAL shares today.

 

I thought so. Even laptops are almost pointless in relevance to this ban. A rooted Android device can do almost anything a modern x86 based laptop can do besides run specefic windows applications. Like ya, I can't do my solidworks and Matlab hw on a smartphone but I don't see how that prevents terrorism.

 

Bigger device causing bigger damage. If you allow it on carried baggage, what's the point?

I'm surprise that no one yet have thought of a way to turn large electronic device into a major potential danger. It essentially got all the ingredient to self wake and explode... and all of that can be hidden. Just think battery caught on fire. If they know how to initiate that, they essentially got a fire generating device on board.

 

I have a direct flight from Dubai to DC in June.

****

 

I flew between Doha and the US about 40 times in 2016 (20 roundtrips). Glad I'm not doing that this year.

 

So Britain just did the same... must be security, or if not , just foolishly following in step

 

Yeah, except the only 3 airports that the UK left off their list were Dubai (Emirates hub), Doha (Qatar Airways hub), and Abu Dhabi (Etihad hub).