Originally Posted by
itsMoe
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The line had to be drawn somewhere. Phones are lightweight, laptops are (mostly) heavy, and the tablet is somewhere in between. I'm glad that the line was drawn so that tablets are allowed, as opposed to banning everything except for phones.
Also, this rule has been around for a while now. Back then, most laptops were clearly larger than tablets. Not too many tablets came with keyboards unless you specifically bought one.
These days, there are laptops that are lighter than some tablets. We have tablets with keyboards and the line between laptop and tablets have become blurred which ofcourse creates this issue. Plus if you go by weight, I'm sure there are many books that are heavier than tablets and laptops these days.
I'm sure the FAA and airlines will get around to updating their rules to match the times in a few decades.
The rule I really don't understand is why chargers have to be unplugged. Relatively speaking these are far lighter and pose less of an obstruction if any at all. But that's probably a debate for another thread