flyzabit

Did anyone notice early last year when the US3, while whining about competition from ME3, started cancelling their flight service to/from DXB, DOH, KWI, BAH, etc? No direct service from a majority Muslim country except IST (pre-coup attempt) since? How about code-sharing partners? This does have the appearance of an extension...

New Cancun / island hub for ME3 as a suggestion, anyone?

Sounds like certain airport gift shops may stock up on sudoku/crossword books, notepads and dictaphones, or magnetic chess/checkers/backgammon sets and stuffed animals.
Seatback entertainment upgrades? -- My latest 14-hour international flight in older US3 equipment had open iPads, movie players, laptops, and iphones on in almost all seats - adult or child - since there was no seatback entertainment system.

sdsearch

I heard an interview on the radio yesterday where someone familiar with airline technology said that the baggage area on most planes (used for such long-haul flights, at least) is much more able to sustain and isolate a comparable explosion (of the size excepted from a device fitting into somehting like a laptop) than the cabin is, and that's why it's safer to put the same items in checked bags.

Your assumption (that moving the bag to the checked baggage part of the plane just moved the problem there) seems to be based on an assumption that an explosion in any part of the plane produces the exact same effect as an explosion in another part of the plane. Apparently that's incorrect assumption.

How much have you studied the designs of all parts of long-haul planes?

sdsearch

You seem to basing this on the fact that the US ailrines want to obsruct the 3 mega Middle East carriers.

But how does that explain why the UK is doing much the same electronics ban? Is BA just as much against the 3 mega Middle East carriers as the US carriers are? Doesn't BA, in fact, have investments from one of those 3 (which isn't the case for any of the US carriers)?

Any argument about what this is really about has to fit the facts, which includes that the UK has done a similar ban, plus that the US included many other carriers such as Turkish which no US airline has complained about that I know of.

36902BRF

The UK ban has effectively no impact on ME3 carriers. Doha/Dubai/Abu Dhabi are not included in the UK ban neither are Kuwait City/Casablanca.

BA Humbug

Airlines could stand to benefit a lot from this -- Easyjet, BA, Ryanair, and many other airlines charge for checked baggage. It would be in their best interest (aside from compliance with government-mandated law) to enforce the most stringent interpretation of this directive.

techie

Monarch said that they will increase the max weight of their allowed luggage by 3kg at no charge to compensate for the fact that people would be asked to check certain electronic devices. How other airlines handle it remains to be seen.

segacs

There seems to be a lot of talk about the implications of not having entertainment on board. To me, though, that's a minor issue compared to the far greater hassles that this will cause:

*People won't be able to take their laptops past security to use in lounges, at the gate, or indeed, anywhere at the airport.

*People won't have their laptops, cameras or devices on stopovers when bags have been checked through to final destination. So, for instance, on my 20-hour Istanbul stopover last November, when I went into the city to sightsee, I wouldn't have had my camera if this rule were in place.

*Business travellers (or any travellers) who travel light / carry-on only won't be able to have any laptops or devices bigger than a phone AT ALL. Not unless they're willing to take a second bag with them expressly to check in these items.

*Already plenty mentioned, but worth reiterating: Loss, theft or breakage of expensive and sensitive equipment is going to skyrocket.

*Not to mention, most travel conventions limit the liability of an airline in the case of lost or damaged baggage to an absurdly low dollar figure, which won't extend to cover the replacement cost of electronics if a bag goes missing or gets delayed.

*Some electronic devices, like spare USB batteries / chargers, can't go in the cargo hold for safety reasons. This would effectively prohibit them from travelling at all.

The only feasible solution I could see for airlines to comply with this would be a sort of valet gate-check service for electronic devices, where you check them when you board and get them back when you disembark. However, I can't see how this possibly has any security benefit, since it would mean having to hand-search every passenger at the gate when they board, rather than at the expressly set up security checkpoints designed to do just that.

Basically, this is a cluster***k,

airsurfer

Well there can be a loophole.

Imagine a (fictional) flight CPT-DXB-LAX.

Checkin at CPT for EK771: You drop your bags and the clerk will tell you that you should check in laptops, etc. You ignore that an keep in in the carry-on.
Then go to security where they check the boarding pass to be allowed into the security and they don't check the final destination. Then toy will be lined up and after a wait in the line the actual X-ray takes place. Everything is OK, including laptops as they don't know where you are going to.
The CPT-DXB leg it is still legal to take a laptop.

In DXB: You enter the big terminal building and go to security. The boarding pass for EK215 to LAX is checked for access to security only, then you will be in an (long) line. After that the actual X-ray checking takes place, the guys have no idea what your destination is so the laptop is OK.
Go on to the plane and voilà, enjoy the 16 hour flight to LAX with the laptop.

To prevent this, all security staff worldwide should be instructed to check the final destination at every security check X-ray tunnel itself, which will generate for more hassle, extra costs for airports and airlines.

kq747

As it currently stands this would work but the deadline to comply is probably to put in place measures to check the passengers prior to boarding i.e. x-ray/bag searches when entering the gate area which already happens to SSSS'd passengers in DXB but just extend it to all passengers.

GUWonder

The UK ban is materially different than the US ban. The UK is allowing more electronics than the US is allowing. The list of countries blacklisted is also different. The deadline for ban enforcement is also different for the UK than for the US.

The UK ban does not apply to the ME3. The US ban does apply to the ME3.

The differences in the bans make it such that I can more easily use the ME3 to go to London than to use them to go to the US.

FliesWay2Much

Wow - This will result in a gigantic increase in the "re-sale" market for IT equipment.

Tisbutascratch

In the case of the UK there's a dozen or so airlines affected not just BA and more airports than those you name

vg247

@ kmersh, thanks so much for the additional details and information for FedEx.
- do you happen to know if your brother insured the shipment contents and for what insured amount if he did?

I am staying at the Grosvenor in the Marina district and will also try to ask them for any feedback they may have.

Please do share with us any additional information you may find out if you hear back more.

Sigwx

Yes you are correct. My comment has been merged into this thread from a BAEC thread on this forum.

oh_lol

I literally bought noise cancelling headphones hours before news of this broke out.

Going to suck if they cannot be bought on board with me.