BA Handling of laptop/tablet ban
#76
Join Date: May 2012
Location: London, UK
Programs: A3 Gold
Posts: 158
If the security (on Egyptair flights) at CAI is good enough to lift the US ban, I wonder what the hold up is in the UK also lifting the ban. Clearly the UK needs to needs to verify for itself, but given the UK ban was very much driven by the US ban it seems strange we need a significant wait before the ban is lifted.
#77
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 750
That, my friend, is an excellent question. I always thought governments and/or airport authorities (often the same) are responsible for security. It seems, however, that the UK government wants individual airlines to assume this role at boarding gate level.
#78
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 750
If the security (on Egyptair flights) at CAI is good enough to lift the US ban, I wonder what the hold up is in the UK also lifting the ban. Clearly the UK needs to needs to verify for itself, but given the UK ban was very much driven by the US ban it seems strange we need a significant wait before the ban is lifted.
#79
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If they don't trust those authorities, it is an easy alternative to push it to the airlines instead.
#80
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 750
Well, they trust TK and RJ enough to lift the ban on them--and they are both run by the same governments in charge of security at AMM and IST, from where BA still isn't allowed cabin electronics...
#84
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That's only out of Turkey as far as i can see. They're still encouraging pax to check as much as they can ex-Egypt, too, beyond the electronics banned from the cabin.
#86
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Brexile in ADB
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Egyptair have announced the laptop ban on their flights to the UK have been lifted:
https://twitter.com/EGYPTAIR/status/903697328384745472
https://twitter.com/EGYPTAIR/status/903697328384745472
#87
Join Date: May 2012
Location: London, UK
Programs: A3 Gold
Posts: 158
Anyone have an idea of the bigger picture here? Why are some carriers (Turkish Airlines, Egyptair and tourist charters such as Thomas Cook, etc) able to implement whatever is required to avoid the UK ban, whereas BA seem unable/unwilling to do the same? Is it down to money (i.e. some carriers are willing to pay extra security charges, while BA is not) or something else?
#89
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Brexile in ADB
Programs: BA, TK, HHonours, Le Club, Best Western Rewards
Posts: 7,067
Anyone have an idea of the bigger picture here? Why are some carriers (Turkish Airlines, Egyptair and tourist charters such as Thomas Cook, etc) able to implement whatever is required to avoid the UK ban, whereas BA seem unable/unwilling to do the same? Is it down to money (i.e. some carriers are willing to pay extra security charges, while BA is not) or something else?
For TK they are flying 13 flights a day to the UK with a mix of aircraft including two flights on 777s so they were always going to take it more seriously than BA who do two flights a day (three in the summer if they can be bothered).
I was also told that BA was going to have a check at IST by HMG to see if the ban could be lifted, it would seem that they failed.
#90
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: South East, UK
Programs: BA Gold / GfL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,432
I see that the UK Government advice was updated a few days ago:
"Large phones, laptops and tablets now allowed in the cabin on the majority of flights to the UK from Turkey and Tunisia."
They then advise: "The vast majority of carriers operating out of Turkish airports are no longer subject to these restrictions. However, passengers should contact their airlines for advice about whether their flights are affected."
It seems that BA is still one of the exceptions
I would guess that most regular business travellers using BA to IST will have by now switched over to Turkish. I appreciate BA don't have a large number of flights to IST, but is this really the best they can do?
"Large phones, laptops and tablets now allowed in the cabin on the majority of flights to the UK from Turkey and Tunisia."
They then advise: "The vast majority of carriers operating out of Turkish airports are no longer subject to these restrictions. However, passengers should contact their airlines for advice about whether their flights are affected."
It seems that BA is still one of the exceptions
I would guess that most regular business travellers using BA to IST will have by now switched over to Turkish. I appreciate BA don't have a large number of flights to IST, but is this really the best they can do?