US Bans Laptops, iPads, 'Anything Bigger Than A Cellphone' On Flights From 8 Countries

Zero Hedge ^ | 03/21/2017

[SeekAndFind]

Passengers on foreign airlines headed to the U.S. from 10 airports in eight majority-Muslim countries will have to check electronic devices larger than a cell phone - including laptops, tablets, cameras, travel printers - under new Homeland Security flight restrictions that took effect this morning. As Axios notes, an unnamed U.S. official told CNN the ban was related to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and that some information came from the recent U.S. special forces raid in Yemen.

The list of airports affected: Amman, Jordan; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

*  *  *

As we detailed overnight...

As The Hill reports, Royal Jordanian posted on Twitter Monday that “following instructions from the concerned U.S. departments, we kindly inform our dearest passengers departing to and arriving from the United States that carrying any electronic or electrical device on board the flight cabins is strictly prohibited."

The ban does not apply to cell phones or medical devices, but does include laptops, tablets, electronic games and cameras. Those items can be stowed in checked baggage, however.

The Guardian notes that Saudi Arabia’s Saudia Airlines and Royal Jordanian airlines are among the affected countries; the full list has not been revealed to the affected airlines themselves.

The email – described as a “circular” – is not a public regulation, but airlines will be expected to enforce the new rule. Airlines were issued the circular on Monday and given 96 hours to comply.

 

The circular does not address electronic flight bags (EFBs), which allow flight crews to display diagrams mapping flight patterns, maps of airports and other digital documentation, usually on an iPad.

 

The lack of specificity leaves airlines in the dark as to whether their employees will be cited or otherwise punished for performing the vital functions of aircraft crew as usual.

Compliance has been swift: “Effective March 21st, the carriage of electronic and electrical devices inbound to the USA shall only be inbound in checked baggage except for mobile and medical devices,” according to a reservation agent at one of the affected airlines.

Royal Jordanian airlines tweeted a reference to the restrictions, referring cryptically to “concerned US departments”.

It was suggested that Royal Jordanian disobeyed the circular in part by making its existence known. (NOTE: The tweet has been deleted since The Guardian reported it.)

Saudi Airlines, however, just tweeted and confirmed the ban..

Makes you wonder...

@zerohedge Somewhere in Hawaii a judge is declaring that having a laptop in your carry-on is a universal human right.

— El Diablo Blanco (@MercutioProzac) March 20, 2017

[sickoflibs]

No lawsuits?

Then Trump should do more of this.

[keving]

Federal Judges are putting on the order. Restriction of commercial clause. News pending.

[sickoflibs]

Why let them bring any in at all?

I thought Trump wants to ban these people.

[txrefugee]

Wonder if the Soros Socialists will be blocking the airports on this news. Probably not, because even those mental midgets don’t want to be on planes with terrorists from these countries. Leftists don’t have to be consistent. They just have to be loud.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

US Bans Laptops, iPads, 'Anything Bigger Than A Cellphone' On Flights From 8 Countries

I'm certain liberal state attorney generals will be filing lawsuits to block implementation any minute now.

[Daniel Ramsey]

And these devices should be in blast proof containers.

Its about darn time we stood up and laid down the rules!
Too many years of weak and stupid calling the shots and the dumbnut followers.

POTUS has just spoken, its now THE LAW!

[Steve_Seattle]

They’ll need to monitor flights from those eight countries to other countries, which are then immediately followed by attempted bookings to the US.

[RayChuang88]

Anyone who's seen MythBusters knows how much damage even a very small amount of plastic or "det cord" explosive can do, especially in a pressurized airplane cabin (pressure differential between inside and outside plus explosive effects could result in a pretty big fuselage hole). That's why they're temporarily banning larger electronic devices from these airports until they improve the screen process to find these explosives on larger electronic devices. I expect the ban to be lifted from airports in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai once TSA gets assurances the screening process is properly done.

[Defiant]

It may not be because of explosives. It may be because with laptops in checked luggage, they can be inspected and copied without the visitor knowing that it has been done.

[Alberta's Child]

Right. The next step is to ban passengers from all those passenger flights from those ten airports.

[Gaffer]

Anything that keeps these Muslims out of constant contact with social media the better in my book.

[SFConservative]

There we go again, discriminating against peace-loving Muslims who just want to edit their Facebook page while in flight. No doubt a Federal District Judge in San Francisco will put a quick halt to this hateful act of religious discrimination, this Muslim Laptop Ban.

[Little Ray]

It may not be because of explosives. It may be because with laptops in checked luggage, they can be inspected and copied without the visitor knowing that it has been done.

You wins the Internet!

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Right. The next step is to ban passengers from all those passenger flights from those ten airports.”

Is that different than what he already failed at twice?

[discostu]

Of course you can still have them in checked baggage so this doesn’t actually accomplish anything.

[Alberta's Child]

I was being facetious.

The short-term objective here is to make it such a pain in the ass to fly from these airports that people stop flying from them to the U.S. entirely.

[RayChuang88]

Actually, it's safer to have it in checked luggage. Why? Because modern LD2 and LD3 containers used since the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing are designed to hold its structural integrity even when a bomb goes off, and as such, the plane could safely make an emergency landing.

[pfflier]

Injunction from Hawaiian judge in 5...4...3...

[Uncle Miltie]

What, I can’t replace the Lithium Ion with C5?