The US and UK sepparately announced today an Electronics Ban that will forbid people from carrying some electronic devices on flights from certain countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Turkey.
US Electronics Ban
United States was the first to issue its ban this morning. The ban applies to 10 airports located in eight countries in the Middle East & Africa. passengers on affected flights will have to check any laptops, Kindles, iPads or similar devices. basically anything other than a cell phone.
The routes affected are direct flights to the U.S. from:
- Amman in Jordan
- Cairo in Egypt
- Istanbul in Turkey
- Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia
- Kuwait City in Kuwait
- Doha in Qatar
- Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates
- Casablanca in Morocco
The airlines that fly from these airports to the U.S. are:
- Royal Jordanian
- Egypt Air
- Turkish Airlines
- Saudia
- Kuwait Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Emirates
- Etihad
- Royal Air Maroc
Around 50 flights a day will be covered by the new restrictions. According to a number of media reports, a ‘confidential’ memo was sent by the US Transportation Security Administration to the affected airlines on March 20. The new policy took effect at 3 a.m. E.D.T. on Tuesday, and must be followed within 96 hours.
UK Electronics Ban
Just hours after the US ban was made official, UK announced a similar ban. The UK ban includes laptops, tablets and phones which are larger than a typical smartphone, measuring 16cm by 9.3cm by 1.5cm. These devices will now have to be checked into the plane’s hold. An iPhone 7 Plus can still be carried on board.
This ban affects direct inbound flights from the following countries:
- Turkey
- Lebanon
- Jordan
- Egypt
- Tunisia
- Saudi Arabia.
UK airlines operating direct flights which will be affected are:
- British Airways
- easyJet
- Jet2.com
- Monarch
- Thomas Cook and Thomson
Plus the following airlines from other countries:
- Turkish Airlines
- Pegasus Airways
- Atlas-Global Airlines
- Middle East Airlines
- EgyptAir
- Royal Jordanian
- Tunis Air
- Saudia.
Guru’s Wrap-Up
The fact that both countries issued similar bans on electronics, tell me that there’s definitely some trustworthy information out there that these devices pause a risk if carried on board. However, these bans will surely impact passenger’s experience since some of these are very long flights. It could affect travel plans for many, who could chose different routes with different carriers.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
