Author: David Daws; Blake Morgan
United Kingdom
The UK government has announced a sweeping cabin ban on laptops and tablets on inbound flights from six countries, following a similar move by the US on Monday.
The British ban affects both domestic and foreign airlines, including British Airways, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air, Royal Jordanian, and others.
The British ban affects direct flights to the United Kingdom from:
- Turkey,
- Lebanon,
- Jordan,
- Egypt,
- Tunisia, and
- Saudi Arabia.
Passengers boarding flights to the UK from the countries affected will not be allowed to take any phones, laptops or tablets larger than a normal smartphone – specified as 16cm x 9.3cm x 1.5cm (6.2in x 3.6in x 0.5in).
Any such devices will need to be placed in hold luggage.
USA
A similar new travel restriction went into effect at 3:00 am EST on Tuesday in the USA barring passengers on foreign airlines coming to the United States from carrying electronic devices larger than a cell phone (the US ban is vaguer in this sense, in that it applies to “anything larger than a smartphone”).
According to Department of Homeland Security, the restricted items that cannot be in carried-on luggage include laptop computers, travel printers, and electronic games bigger than a cell phone.
These items can only be carried in checked baggage.
For flights to the US, the electronic restriction applies only to direct flights on foreign carriers.
The affected airlines are foreign airlines flying from airports in:
- Amman, Jordan;
- Cairo;
- Istanbul;
- Jidda, and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia;
- Kuwait City;
- Casablanca, Morocco;
- Doha, Qatar; and
- Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
It is estimated 50 flights each day into the United States would be affected.
American-operated airlines from the affected airports, as well as aircraft crews are not affected.
