I am all for security measures being adopted to keep passengers and crew safe, but I have to confess to questioning the recent introduction of a cabin ban on laptops and tablets - only on particular aircraft and carriers for flights arriving into the US and the UK from the Middle East, Egypt and Turkey :-
Into US : Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait + UAE
Into UK : Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey
Airlines affected such as Qatar, Emirates, Etihad and Turkish Airlines have been quick to find solutions for their passengers, some being given laptops to use in-flight or introducing airport special delivery systems where the device is stored separately during the flight and returned afterwards.
But how can laptops and tablets be secure in the cabin on some flights, but not on others including flights departing from the same airport? Airport security is performed independently of the Airline involved - the risks are the same for every carrier and passenger, so how come the ban has been applied to some airlines and not to others?
For instance, if you are flying from Istanbul to London, you would have to put your laptop/portable device through the new system, but if you travelled from Istanbul to Frankfurt, with say Turkish Airlines and then took a flight from Frankfurt to the UK, you would not have the same process to go through. Seems crazy. Even IATA have issued a statement outlining the glaring inconsistencies in this new policy, which has been introduced and enforced by the US and UK governments only on certain destinations and carriers.
If we are confused - what about the passenger?
We need a common policy which is easily understood by us all!
