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Laptop ban on flights for Middle East nations


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US and UK laptop bans on some Middle East flights come into effect

A ban on laptops and tablets in cabin baggage on flights from Turkey and some countries in the Middle East and North Africa to the US and UK has come into effect.

Officials say devices "larger than a smartphone" must travel in the hold because of an increased risk that they could contain explosives.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39391562

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  • The title was changed to Laptop ban on flights for Middle East nations
 
1 hour ago, Captain Risky said:

US and UK laptop bans on some Middle East flights come into effect

A ban on laptops and tablets in cabin baggage on flights from Turkey and some countries in the Middle East and North Africa to the US and UK has come into effect.

Officials say devices "larger than a smartphone" must travel in the hold because of an increased risk that they could contain explosives.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39391562

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Ive been trying to wrap my brain around this one. Are cargo holds now built to withstand a bomb blast? 

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5 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

Ive been trying to wrap my brain around this one. Are cargo holds now built to withstand a bomb blast? 

I was thinking the same thing. Other than terrorist using it on his lap while seated and pushing the button, what difference does it make?

Edited by .ZZ.
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Forget terrorist bombs, what about the risk of fires from lithium-ion batteries stored in cargo?

From the same article:

No U.S. airline was affected by the U.S. ban because no U.S. airline flies directly to any of the affected airports. The cynical explanation here is that this isn’t a coincidence but is instead meant to help airlines like United, Delta and American — all of which are locked into heavy competition with Middle Eastern carriers like Emirates, Ethiad and Qatar (often called the ME3). The major U.S. airlines argue that the ME3 are competing unfairly because their home countries have subsidized their operations. As any frequent business traveler will tell you, though, airlines like Emirates also tend to offer a far superior product and the geographic location of their hubs in the Middle East also gives them an advantage.

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3 hours ago, .ZZ. said:

I was thinking the same thing. Other than terrorist using it on his lap while seated and pushing the button, what difference does it make?

The article mentions that explosives can be placed inside the laptops and i suspect denoted manually and next to the weakest points on the aircraft (i.e. the windows). Maybe thats the reason they would rather have these devices in the hold, and subjected to greater scrutiny.  

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Many pundits have commented that this ban doesn't make any sense.

At least in the cabin there are fire extinguishers and trained crew to operate them.

Edited by acute
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It's only a guess, but I think that maybe a small amount of extra strengthening of the cargo holding area on such jets has been undertaken.  Remember the shoe bomber?  A small charge pressed against a piece of aluminum that is already under pressure and catastrophic failure is a probable outcome.  Down in the area where the luggage is held, even a thin layer of contiguous kevlar (light/strong) might make all the difference.

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On 3/25/2017 at 6:46 PM, Claire. said:

Forget terrorist bombs, what about the risk of fires from lithium-ion batteries stored in cargo?

From the same article:

No U.S. airline was affected by the U.S. ban because no U.S. airline flies directly to any of the affected airports. The cynical explanation here is that this isn’t a coincidence but is instead meant to help airlines like United, Delta and American — all of which are locked into heavy competition with Middle Eastern carriers like Emirates, Ethiad and Qatar (often called the ME3). The major U.S. airlines argue that the ME3 are competing unfairly because their home countries have subsidized their operations. As any frequent business traveler will tell you, though, airlines like Emirates also tend to offer a far superior product and the geographic location of their hubs in the Middle East also gives them an advantage.

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Yeah, kind of like the wonderful amenities that European nations can offer their citizens since they don't have to have a standing military.

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On ‎3‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 8:05 PM, and then said:

Yeah, kind of like the wonderful amenities that European nations can offer their citizens since they don't have to have a standing military.

I saw this the other day:  http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/16/americas/drone-shot-by-patriot-missile-trnd/index.html

It is pretty much what I find wrong with how we do our military these days.  Doing stuff like this is what will make us lose in the long term and forces us to sacrifice our standard of living here in the US to pay for it. 

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That kind of wastefulness goes back a long way.  I can remember an older buddy who did a 13-month stint in Vietnam saying they used to joke with each other about "let's spend a million" by calling in air or artillery on a whim.  I realize that's not on the same scale but it is part of the same messed up culture.

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