Laptop ban on flights: Rules explained for flying out of the UK with tablets and phones

Talks between Europe and the US have quashed a proposal for the electronic device ban to be extended. 

The US was considering enforcing its electronic device ban on inbound flights from Europe, including the UK

But after a meeting between officials from the US Department of Homeland Security and the European Union in Brussels, the proposal was put on hold. 

Instead there was a promise of more talks and improved intelligence sharing, with an agreement to meet in Washington next week. 

In a joint statement, the two parties said they would “further assess shared risks and solutions for protecting airline passengers, whilst ensuring the smooth functioning of global air travel”. 

The US has already enforced a ban on laptops, tablets and other electronic devices larger than a mobile phone for flights from 10 countries in the Middle East.

It prompted the UK to follow suit with its own ban which includes popular holiday destination Turkey

But after the US proposed widening its ban to include Europe, the airline industry argued strongly against it. 

Some 65 million people travel between Europe and North America each year, with almost 400 daily flights. 

Many of these passengers are business travellers who rely on their electronic devices to work throughout their journey.

As it stands, if you’re flying to the US directly from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, your electronic devices are banned from the cabin. 

The UK’s ban applies to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. 

Instead passengers have to check their laptops into the hold or refrain from travelling with them at all. 

The ban was enforced in response to anti-terror intelligence, which suggested terrorists could disguise bombs as electric devices on planes. 

Australia has implemented extra security checks at Middle Eastern airports but is yet to enforce a ban of its own. 

The laptop ban has already caused a significant impact on the aviation industry. 

Last month Dubai-based Emirates Airline announced it would cut flight services to the US because of the new rules. 

The carrier cited a sizeable drop in demand for travel to the US. 

An Emirates spokesperson said: “Over the past three months, we have seen a significant deterioration in the booking profiles on all our US routes, across all travel segments.”

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Daily Express :: Travel Feed

Post Author: martin

Martin is an enthusiastic programmer, a webdeveloper and a young entrepreneur. He is intereted into computers for a long time. In the age of 10 he has programmed his first website and since then he has been working on web technologies until now. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BriefNews.eu and PCHealthBoost.info Online Magazines. His colleagues appreciate him as a passionate workhorse, a fan of new technologies, an eternal optimist and a dreamer, but especially the soul of the team for whom he can do anything in the world.

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