The ban on electronic devices carried onboard flights to the U.S. and U.K. from select African and Middle Eastern countries has been anything but uncontroversial. Travellers on these websites as InsideFlyer and FlyerTalk have voiced skepticism as to both its efficacy and the ban’s underlying motives while the response in the amount of associations and companies has been muted.
In the last week, flyers’ voices were linked with all the pioneers of two established air-travel associations, the Airline Passenger Experience Organization (APEX) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In a news release issued on March 24, APEX argues that the ban is both unnecessary and ineffective. There arealso, according to the statement, systems in place for viewing carry-on devices: “Chemical detection machines used worldwide can detect illegal items in electronics. Turning on non-functioning electronics and electronics checks performance could be prohibited from flights. The cost of hand-searching every carry-on for the private electronics ban could instead be directed to some long-term solution which serves airline passengers and security.”
And, as has been pointed out elsewhere, APEX reiterated that would-be terrorists can easily circumvent the ban from flying to the U.S. or U.K. via connecting flights, rather than the non-stops targeted at the ban.
IATA’s statement on the ban, published yesterday, makes a number of the Very Same points, and criticizes the ban as “not acceptable”:
Good questions all, followed by an exhortation that rings more true: “We should find a better way.”
Reader Reality Check
What’s your take on the electronics prohibit?