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Trump Bans Laptops on Flights from Friendly Muslim Nations

In more security theater, the Trump Administration has ordered airlines flying from eight relatively friendly Muslim countries to ban passengers from bringing any electronic devices larger than a smartphone into the plane’s cabin. Folks flying from Amman, Kuwait City, Cairo, Istanbul, Jeddah, Riyadh, Casablanca, Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi will have to trust their laptops to the baggage handlers.

Arbitrarily stopping folks from working on their computers on the way to the U.S. on just 50 incoming flights out of some 4,000-plus international flights a day won’t substantively increase our security:

The steps are likely to have limited success in curbing the terrorist threat since people will still be able to fly from the Middle East via hubs such as Frankfurt, where there are no limits on in-cabin devices, to target U.S. services, said Mark Martin, an aviation consultant in Dubai. “When it comes to aviation, there’s a very thin line between paranoia and precaution,” he added [Deena Kamel and Michael Sasso, “Mideast Airlines Braced for Trump Ban on Electronic Devices,” Bloomberg, 2017.03.21].

Requiring passengers to check their laptops won’t stop the clever bomb-maker from rigging a laptop to explode on remote signal from a phone. If anything, the cabin-electronics ban will increase the risk of theft and plane wrecks:

Another aviation-security expert, Jeffrey Price, said there could be downsides to the policy.

“There would be a huge disadvantage to having everyone put their electronics in checked baggage,” said Price, a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He said thefts from baggage would skyrocket, as when Britain tried a similar ban in 2006, and some laptops have batteries that can catch fire — an event easier to detect in the cabin than the hold [Alicia A. Caldwell and David Koenig, “US Bars Electronic Carry-ons from Mideast, N. Africa Flights,” AP, 2017.03.21].

Chalk another failed policy up to the Trump Administration.

5 Comments

  1. Joe Nelson 2017-03-21 18:19

    Meh. Most security procedures, when it comes to flight travel, are nothing more than a security blanket. I swear there is a specific term for it, but I do not remember, where a security policy is implemented just to make people feel better and make it look like something is being done by the authorities. The TSA historically fails when its policies are actually tested (even the policies that make sense): http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/politics/tsa-failed-undercover-airport-screening-tests/

  2. Richard Schriever 2017-03-21 22:21

    Yeah, if I can control my home’s thermostat from Mexico using a telephone……….

  3. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-03-23 10:02

    “Security theater,” Joe?

    I wonder if the motivation for this laptop ban is less security and more crony capitalism. Remember how last month Trump met with airline CEOs? Those CEOs complain that airlines from Arab countries are heavily subsidized by their governments, creating unfair competition. Banning laptops on flights from the above-listed countries will drive businesspeople from those airlines to U.S. airlines departing from other airports, because they don’t want to spend a whole workday in the air not able to work on their computers.

  4. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-03-23 10:05

    See this report from Marketplace Tuesday:

    Hobica thinks many travelers from the countries included in the ban will change their routes to connect in Europe.

    “I’m sure that the CEOs of Delta, American and United are jumping in the aisles right now,” he said.

    For years, U.S. carriers have complained loudly about the subsidies Middle Eastern competitors get from their governments. Samuel Engel, who runs the aviation group at the consulting firm ICF, said over the last decade, long-haul routes from the Middle East to the U.S. have increased dramatically.

    “What they’ve really been affecting is the traffic that previously used to connect over Europe and also the traffic going between the U.S. and other points in Asia,” Engel said.

    Engel said the device ban could potentially tip the competitive balance a bit [Reema Khrais, “The Latest Travel Ban Targets Electronic Devices,” Marketplace.org, 2017.03.21].

    Security theater for profit?

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