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US Ends Controversial Laptop Ban On Flights From Middle East (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the sense-prevails dept.

The United States has ended a four-month ban on passengers carrying laptops onboard US-bound flights from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa, bringing to an end one of the controversial travel restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump's administration. From a report: Riyadh's King Khalid international airport was the last of 10 airports to be exempted from the ban, the US department of homeland security (DHS) confirmed in a tweet late on Wednesday local time. Middle East carriers have blamed Trump's travel restrictions, which include banning citizens of some Muslim-majority countries from visiting the United States, for a downturn in demand on US routes. In March, the United States banned large electronics in cabins on flights from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa over concerns that explosives could be concealed in the devices taken onboard aircraft. The ban has been lifted on the nine airlines affected -- Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Royal Jordanian , Kuwait Airways, EgyptAir and Royal Air Maroc -- which are the only carriers to fly direct to the US from the region. A ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority countries -- Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, -- remains in place, though has been limited after several US court hearings challenged the restrictions.

3 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. changing airports or airlines? by unixisc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How? The original concern was that these airports/airlines were doing an inadequate job in screening potentially explodable materials, and so had this put in place. If someone flying from Riyadh to Dulles decided to change airlines & airports at, say, Brussels, wouldn't the Belgians already be managing that differently?

  2. Re:Has the short lived ban been consequential at a by cayenne8 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yes, the travel from muslim countries is now just a fraction of it used to be and it will stay that way, since nobody wants to run the risk of buying a plane ticket, booking a holiday and getting a visa, just to have entry refused at the last moment.

    And this has affected life in the US exactly how??

    Hmm....so far, it looks like we haven't missed them any.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  3. Re:Didn't think the laptop ban was controversial by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Trump's temporary ban on immigration from certain muslim countries is controversial because it isn't based on specific intel.

    Christians from those areas were exempt, and the people pushing the proposal were straight up calling it a muslim ban. So it's controversial not just because it's complete nonsense (AKA not based on specific intel) but also because it's outright promoting one religion and discriminating against another. A double whammy violation of the establishment clause, pandering specifically to christian islamophobes.