US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Independent (that is anything but...)

And 7 other countries:

Arik Air from Lagos
Egyptair from Cairo
Emirates from Dubai and Athens
Ethiopian from Addis Ababa, Lome in Togo and Dublin
Etihad from Abu Dhabi
Kuwait Airways from Kuwait
Qatar Airways from Doha
Royal Air Maroc from Casablanca
Royal Jordanian from Amman
Saudia from Jeddah and Riyadh
South African Airways from Johannesburg and Dakar
Turkish Airlines from Istanbul.

So what are we going to do now on flights?

I'm thinking the bar sounds good.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Apparently US carriers are not affected :blink:

Oh, never mind, the silliness of me! Looking for logic from a US administration :o

Fly BA via London. Problem sorted.

Good thing I'm not going to the US any time soon.

I do remember flying to the US right after a minor terror incident (can't remember which one it was around 15 years ago) and all electronics were banned in the cabin and only carry-on were what you could carry with your hands. No bags. This was in the days when plenty of planes didn't have your own screens. All I had was a book. It was surprisingly peaceful and relaxing.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

I prefer Virgin, their premier economy is decent esp for the money and if you're paying for it yourself.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

BA isn't that bad in economy as long as you avoid the older 747's...


Food can be surprisingly good departing LHR ...

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

I wonder why...:huh:

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Reminds me of the Canada/UAE situation a few years ago where Canadian passport holders had to pay $1000 for a visa unless they used Etihad/Emirates.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Wasn't that because Canada wanted to stop dishing out visas and passports to all and sundry for a while and restricted some visas?

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

It was also soon after the Blackberry incident where Blackberry wouldn't give the UAE government access to their secure messaging service....

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Na, they rejected a request for additional landing slots for Etihad / Emirates in Canada, so this was the UAEs incredibly mature response.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Oh. Even more juvenile.

I knew it was something daft but jeeze.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

pretty sure that afterwards, the UAE denied landing rights to either a Canadian diplomatic or military flight aswell.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Gulf News Article

US ban on electronics affects flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi | GulfNews.com

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

You mean 9-11?

Yes, we were coming back from Portugal a couple of days after the event.
We were not even allowed books. It was medicine for the plane, purse and passport. Even house keys had to go in the hold baggage. Books could be bought after security if you wanted.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Best be quick, according to the Telegraph the UK is about to follow its US master.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

I think it is a case of the security forces working together.

I would rather be safe and without a laptop for 7 hours than blown up

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Or rather a further encroachment on civil liberties by the deep state?

So what come next, retina scans, expropriation of your assets, or the mandatory forfiture of the content of your iphone as you board?

Worth a thought...

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Sure. An exploding laptop in the hold is entirely safe. :nod:

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

not really...

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

A plane cargo hold full of lithium batteries won't inspire me with confidence when on a long haul flight.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

You won't know they're there though.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Where else would they be? Oh wait, they'll all have been nicked by the baggage handlers ;)

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Washington Post in the US has a sanguine article on this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.c7fab1f5b13e

Probably a combination of security reasons and economic retaliation against the Gulf Airlines as they're massively subsidised by their relevant countries, with charges of unfair competition from US carriers.

I can't say I'm entirely unsympathetic if this is one of the underlying motivations.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

I'm thinking the airline companies might push back a bit once the claims for missing $2000 laptops start hitting their desks.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Flying is a choice. Not a right.

Therein lies the difference.

You don't like the rules meant for safety? Don't fly.

Problem sorted.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Thinking outside the box here, could it be a way to protect the US airliners against what is perceived by them to be an unlawful advantage the gulf states have on flights to the USA?

If not, why are the likes of PIA not included?

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

US carriers are exempt from this ruling.

Who are the Gulf airlines going to complain to? 'America First' Donald Trump? :rofl:

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Because Americans don't fly to Pakistan? Except for immigrants going home to see family and if a bunch of Muslims get blown up do you think the rest of the USA cares? No.

This really is probably all about getting back at the Gulf carriers. They dragged in a few others to make it look balanced.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Got to agree with you there, I hadn't read your WP post before I wrote that either.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

So do you think this is a legitimate way to conduct trade policy? Where do you think it will lead?

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Well it's protectionism which goes on the world over, and certainly here.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Just to make things clearer:

Are you complaining about the competitive advantage of the Gulf carriers who, according to the Post article, 'have tried to defend themselves against political attacks from U.S. competitors by appealing to free trade principles. The problem is that standard free trade agreements, such as World Trade Organization rules, don’t really apply to airlines (although they do apply to related sectors, such as the manufacture of airplanes). This has allowed the Gulf airlines to enjoy massive subsidies, without having to worry too much about being sued in the WTO.'

Or

Are you complaining about Donald Trump potentially using this security measure as a way to balance out this allegedly unfair advantage of the Gulf airlines without engaging in an all out trade war?

Or

Are you going to allege that because the Gulf airlines are owned by brown skinned people then it's fair for them to bend the rules / take advantage of loopholes but not 'white' countries, and therefore Trump's alleged motivations are not acceptable?

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

I'm intrigued by all of this. Today, the UK also brought in the same kind of ban and included BA but not Virgin. If you're going thru London to the US, this hands a massive advantage to Mr Branson over BA. I would also suspect that Virgin stands to also pick up a lot of subcontinent to USA traffic as they have those connections as well.

The ban is a PITA for me as I go to the US about 4-6 times a year and work for most of the on-board hours that I'm not sleeping :(

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Are you sure? I don't see Virgin mentioned. As far as I'm aware there's no ban on anything to UK from UAE. If Virgin is not mentioned while BA is it's likely because Virgin doesn't fly to/from the destinations affected by the ban.

As far as I'm aware, you won't be affected if you fly Virgin or BA to the US with a layover in London. That may be the price you'll need to pay.

UK flight ban on electronic devices announced - BBC News

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

I don't care what security or political situation has caused this action.

I care about the survivability of my expensive laptop in my case when thrown about by baggage workers.

I presume we have to take video evidence of our laptops working in AUH/DXB, then open it straight off the carousel back home, turn it on, check for damage, then fill in a form for compensation?

Or are their baggage handlers going to take more care of our bags now? Because I got a (admittedly cheaper) laptop damaged coming in to the country here and that drove me nuts since I only found out when home and didn't have a leg to stand on.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Obviously trade and not security related. Security is always done by the government inside the airport and never the airline.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Fly to the US via a layover route in Europe. BA is good. KLM and Lufthansa are other options although BA has many more destinations in the US.

Problem solved.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

>layover

So, a simple plane hopping two/three stage journey won't cut it then? Must have a layover?

Might look at a parcel service for price instead. Nothing else to ship back from here. Unless I want to stick a few ninjasuits in with it to cosplay angerhump someone to deal with the privation I've suffered here.

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Interesting; I asked two fairly straightforward questions, without offering any opinion, to try and better understand what you seemed to be implying in your comments. And, whereas you usually try to mischaracterise what I have already posted, now you seem to be some kind of Trump-besotted Mystic Meg - or Clairvoyant Kellyanne - pre-emptively twisting what you anticipate that I might possibly say. :blink:

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

Layover could work going via somewhere on mainland Europe.

Surely posting it is just the same as in your case?

Re: US has banned cabin laptops from all flights from UAE
 

You have a proven history of patronising and misplaced political correctness and seeing racism in everything that's being said on here. So it's natural for me to look at all questions you pose from that angle and assume you're jumping into the thread solely to cry racism/imperialism/whatever. Because that's what you do most of the time.

A person with no such background history would have drawn a different interpretation of the question posed.