US
prepares to ban laptops on flights from Europe
BRUSSELS (AP) - The U.S. is expected to broaden its ban on in-flight laptops
and tablets to include planes from the European Union, a move that would create
logistical chaos on the world's busiest corridor of air travel.
Alarmed at the proposal, which airline officials say is merely a matter of
timing, European governments held urgent talks on Friday with the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security.
The ban would affect trans-Atlantic routes that carry as many as 65 million
people a year on over 400 daily flights, many of them business travelers who
rely on their electronics to work during the flight.
The ban would dwarf in size the current one, which was put in place in March
and affects about 50 flights per day from 10 cities, mostly in the Middle East.
Chief among the concerns are whether any new threat prompted the proposal and
the relative safety of keeping in the cargo area a large number of electronics
with lithium batteries, which have been known to catch fire. American officials
were invited to Brussels next week to discuss the proposed ban, the EU said.
European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said the EU had no new
information about a specific security concern.
U.S. officials have said the decision in March to bar laptops and tablets from
the cabins of some international flights wasn't based on any specific threat
but on longstanding concerns about extremists targeting jetliners.
Experts say a bomb in the cabin would be easier to make and require less
explosive force than one in the cargo hold. Baggage in cargo usually goes
through a more sophisticated screening process than carry-on bags.
Jeffrey Price, an aviation-security expert at Metropolitan State University of
Denver, said the original ban focused on certain countries because their
equipment to screen carry-on bags is not as effective as machines in the U.S.
A French official who was briefed about Friday's meeting said the Americans
announced they wanted to extend the ban, and the Europeans planned to formulate
a response in coming days. The official said the primary questions revolved
around when and how - and not whether - the ban would be imposed.
The official spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the plan.
Jenny Burke, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, said no final decision has been
made on expanding the restriction.
But Homeland Security officials met Thursday with high-ranking executives of
the three leading U.S. airlines - American, Delta and United - and the
industry's leading U.S. trade group, Airlines for America, to discuss expanding
the laptop policy to flights arriving from Europe.
Two airline officials who were briefed on the discussions said Homeland
Security gave no timetable for an announcement, but they were resigned to its
inevitability. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to discuss the meeting publicly.
The U.S. airlines still hope to have a say in how the policy is put into effect
at airports to minimize inconvenience to passengers. The initial ban on
passengers bringing large electronics devices into the cabin hit hardest at
Middle Eastern airlines.
Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline, this week cited the ban on
electronics as one of the reasons for an 80 percent drop in profits last year.
It said the ban had a direct impact on demand for air travel into the U.S. and
it faced rising costs from introducing complimentary laptop loans to some
passengers.
Alain Bauer, president of the CNAPS, a French regulator of private-sector
security agents, including those checking baggage and passengers in France's
airports, predicted "chaotic" scenes initially if the ban was
instituted.
"Imagine the number of people who carry their laptops and tablets onto
planes - not just adults, but also children," he told the AP.
He said it would slow passage through security checks as people try to
negotiate a way of keeping their laptops.
"It's not like losing your water bottle or your scissors. It will take
more time to negotiate," he said.
"You need a lot of time to inform them and a lot of time for it to enter
people's heads until it becomes a habit," he said. "After a week of
quite big difficulties, 95 percent of people will understand the practicalities."
The head of the International Air Transport Association said recently that the
electronics ban is not an acceptable or effective long-term solution to
security threats, and said the commercial impact is severe.
An industry-backed group, the Airline Passenger Experience Association, said
the U.S. government should consider alternatives. That could include routinely
testing laptops for chemical residues associated with bombs, requiring owners
to turn on their devices, and letting frequent travelers keep their electronics
with them.
The group's CEO, Joe Leader, noted that airlines have reduced service by more
than 1 million long-haul seats in the 10 Middle Eastern and North African
cities affected by the March policy. If it spreads to Europe, "it's simply
a matter of time" before laptops are banned in the cabins of domestic U.S.
flights, he said.
At the Delta area of the Cincinnati airport, a sign warned passengers that
beginning Friday on flights returning to the U.S. any electronic devices other
than a cellphone would have to be placed in checked baggage. The airline flies
between Cincinnati and Paris.
A Delta spokesman said the sign was posted in error by an employee at the
airport. Asked if Delta had anticipated that the in-cabin ban on larger electronics
would go into effect this week, the spokesman declined to comment.
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