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It seems that the electronics ban might finally come to an end after 3 months, which will be a relief for those affected; even through airlines like Qatar and Etihad had come up with innovative ways to cope with it. New security measures to be implemented across all airports flying to the US would mean that the electronics ban could finally be lifted.
The new security measures will affect the over 2,100 international flights headed to the US every day. According to the Financial Times, the new security requirements will affect 325,000 passengers per day departing from nearly 280 airports across the globe. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly confirmed the new measures would prevent further countries from being added to the ban and would mean countries already on the banned list could be removed from the list once they have implemented the new measures.
Enhanced Security Measures
The new enhanced measures have not been fully publicly announced, but are thought to include the following:
- Deployment of new screening technologies
- More sniffer dogs to scan baggage
- New and tightened security measures around passenger areas, and the aircraft themselves
- Increased individual passenger screening
- Improved and more rigorous screening of personal electronic devices
- Increased preclearance locations
Regarding implementation, both US and European agencies have notified airlines that they have 21 days to implement increased explosive trace detection at airports. Also, they have 120 days to implement the other enhanced security procedures fully.
Overall
The new measures are welcome if it means that airports can get off the electronics ban list. It is likely that the new measures came in response to European pressure. European authorities have been very concerned about the fire risk caused by having so many batteries in the hold of the aircraft.The new measures are likely to create winners and losers, and while the countries currently suffering from the ban are likely to win a reprieve, the new measures themselves are likely to hit some airports badly. The
The new measures are likely to create winners and losers, and while the countries currently suffering from the ban are likely to win a reprieve, the new measures themselves are likely to impact some airports significantly. Expect significant impact from London/Heathrow which has 761 flights to the US every week. All the new enhanced security will probably mean arriving 2 hours before your flight is a thing of the past.
Source: One Mile At A Time
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These measures are using fingerprint or Iris scanners?
I think all security measures should be as transparent as possible for the users in order to reduce the stress and the loss of time.
Glad to hear new measures going in place. I also was worried about ban expansion into other international airports
This is a bit of good news. Air travel has become troublesome enough without a ban on laptops.
It’s probably difficult to adapt to all these changes to keep up with security but I’d rather be safe.
I’m glad to hear they’re increasing security measures. Hopefully it won’t add more of a hassle to the boarding process and they can implement these measures in a smooth and effective manner (as opposed to most of the other measures enacted in the past 15 years).
Thank goodness. I have international travel coming up and I was really worried about this.
I find it increasingly difficult to feel completely safe when traveling.
the ban was stupid to begin with
if 2 hours before a flight is a thing of the past, then what should be expected?
Heed the recommendations from your airlines. Most will say 3+ hours; for example Delta: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/check-in/requirements.html has posted their recommendations.
Yes, the airlines will advise 3+ hours (an enormous buffer). But has anyone here been in a situation that they missed the plane after arriving at the airport 2 hours prior to departure time?
This does make me nervous about other things they’ll add to this to make us all safe. I want to be able to bring my ipad, etc with me. We’ll see how it all transpires as time moves on. Who knew we would have the kind of measures we have now. Since new biometric boarding passes, etc is being tried out, maybe just maybe things can be relaxed a bit if it all works out.
I can’t help but wonder when it will end… so much fear and danger in the world! The scariest thing to me was the batteries in the hold though, so I’ll be relieved to see a way out of that.
More security theatre?
The MIL will be happy about this! Her business trips have been messy because of it.