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Airlines have been racing to find a solution to the electronics ban; Qatar and Etihad are the latest to go the extra mile by lending their passengers large electronic devices. Following on from last week’s innovative solution by Emirates to gate check passenger’s devices, now Etihad and Qatar will lend you a device to use during your flight.
Qatar’s Solution
Qatar is launching a Laptop Loan service for its Business Class passengers traveling to the US. Passengers will find that they have complimentary laptops aboard the aircraft that are available for their use for the duration of the flight. For passengers traveling in Economy Qatar is taking the sting out of the ban by offering them one hour of free Wi-Fi, or the option to purchase a package for the whole flight for $5.
Etihad’s Idea
Etihad will be taking a slightly different track than Qatar, per the company’s website Etihad will be offering complimentary Wi-Fi vouchers and iPads to passengers. Both will be available to all Business and First class passengers on nonstop flights from Abu Dhabi to the US.
Our Take
These are great moves by Qatar and Etihad, as well as other moves by other airlines affected by the ban, which is trying to minimize the effect of the electronics’ ban on passengers. While having devices to use on flights is great there are questions of security when you access your email or any other service that potentially has confidential information. However, for non-data sensitive uses, it is great to have the option to carry on doing some work in the air. Hopefully, we'll continue to see this innovation by all airlines affected by the ban.
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Wonder how they prevent passengers from taking these electronic items from the plane. I guess AA gives out tablets on some of their flights but they are collect well in advance before landing. Also I think they don’t work without a special adapter.
Any reports on how passengers feel about this?
great idea
Clever response indeed, unlike the inane and bogus ban that prompted it.
This is a great response to the electronics ban.
Even though a nice move.
To me the problem is not using a generic portable or tablet but the ability of using mine. Otherwise it is useless.
The main problem anyway is having to imbark a device with the risk of losing or receiving it with a delay of a couple of day.
great ideas, free for premium passengers and additional revenue for the economy folks
Nice attempt at reducing the inconvenience of the ban. It certainly could be an opportunity to earn additional revenue by offering it to passengers in economy for a fee.
Is there any real reason to do this?
Nice idea! And good move from a business point of view.
Bravo; good moves, for sure, form an entertainment standpoint. However, none of this solves the problem of not being able to use one’s own device to actually conduct business. I certainly would never use a loaner to access my personal or business email.
People come up with ingenius solutions
Any news from Turkish airlines proposal to the US/UK ban?
Just another reason why EY are such a great airline, thinking about their passengers.
Obviously the ME3 need to try different things, but I don’t see how a loaner IPad could replace MY tablet (with whatever movies, tv shows, games for the kids etc. I’ve downloaded to it) or that any businessman in his right mind is going to work on a loaner laptop. Just the risk of computer viruses from putting pen drives in strange places to work on non-sensitive files should be too much for any sensible traveler.
Good way to get around the ban. I wonder if any of the ME airlines will conclude that it would be profitable to offer similar options to economy passengers for a fee.
Smart ideas and hope they continue to innovate to beat the ban!
Always nice to see new services offered.
Maybe they should extend this to economy class as well
If they do extend to economy class, that would be a lot more ipads that they would have to purchase. That could be significant cost for what may end up being a temporary ban.