Airline Update Laptop Ban in US Flights

The recent ban on carrying laptops and any other electronic devices larger than a smartphone in cabin baggage on flights from ten airports in Africa andMiddle East by the Trump administration will affect nearly half of 22 lakh passengers travelling from India to the US via transit flights in cities of Middle East, Europe and North Asia. Passengers using airlines such as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, which stop for transit at cities affected by the US ban, will have to check intheir laptops, tablets, e-readers, printers, scanners and portable DVD players.

A new service to enable passengers to use their laptops and tablet devices until just before they board their flights to the US has been introduced by Emirates where passengers will have to hand over their banned electronic devices to security personnel at the boarding gate. The devices will be returned to the passengers once they reach their destination in the US. Meanwhile, Air India, seeing the rise of passengers in their direct flights to the US have announced another non-stop service from Delhi to Washington by July or August 2017.