Abu Dhabi travellers relieved at return of laptops on flights bound for US
Passengers leaving for the US yesterday told of their relief that the ban on bringing laptops on board had been dropped at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
For many, the frustration of losing hours at an altitude of 30,000 feet for which they could bill clients outweighed any temptation to settle back and take a break from work.
“I can’t afford an entire day off from working,” said Rob Montagu-Williams.
“It’s a case of using your time more efficiently. Besides, there’s only a certain amount of films you can watch before you get bored.”
In an age where businesses pay for executives to undergo digital detox, one might think that travellers would dread the ban being lifted.
But Mr Montagu-Williams said that not being able to work would only stress him out, because he felt the time was being wasted.
In March, the US banned travellers on direct flights from 10 airports, mostly in the Arab world, based on intelligence that laptops were being used to plot terrorist attacks.
Despite Abu Dhabi having one of the world’s safest airports, it was on that list.
Mr Montagu-Williams, whose business is based in the UAE, travelled during the laptop ban and said the experience was “pretty painful”.
Often the Briton would be forced to travel over the weekend to avoid any downtime in his working week.
“It was only OK if you resigned yourself to the fact that a whole working day was gone and getting nothing done,” he said.
Abu Dhabi became the first airport out of the 10 in the region to break free from the ban imposed by the US department of homeland security. The department issued new security requirements that include enhanced screening of passengers and devices coming from 280 airports.
Robert Koval, managing director of Teambase, a Dubai software services company, did not plan on having the time to work, but was relieved that he now could.
“We got lucky, we had this plan for quite some time. Having the ability to have a laptop on board is definitely very important,” Mr Koval said.
His colleague, Jan Glonack, travelled during the ban and was happy that he could make sure his laptop – his most important working tool – was kept safe out of his luggage.
“I don’t have to check it into a big bag and not know what will happen,” he said after having flown during the ban.
“It wasn’t great but there was no other choice.
“This is a business trip, it’s a regular working week. It’s convenient that we can work so we can spend our time efficiently.”
For others, just having their laptop with them was a matter of security.
“I can’t afford to have it out of my sight,” said one American traveller.
“I just feel more comfortable having the laptop with me. If I lost it, it would be devastating for me and my company,” he said.
As someone who worked in security, he understood the importance of protecting sensitive data.
“Too much sensitive material is on that laptop and I can’t jeopardise it by having it placed in a check-in bag that could, as we all know, get lost,” he said.
Dubai International and Doha International airports also had their bans lifted last week.
The US banned travellers on direct flights from 10 airports, mostly in the Arab world, based on intelligence that laptops were being used to plot terrorist attacks