Tactics shift on travelers
New policy: Electronic devices limited on flights from 10 airports
Naveed Anwar is always working on his laptop or iPad as he makes his way home from Dubai or Istanbul back to San Francisco.
A managing vice president of platform at Capital One, Anwar, 42, travels to Pakistan several times a year to visit his paralyzed mother. He counts on being able to check in with colleagues or complete presentations during the long flight.
But that will change under a Trump administration policy announced Tuesday that requires passengers flying from
10 airports in eight Muslimmajority countries, including Turkey and United Arab Emirates, to check all personal electronics larger than a smartphone: tablets, laptops, cameras and gaming units, among other things.
“You’re taking productivity out of travel, and making it more of a nuisance for families,” said Anwar, who was contemplating whether he would take his kids abroad because of the change. His children often use iPads to stay entertained on the more than 13-hour flights.
In announcing the policy, Department of Homeland Security authorities cited intelligence indicating that “terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation and are aggressively pursuing innovative methods to undertake their attacks, to include smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items.”
Officials said the “current threat picture” caused them to select the 10 airports. Senior U.S. officials told the New York Times late Tuesday that the ban came after intelligence signaled that the Islamic State was developing a bomb that could be concealed in laptop batteries.
As examples of how terrorists have targeted commercial aviation, the department pointed to an airliner attack involving a bomb inside a laptop in Somalia in 2016, the downing of a 2015 flight in Egypt, and bombings at the Istanbul airport in 2016.
The nine airlines that fly directly from the airports to the U.S. were notified on Tuesday and have until Saturday to implement the changes. Domestic airlines do not operate any of the direct flights from the airports, which are in Cairo, Istanbul, Kuwait City, Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates; Jiddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Amman in Jordan.
The ban will impact three airlines that fly to San Francisco International Airport: Turkish Airlines from Istanbul and Emirates Airline from Dubai, both of which fly to the Bay Area daily, and Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi, which arrives three times a week.
Officials in the United Kingdom on Tuesday announced a similar ban for direct flights from Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
At San Francisco International Airport, passengers waiting to check-in on Tuesday evening for an Istanbul-bound Turkish Airlines flight said the electronic device ban might make them choose another carrier.
“It’s going to be extremely inconvenient,” said Shireen Abdelhaid, who was flying to Cairo by way of Istanbul. “And if the computer is in checked luggage, does it really make a difference?”
Andrew Balushka, of Ukraine, a frequent traveler on Turkish Airlines, said he would “probably choose another airline” rather than check his laptop.
Paul Francois, who was returning to Paris via Istanbul, said the ban was “unfair for Turkish Airlines” if it made passengers seek other carriers. He said he wasn’t sure if the Trump Administration was being forthright about the need for the ban.
“I don’t know,” Francois said. “I suppose he (Trump) tells the truth sometimes.”
The only person who saw a possible silver lining was airport newsstand clerk David Wing, who said the device ban “could be really good for book sales — I think we’ll sell a lot more.”
The U.S. security measure was supported by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, who said that the steps were necessary and proportional to the threat. Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, came to support the policy after being briefed on relevant intelligence in recent days, according to NBC News.
“We know that terrorist organizations want to bring down aircraft and have continued to employ creative ways to try and outsmart detection methods,” he said in a statement. “The global aviation system remains a top target and proper security requires that we continually adapt our defenses.”
That the new policy targets certain airports makes it seem like it is coming “in response to something more specific” than the typical threats the Department of Homeland Security is used to tracking, said Andrew Farrelly, a former senior official with the agency. Farrelly said he had not seen the intelligence that led to the ban.
Some wondered aloud about the timing of the measure considering how soon it comes after the administration’s repeated efforts to temporarily block immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. Both attempts were stopped by federal courts.
“Even if there are legitimate security reasons, the fact that the Trump administration is the messenger makes it hard to believe anti-Muslim animus isn’t part of the story,” said Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
For travelers like Anwar, the concerns were immediate: What happens if he forgets to check his laptop or device before heading into the security line? Ditching liquids is one thing, but a computer with his work stored on it is another.
And, he wondered, what if his luggage is lost? The worldwide rate of lost luggage is around six bags per 1,000 passengers, according to a 2016 report surveying more than 400 airlines from SITA, an airline technology company in Europe.
Jonathan Grella, a spokesman for the U.S. Travel Association, which represents airlines and U.S. airports, said his group supported efforts to make flying more secure but that communication was necessary.
“We continue to hope that highly visible changes to security protocols in the future will be accompanied by a clear message that the government’s intent is not to suppress, but to secure travel, and that legitimate international business and leisure travelers remain welcomed and valued by the United States,” he said in a statement.
Michael W. McCormick, head of the Global Business Travel Association, said that his organization backed efforts to secure airways and was getting more information on whether the ban arose from a specific threat.
“Nearly half (49 percent) of business travelers prefer to stay connected and get work done while flying,” McCormick said in a statement. “Not allowing them to bring their devices on the plane cuts productivity, taking away time that they can be getting business done.”
On Tuesday, affected airlines said they were working to implement the policy change.
At least one airline decided to take the news as an opportunity to highlight its entertainment features on international flights: Emirates released an ad on Twitter that included actress Jennifer Aniston talking about the inflight games and movies available.
“Who needs tablets and laptops anyway?” the ad said. “Let us entertain you.”