Electronic devices prohibited on certain aircraft to the United States

As of today, passengers arriving from several countries and bound for the US will have to leave their laptops and other shelves in their luggage in the hold. Only mobile phones will be accepted in the cabin.

The United States wants to ban passengers from or to 10 Middle Eastern countries to carry smartphones in the cabin for safety reasons

This applies to laptops but also tablets, cameras, DVD players or video game consoles.

An anti-terrorist measure
Indeed, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a long article in the form of questions and answers on the subject. Referring to attacks on airplanes or airports in the last two years, the Transport Security Administration considers it "prudent to enhance security".

The new measures concern 10 airports: Reine-Alia International Airport (Jordan), Cairo International Airport (Egypt), Istanbul-Atatürk Airport (Turkey), King Abdelaziz International Airport (Arabia- Saudi Arabia), King Kahled International Airport (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait International Airport, Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca (Morocco), Hamad International Airport (Qatar), Dubai International Airport, And Abu Dhabi International Airport (United Arab Emirates).

According to the Guardian, the new regulations were notified to the concerned airlines in a confidential email yesterday. While the US administration points out that they were warned "on March 21 at 8 am", yesterday two impacted airlines have passed the word to their customers via Twitter.

No device bigger than a smartphone
The Royal Jordanian has posted a tweet, which has since been deleted, explaining that "according to the instructions of the American departments concerned, passengers arriving or departing in the United States should not hold electronic or electrical equipment in the cabin.

The message states that "mobile phones and medical equipment necessary for travel are excluded from this prohibition. But they will be entitled to additional controls, the DHS points out

But anything bigger than a smartphone will be banned. The Department of Homeland Security recognizes that smartphone sizes may vary but believes that "their size is well known to most passengers traveling internationally". He said that for any information on this subject, it will be necessary to ask the airline in charge of the flight.

The statement also points out that the ban does not apply to smartphones for the sake of not affecting the passengers' journey too much. And not because they represent less risk.

The United States now leaves 96 hours to the airports affected by this new measure to bring itself into compliance