Yes, all of the above too.

And you thought it couldn't get any worse.
 

NEW U.S. DOMESTIC BAGGAGE SCREENING PROCEDURE FOR CERTAIN ARRIVING INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS

Today*, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it is implementing a new baggage screening procedure for select flights departing from 10 specific foreign airports and arriving at 14 specific U.S. airports. All checked passenger luggage on these select flights will be screened by the TSA (via machine or canine) before being reunited with the passenger. Passengers with connecting flights will then reclaim their luggage for transfer to their connecting flights. TSA indicates that these bags will need to be screened a second time before the connecting flight. The specific arriving flights selected for screening will vary and not all arriving flights from these foreign airports will be screened.

The new requirement only affects certain flights departing for the United States from the following 10 specific airports:

· Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)
· Cairo International Airport (CAI)
· Ataturk International Airport (IST)
· King Abdul-Aziz International Airport (JED)
· King Khalid International Airport (RUH)
· Kuwait International Airport (KWI)
· Mohammed V Airport (CMN)
· Hamad International Airport (DOH)
· Dubai International Airport (DXB)
· Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH)

And arriving at the following 14 specific U.S. airports:

· Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
· Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
· Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
· Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
· George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
· John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
· Logan International Airport (BOS)
· Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
· Miami International Airport (MIA)
· Orlando International Airport (MCO)
· Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
· San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
· Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
· Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

The new screening procedure will be effective 24 March 2017.

*23 March 2017

It looks like the ME3/TK/etc's MCT on both ends of the route are in the toilet.

If they're screening on both ends, they're looking for something besides a bomb in a laptop....

Yes indeed...and I am sure that a poster on this forum is about to let the terrorists know just what that is...

Well, this undermines this whole farce even more. Utter lunacy.

As an Apple user what I can't understand is why iPads are banned and yet the iPhone 6/7 plus is allowed. The difference in screen size is about 2 inches if you have an iPad mini. Looking at my 9.7inch iPad and comparing both, they are sealed units and both are as thin as each other.

Would someone from the State Dept/MI5 please elaborate.

What was the source?
 

Where is that notice to be found? I checked the TSA site and there is no mention of inbound screening.

Real reason for laptop ban
 

I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but transferring an explosive device from the cabin to the hold will achieve nothing in the event of detonation - obviously.
So what is the real reason for this?
Perhaps this explanation is the most believable - since it involves money.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.c6a9f53c8cdd

Presumably the terrorists already know?

increased losses for EK and QR?

What's the difference in actual computing power between a phone and a good tablet these days? I'm assuming that a complex program would require a laptop or at least an iPad/Windows tablet, rather than something running Android?

It was circulated by IATAs Washington office. I don't get these notices myself but someone that does forwarded it to me.

I agree the notice hasn't appeared elsewhere. So it may be in error, and if so apologies.

"TSA will increase explosives detection screening of passenger luggage on select international inbound flights upon domestic arrival. The screening will occur prior to releasing the luggage back to passengers. It is possible that this process may result in delays for connecting luggage."

Source: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/03/21/...rts-commercial

Seems to validate your info.

Thanks, it does appear to fit with the current procedures.

Question regarding this new rule...

If, for example, you are already away from home on a multiple country holiday and you took your laptop and/or tablet with you before this new rule came into being and your flight home is from one of the countries listed as laptop/tablet banned.....where would you stand in regard to getting your laptop/tablet home?

Would you be forced to send it home by post/courier or would you be allowed to take it into the flight since you could prove that the outward flight was well before the introduction of the new ruling?

Have you read any of the previous posts, or the linked articles?

Yes

However, its still as clear as muddy dishwater

There are airlines refusing to implement the rule, others distancing themselves and some who's ground staff shrug shoulders with an "I know nothing" when asked

A friend of mine is away at the moment and will be flying back from Egypt and they have a laptop and are understandably confused by the whole issue

Implement a rule but at least try and make it easy to understand and act upon and have everyone reading from the same page in the same book cos if the airlines are confused, the poor buggers who fly with them have absolutely no chance of understanding any of it

Not enough difference to be significant - the power in a high end phone nowadays is far in excess of what I had in a laptop ten years ago, and very few of us really need more power now than then.

The real difference from a working viewpoint are screen size and ability to add a sensible sized keyboard.

The obvious difference from a security viewpoint is that a larger device has more volume to hide stuff in (and that it wouldn't take a particularly expert engineer to use a phone in a tablet case to free up all that volume to hide stuff in.)

G

Just put it in your checked baggage.

Partly answered in social media conversations I have seen quoted in the news where travellers already abroad were being told that:

(a) yes your laptops/tablets that went outbound in cabin must return in hold
(b) yes if you went outbound with cabin baggage only you will need to pay extra for that hold baggage (and presumably buy another bag)

This is for UK version of the ban. Notably no one was explaining who accepts liability for the items as airline typically won't, and travel insurance bought before the ban will also typically regard the passenger as negligent / acting-at-own-risk for putting them in the hold even when required to do so by the airline/security.

If the ban becomes long-term, liability will actually be the major issue - not pax being deprived of valuables for the duration of flight but rather being deprived permanently or banned from taking them. A system which tells pax that (some of) your valuables _must_ go in the hold _and_ that we don't accept responsibility for them you must insure them, when the insurance industry that says valuables _must_ go in the cabin to be insured, because in the hold is too high risk... is effectively a ban on travelling with them at all.