I flew Qatar Airways on a JNB-DOH-BOS itinerary connecting to Air Canada for Toronto. When I was checking in JNB, I was asked whether I have any lap tops / Tablets and when replied in affirmative to both, I was told they should be in my hold baggage. But since I knew of QR policy of taking care of them out of DOH, I told the young lady that I will keep them until DOH. She was ok with that.

I arrived at the departure gate in DOH about 1 hour before STD and was asked by the security whether I have any devices affected by the new regulations and was directed to a temporary counter where they wrap the devices in bubble wrap and put them in a box and then cover the box in plastic and give it back to you to take it through security. Then the departure gate staff attached a limited release tag and take it off you.

On arrival in BOS, there was QR staff with all those boxes and return you the items once verified by the name and the tag number.

The whole process was very efficiently handled by QR staff at both ends. Since I never do any work on aircraft, I didn't really miss the devices especially with the excellent IFE of QR A350.

Does anyone have experience of whether the ban applies to large video cameras, satphones etc? US DHS says it does. BA says it doesn't and EK didn't know.

The detailed text I saw said any electronic device larger than a cell phone. I suspect that applies to 'readers' like Kindle/Nook and to small tablets. It is one of those areas that even a written undertaking from your carrier can be overruled by security at the airport.

Careful. UK and US rules differ. EK/DHS can only comment on US rules, while BA only on UK rules.

It helps to confuse the terrorists ..., and everyone else.

I pax a lot from UK to Asia. Bottom line the cost of flying direct is minimal compared to the hassle of Middle East carriers.

However I feel this is a commercial stance aimed at reigning the likes of Emirates flying to the USA.

Is it that minimal? The UK pax duty alone is quite significant

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...60469?mode=amp

UK flights next?

Which country missed a handgun and ammo in hand luggage last week?

Maybe UK should review their capabilites?

We are so lucky to have our Special Relationship that our dear prime minister ensured she could maintain by holding hands with kid in the White House ...

Now reported in The Guardian too: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...om-uk-airports

Better order some more A318s for future transatlantic flights now.

Quick, buy shares in Air Canada. Their connecting hubs, with US preclearance, are going to become much more popular. Particularly in F/J.

well if USA does decide to introduce a laptop ban on flights from the UK then the UK should do the same to UK bound flights from the USA.

Logically, it would have to.

Although a better bet would be to follow Ireland and Canada and have US Security, Customs and Immigration at major transatlantic airports with sufficient pax to US to make it worthwhile. It would make things easier for the destination US airports too.

CBP Pre-clearance doesn't have any effect on the laptop ban. Abu Dhabi has pre-clearance yet is still covered by the ban.

Yes Jet II, but for transborder flights to be caught into the ban, they would have to add Canada to the list. Not saying they wont but the number of flights involved would increase by an order of magnitude. And affect US based airlines to a much greater degree. Doubtful, but you never know ...

The EK flights that transit ATH and MIL enroute to the US, with no additional security checks, are exempt from the ban. Now explane (pun intended) that one.

So long as Canada doesn't join the ban ... I had expected that Canada would do so, since it has for many years restricted ME3 flights into Canada to protect Air Canada, its Star Alliance partner Lufthansa and the Frankfurt hub. However, the (relatively) new Canadian government makes evidence-based decisions more than its predecessor, with an experienced astronaut and former Space Agency head as the Minister of Transport, and on security/safety grounds, the laptop ban is rather spurious. As for New Zealand, it would make good commercial sense, protecting Air New Zealand, so it is no surprise that New Zealand is making noises about joining the ban.

By rights, the whole of the EU should do the same.

This is starting to look like non-tariff barriers -the US is negotiating symmetric open skies landing rights and then essentially making the counterpart rights valueless post-facto by applying assymmetric security measures. My guess is that as soon as Europe gets involved this will end up at the WTO, after an ugly set of retaliations - eg food exports will get stopped for "health reasons".

Of course it doenst make sense - just like they dont think an ISIS bomber capable of turning a laptop into a bomb couldnt work out that travelling from Athens would be a better idea than travelling from Istanbul. As a security policy it has some rather large holes.

But as a policy to support the US carriers and hurt the ME 3... - judging by EK's results its working. :E

Looks like the ban will be extended to some European countries possibly as soon as tomorrow:

U.S. likely to expand airline laptop ban to Europe: government officials | Reuters