America bans laptops and tablets on flights from 8 Middle Eastern countries
America’s Department of Homeland Security is instituting travel restrictions on carry-on devices for folks coming to the country from 8 different Middle Eastern countries. The new ban targets basically any device bigger than a typical smartphone, including tablets and laptops.
Reason being? It’s their belief that incidents involving these bigger electronics could spawn based on intelligence information that was recently evaluated. In fact, the UK will seemingly pass similar measures soon based on similar findings.
In case you’re curious, here’s the full list of airports and countries affected by the restrictions:
- Mohammed V International, Casablanca, Morocco
- Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
- Cairo International Airport, Egypt
- Queen Alia International, Amman, Jordan
- King Abdulaziz International, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- King Khalid International, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Kuwait International Airport
- Hamad International, Doha, Qatar
- Abu Dhabi International, United Arab Emirates
- Dubai International, United Arab Emirates
And before you ask, no, this isn’t related to Donald Trump’s infamous travel ban, though we wouldn’t blame anyone for making the connection. If nothing else, travelers can at least put these items into check-on luggage, so if you need to travel to the US with your bigger equipment then you’re not totally out of luck.
[via BBC]