How laptop ban ‘ll affect Nigerian travellers

• Policy could cost passengers $1bn, airlines warn

Scores of Nigerians travelling to the United States and the United Kingdom through Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia will be affected by the new policy that barred them from carrying their laptop on board aircraft but to be put in hold luggage, Woleshadare.net has learnt.

Although, Nigeria is not among the countries under ban, but majority who transit through these countries, particularly Turkey, because of proximity to Europe and other destinations, coupled with the cheap fares they offer, would be subjected to laptop scrutiny.

All electronic devices bigger than smart phones would be banned from cabin baggage and can only be carried if packed in checked-in hold baggage. Devices covered by the ban include laptops, iPads, hand-held gaming devices and DVD players, among others.

Items covered by the ban are those longer than 16.0cm, wider than 9.3cm and deeper than 1.5cm. One of the main problems for passengers who are forced to check electronic equipment into their hold baggage is security from theft while they are in the baggage handling system.

A laptop could easily be worth over £1,000; an iPad £500. Most travel insurance policies will not cover articles, which cost so much – especially if they are checked into hold baggage.

There is also, of course, the risk of damage from shock while a suitcase is being loaded and unloaded from the plane and baggage belts.

Again, insurance will not usually cover such damage. The best advice, which won’t be helpful for business travellers and many ordinary holidaymakers, is to leave such equipment at home.

 Some travellers who spoke to this newspaper, especially those who transit through those listed gateways, said it would be a tough one for them as they keep themselves busy while on transatlantic flight.

To them, it also serves as their mobile office during long haul flights. A frequent traveller, Mike Adeniyi, said those who have a stopover in one of the six countries on their way back to Britain will also be affected by the ban, adding that flight routes run by Emirates and Ethiad, for example, are very popular with holidaymakers who are travelling to south-east Asia and Australia.

This new policy is, however, making many of them to choose their connections as they are avoiding those countries in their choice of travel. Meanwhile, major airlines have warned that proposals to extend the laptop ban to transatlantic flights could cost passengers over a billion dollars a year.

Passengers on flights from many Middle Eastern and North African airports are already banned from taking devices larger than a smartphone into the cabin on flights to the US. The Trump administration wants to enforce the same restrictions on flights from some key EU airports, including, it is understood, Heathrow.

Already facing opposition from the EU, the proposals are now under attack from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 265 major airlines.

IATA’s director general, Alexandre de Juniac, has said the plans could cost the passengers dearly, in a strongly-worded letter to US Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly and European Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc.

It is estimated that the plans could affect 390 transatlantic flights a day from the EU. de Juniac warned that the plans would have a negative impact on “airline passengers, commercial aviation and the global economy.”

The ban would lead to significant airport delays as airlines struggle to bring in new screening measures. “Businesses will cancel trips rather than risk having laptops checked in due to risk to confidential information,” he added.

One of the biggest pinch points, he warned, would be dealing with 3.5 million passengers a year who take connecting flights to the US from EU airports, who had been allowed to use their laptops on the initial leg of the journey.

Airlines fear that denying executives the opportunity to work during transatlantic flights would see a significant drop in business class traffic.

Ultimately, this could see airlines cutting flights from their transatlantic timetables. The industry’s warning about the risks of placing laptops in the hold were echoed by a US-based aviation consultant, Bob Mann.

“They could be creating far greater dangers than they are solving by putting poorly packed batteries and devices, which are not completely turned off into the hold,” he said.