How is it safer to store a device that can be used for malicious purposes in the hold of a plane, rather than within the cabin? Only a fool would accept that there is any sense in such an argument.
Given this, the US ban on devices bigger than a mobile phone being brought aboard, imposed on a number of Middle Eastern airlines, seems to have just one purpose: to enable US airlines, which have complained loud and long about Middle Eastern competitors, to make a bit more money.
Can business travelers handle a 15hr flight from Dubai to Seattle w/o a laptop? #electronicsban affects 2 @SeaTacAirport flights #komonews pic.twitter.com/H8QYfITxxX
— Matt Markovich (@mattmarkovich) March 21, 2017
As the Intercept points out, American airlines do not fly directly to the US from any of the airports which have been listed by the Department of Homeland Security.
The publication calls it a Muslim laptop ban. And, in truth, there is some substance to that: all the countries involved have majority Muslim populations.
{loadposition sam08}To help obscure the real purpose of the US ban, the Americans have recruited the British poodle, their normal ally (remember the special relationship between the two Anglo nations?), which has obliged with its own ban that considerably muddies the waters.
I like how the US and UK electronics bans are due to a specific threat... yet very different lists of countries. #Credible #ElectronicsBan
— Glengyron (@glengyron) March 21, 2017
It does this by extending to airlines that are owned by British companies. Neat play, there, old chap. Not for nothing did the good Theresa May traipse across the ocean to shake the hand of the Donald.
US airlines have complained for many years that they cannot compete against companies like Emirates (Dubai), Etihad (Abu Dhabi) and Qatar Airways, all of which receive massive subsidies from the states that own them.
Uh oh. #electronicsban pic.twitter.com/NhP2Cxxd83
— Tiernan Douieb (@TiernanDouieb) March 21, 2017
In a statement issued a day after Donald Trump triumphed in the US presidential elections last year, Jill Zuckman, chief spokesperson for the lobby group Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, said: "We look forward to briefing President-elect Donald Trump and his new administration on the massive, unfair subsidies that the UAE and Qatar give to their state-owned Gulf carriers.
Another ban added to the list, wouldn't be surprised if they ban passengers from speaking arabic soon. #electronicsban #WeAreHuman
— loujane لوجين (@loujane3) March 21, 2017
"The Gulf carrier subsidies threaten the jobs of 300,000 U.S. aviation workers and the American aviation industry as a whole, and we are optimistic that the Trump administration will stand up to the UAE and Qatar, enforce our trade agreements and fight for American jobs."
Any move suits Trump as long as it is America first. That seems to be only logical conclusion.