What is happening? After the United States asked a number of airlines to ensure that their passengers were not carrying any large electronic devices on-board, the United Kingdom (UK) has followed with a similar ban of its own.
The ban by the United Kingdom applies to as many as fourteen airlines that operate direct flights to the U.K. and according to the terms, no one carrying an electronic device larger than a smartphone. The countries affected by the ban include Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. What’s more, it doesn’t just apply to devices larger than smartphones but extends to phones that are larger than 16cm long by 9.3cm wide by 1.5cm thick.
These devices will now have to put inside the cargo hold early on. That could again prove to be difficult as many airlines don’t allow electronic gadgets containing lithium-ion batteries inside the hold. Meanwhile, the UK ban also affects local carriers as opposed to the one imposed by the US, that merely affected foreign airlines.
The airlines affected by the ban include British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2.com, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson (local) and Turkish Airways, Pegasus Airways, Atlas-Global Airways, Middle Eastern Airlines, EgyptAir, Royal Jordanian, Tunis Air and Saudia (foreign).
Meanwhile, all these measures bring the threat of a possible terrorist action to mind. The US and the UK could be acting upon some sort of a tip off. It can’t be anything to do against the immigrants or refugees as the UK has very lenient policy for them as compared to the US.
