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Experts from both the aviation and computer science sectors expressed serious doubts last week about whether a new ban on carry-on electronics instituted by the U.S. and U.K. for inbound flights from certain Middle Eastern and North African countries would actually increase security.
Meanwhile, travel industry lobbying groups expressed their own concerns about the prohibition, which both countries said would remain in place indefinitely.
U.S. Travel Association executive vice president of public affairs Jonathan Grella responded to the ban with a statement that said, in part, “We continue to hope that highly visible changes to security protocols in the future will be accompanied by a clear message that the government’s intent is not to suppress but to secure travel and that legitimate international business and leisure travelers remain welcomed and valued by the United States.”
The U.S. directive, which was issued March 21 and was to go into effect on March 25, requires flyers traveling to the U.S. from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to check electronics, including computers, tablets, e-readers, cameras and portable DVD devices. Travelers can still take cellphones with them on the plane.
The U.K. prohibition, issued just hours after the U.S. rule, applies to flyers from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. It bans those travelers from bringing computers, tablets and e-readers onboard as carry-ons.
Both countries cited ongoing but unspecified terrorist threats to commercial aviation as the reason for the new policy. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also cited intelligence reports indicating that terrorist groups continue to attempt to smuggle onto planes explosive devices in a variety of consumer items.
Noting the different countries to which the U.K. and U.S. directives apply is instructive. Most significantly, perhaps, only the U.S. electronics ban applies to airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, the hubs of the major worldwide carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar, respectively. No U.S. airline flies from any of the countries designated in the U.S. prohibition.
Analysts last week poked holes in the prohibition and questioned if it would, in fact, make airplanes safer.
“Yes, bombs in laptops are a threat, but this assumes the laptop has to be manually detonated or placed, while a timer can work just as well in the cargo hold,” Nicholas Weaver, a researcher at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California-Berkeley wrote in an email. “At the same time, by only targeting a few source airports but not transit, this assumes that said suicidal terrorist is willing to blow up a plane but is unwilling to transfer through Frankfurt.”
Indeed, one potential problem with the prohibition is that aside from the U.K., major European transatlantic connecting countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands have not adopted it.
In an email last week, DHS spokesman David Lapan said that each country makes decisions based upon a variety of factors, including political, economic, diplomatic and security considerations.
“As far as overall aviation security, we employ a system of measures, both seen and unseen, to protect the traveling public,” Lapan said.
Another matter that has raised the ire of some analysts is the prohibitions’ exception for cellphones.
The DHS said it made that decision to balance security risks with impact to the traveling public. But Ken Button, a transportation policy professor at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government, called the specifics of the prohibition “ridiculous.”
“I don’t know the difference between an iPhone and an iPad,” he said. “From what I know about explosives, you don’t need a large amount to blow in the side of an aluminum plane.”
In fact, safety experts warned, the ban will result in directing into the cargo hold of aircraft more of the lithium ion batteries that power rechargeable electronic devices such as laptops and have a history of occasionally bursting into flames.
John Cox, a former US Airways pilot who now runs the aviation-industry consulting firm Safe Operating Systems, said that having a greater density of lithium ion batteries in checked bags will raise the fire hazard in aircraft cargo holds.
Cox said that approximately one in 10 million lithium ion batteries have a defect that causes them to superheat, rapidly and spontaneously, to 1,000 degrees, a process known as thermal runaway.
When that happens, flames shoot out from the battery violently. While that in itself is frightening, the heat from a burning battery would likely set off a chain reaction in which nearby batteries also superheat.
Lithium ion batteries can also go into thermal runaway in a delayed response to being dropped or crushed. And some low-cost replacement batteries have a defect that causes them to superheat in the hours after being recharged.
Cox said that the key question related to the carry-on ban is whether it provides more safety in the form of added security than it takes away due to congregating batteries in the cargo hold.
“So long as we have done a good, thorough risk analysis, fine,” he said, adding, “I haven’t seen it.” In fact, he said, the leading lithium ion battery experts to whom he has spoken said they had not been consulted on the ban.
Travel industry trade groups mainly focused their comments about the electronics ban on matters related to the message it sends to travelers, as well as to the inconvenience it will undoubtedly cause.
U.S. Travel and other organizations said they support necessary security measures, but business travel groups in particular expressed anxiety about the impact the ban will have on their constituencies.
“Nearly half (49%) of business travelers prefer to stay connected and get work done while flying,” Global Business Travel Association executive director Michael McCormick said in a statement last week. “Not allowing them to bring their devices on the plane cuts productivity, taking away time that they can be getting business done.”
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
