A new survey shows that the recent ban on electronics including laptops and tablets on flights to the U.S. from targeted airports will impact in-flight activities for many business and leisure travelers.
ExpertFlyer.com, an online airline information website, surveyed 1,566 subscribers to determine how severe the impact would be and what steps, if any, travelers might take to avoid these airports or how they would adjust their in-flight travel habits. The survey also asked travelers if they would use laptops and tablets provided by airlines as part of a free loaner program on affected flights. While 57 percent of respondents said they would consider it, 42 percent said “absolutely not.”
Of the 1,566 responses, ExpertFlyer found that 40 percent said they would be directly impacted by the recent ban and 40 percent of those said they plan to reroute their itinerary to avoid the inconvenience. The remaining 60 percent affected by the ban said they would not change their travel itineraries and would simply adjust their typical in-flight activities accordingly.
The ban targets specific airports, mostly in the Middle East, and applies only to direct flights to the U.S. Airports currently on the list include Cairo, Egypt; Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE; Istanbul, Turkey; Doha, Qatar; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Casablanca, Morocco; and Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Gary Leff, author at the frequent flyer blog, View from the Wing, analyzed the results of the survey and offered some insight about what this means for international travel, as well as alternative options that travelers may consider to avoid the inconvenience. “These are major world hubs that have become very efficient places for connections; not just between the U.S. and India but even to Asia from the east coast of the U.S,” Leff explains. “For business travelers who have sensitive information on their computers, letting it out of their sight is not an option and they are left with only two choices; leave the laptop behind or adjust their itinerary to avoid the ban.”