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U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
131–140 of 178 posts
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#132Flying is already such a dreadful thing. Even a one hour flight takes 5-7 hours when you count in all the extras. In my experience, a 1 hour flight like London - Brussels, is not much faster than a 7 hour flight like London - New York. Airports are a text book study in what monopoly and fear mongering politicians do. - On the day of the flight you go from your departure city to the airport somewhere far away in the o…
A few weeks ago I had to travel to Berlin from Amsterdam, flight time about 1 hour. I took a 6 hour train instead because I would have internet (roaming is really cheap now in Europe), and all the reasons you mentioned.
The train was even a bit more expensive, but worth every euro.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
A laptop bomb would presumably be fairly small in size and would probably have to be placed directly against some sensitive part of the plane in order to be effective. The cargo hold meanwhile is already reinforced and any bomb would most likely end up in a middle of a lot of baggage that would absorb most of the blast. It would probably force the plane to make an emergency landing but it's unlikely to be catastrophi…
Here's a video of a lithium battery fire in a cargo hold, as you can see it causes an explosion and swiftly a fire that burns the entire compartment. If you imagine every checked in bag containing a laptop, you'd get a similar effect if you rig one to catch fire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd0EzQaEiZQ
Note that the video claims it's 5000 Li+ batteries. It's hard to tell from the video, but it looks like it was ~4 boxes filled with only the batteries. Even a large pile of laptops (no bags) would have a hard time making the explosion[1] in the video. If you separated each battery+laptop into separate bags, the density of Li is so low a single battery burning/exploding may not even reach the other batteries.
[1] obviously a fire is still possible, even with a single battery
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#134Flying is already such a dreadful thing. Even a one hour flight takes 5-7 hours when you count in all the extras. In my experience, a 1 hour flight like London - Brussels, is not much faster than a 7 hour flight like London - New York. Airports are a text book study in what monopoly and fear mongering politicians do. - On the day of the flight you go from your departure city to the airport somewhere far away in the o…
What do you think could be improved/changed in the future? I agree that the process is overly tedious to an unnecessary degree. I have read that test have shown that TSA security( or check-in security in general) is more for show (providing sense of security) then actually being effective. In addition to that the statistics even say that risks of airplane failures are far lower then other risks. Yet there seems to be…
Given that today's airplanes need several km runway to take off and to land, and that people often need to transfer from one plane to another, we are probably not going to have many more airports per city than we already have in a foreseeable future.
But if an airport terminal could just be a series of small waiting rooms, one for each plane, sort of like today's gates but where where you met up directly at the gate with your luggage 30 min before. Then everything from passports to tickets, to body scan and luggage, was checked once, just once, and then you boarded the plane through at least two jet bridges (front and back on a normal plane). End of story. Those who wanted could show up an hour before, and they would get a small rebate and not have to wait in line, and those who wanted could show up 30 min before, and they would pay a little more and wait in line. And the plane should not wait for anyone who's not there 30 min before takeoff.
Could you board a standard narrowbody plane with 150-200 passengers in 30 minutes (if none of them opted for early boarding)? Two jet bridges, each with at least 2 security lines with scans/pad downs of passengers, a couple of luggage dumps with scans of luggage (I imagine it could largely be done automatically). A normal narrowbody plane with 150-200 seats means each line should handle 75-100 passengers in 30 minutes. That's around 3 passengers per minute or 20 sec per passenger. Should be possible. But I think many would opt to meet up shortly before and save a bit of money.
Same in the other end. You would pick up luggage directly at the plane, and have your passport checked immediately as you enter the terminal.
Much of the waiting in airports is because airports want passengers to mix up in the shopping mall before check-in and takeoff.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#135Flying is already such a dreadful thing. Even a one hour flight takes 5-7 hours when you count in all the extras. In my experience, a 1 hour flight like London - Brussels, is not much faster than a 7 hour flight like London - New York. Airports are a text book study in what monopoly and fear mongering politicians do. - On the day of the flight you go from your departure city to the airport somewhere far away in the o…
What do you think could be improved/changed in the future? I agree that the process is overly tedious to an unnecessary degree. I have read that test have shown that TSA security( or check-in security in general) is more for show (providing sense of security) then actually being effective. In addition to that the statistics even say that risks of airplane failures are far lower then other risks. Yet there seems to be…
I lived in Singapore for a year. As an Employment pass holder, flying to or from the airport involved scanning my finger-print and my passport, I never had to talk to any immigration or customs officials.
A 20 minute taxi from the center gets you to the airport and I never had to arrive more than an hour before departure. So actually a system that doesn't suck: is possible.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you think could be improved/changed in the future? I agree that the process is overly tedious to an unnecessary degree. I have read that test have shown that TSA security( or check-in security in general) is more for show (providing sense of security) then actually being effective. In addition to that the statistics even say that risks of airplane failures are far lower then other risks. Yet there seems to be…
Given that today's airplanes need several km runway to take off and to land, and that people often need to transfer from one plane to another, we are probably not going to have many more airports per city than we already have in a foreseeable future. But if an airport terminal could just be a series of small waiting rooms, one for each plane, sort of like today's gates but where where you met up directly at the gate…
There are airports which have something like this, but generally it's very expensive to maintain so many separate security checkpoints.
In the US, the Kansas City airport was originally designed and built before any type of security checkpoints were present in airports, as a series of horseshoe-shaped terminals. Now, each terminal is internally divided into groups of a few departure gates each, and each one has its own security checkpoint. This is extremely convenient for people coming to the airport -- when I lived there, I could arrive 45 minutes prior to my flight, knowing I would get through security and be at the gate by 30 minutes before departure (which is when boarding begins). On the other hand, there are very few amenities beyond the checkpoints; toilets had to be installed, and there are a few counters selling food, but only one area that I know of has a real restaurant available inside.
And it will almost certainly be torn down and completely rebuilt with a centralized single security checkpoint, because operating it in the current setup is too expensive.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
> people who are so self centered that they would demand that Americans risk the very real threat of deadly terrorist attacks (...) Europeans being self-centered? It's us not wanting to hand our computers to USA agencies, known to clone your harddrive and/or implant other crap on it. Agencies who can hold you indefinitely and are affiliated with other 3 letter agencies who do worse. ( See https://arstechnica.com/tech…
I dont think that Europeans are self centered, I think the people complaining about being required to check in their laptops to prevent likely terrorist attacks are being self centered in doing so. The government cant clone or access your information just because you put it in storage rather than carry on.
I will complain because we have zero evidence of credible threat, and a huge amount of evidence of incompetence on the part of the agencies tasked with securing air travel. I will complain because the world is full of people who confuse "we did something" with "we did the right thing". I will complain because people seem to turn off their critical-thinking faculties when it comes to travel and security. I will complain because there is a long history of "temporary" restrictions which become permanent and serve only to enrich suppliers of screening equipment. I will complain for many reasons.
Most of all, I will complain because the world is a dangerous place and I know this, and I know that 100% "safety" is impossible, and even if it were the price would be far higher than I am willing to pay.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't agree that a laptop on a flight is "essential" for business people. While I always notice very few people using laptops on business class flights, after all the point of flying business class is so that you can get some rest to arrive fresh to work, one area where you do see laptop use is in business class lounges. Unfortunately this ban will affect that as you cant check-in hold luggage after departing the l…
I think you are missing the point. It isn't that business travelers need their laptops during the flight, but that most don't check any luggage at all. When I was flying for business, I only traveled with hand luggage. No need to deal with the hassle of checking a bag, when all my clothes for the next few days can fit into a carry on bag.
Ah yes, that is true. My trips tend to be longer in nature so I normally have checked in luggage.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#139We have been scanning laptops separately for years... I am surprised that the scanners have not a common database of laptop scans to detect all the differences. So all the original laptops (no part modified) would get a clearance.
Re: U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe
#140In x years we will all get undressed and proceed to board wrapped in the airline issued sheets.
If this is what it takes to defeat terrorists, I'm all for it...and more :)