Live data from Hacker News

Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

bloomberg.com

171–180 of 488 posts

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just their ass. People can fit amazingly large things in their ass and it would bypass all airport detection. There is no real security with such big loopholes.

Bollocks. That's one thing the millimeter scan will pick up just fine.

No. Millimetre wave (and backscatter x-ray) imagery won't penetrate skin and certainly won't reveal the presence of contraband inside a human.

There's commercially available penetrating X-ray human body security scanners, but afaict those just have been used in prisons, not in airports (yet!).

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#173

The Big 4 Middle East/Gulf airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Turkish) have been giving legacy US carriers a lot of grief lately, since they're both cheaper and better on essentially all counts, so I can't help but wonder if they have their finger in the pie here. Few businessmen will opt to fly long-haul if they can't use their laptops, and they're specifically targeting 9 airlines here, not just airports or countri…

>"It's also beyond bizarre that the US trusts Abu Dhabi's security enough to locate its only Middle Eastern Customs/Immigration preclearance facility"

This is not correct Quatar has one as well.

I'm also unsure why you would find this "bizarre" as all of the Emirates are incredibly wealthy.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bollocks. That's one thing the millimeter scan will pick up just fine.

And if you care about your radiation dose (some of us do) you will opt for a molestation rather than a zap.

I tried researching this a while back and opted for the molestation (at least one qualified for that term). I recently went back to zapping out of cumulative annoyance. Any good resources that review the radiation type and dose?

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#175
post #127

What brave people Americans are lately. Afraid of an iPad being used on a plane.

Only naivety would lead someone to lump all Americans together and claim they are collectively responsible for this. Also, America is a big place [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

Yes, lumping everyone from the same geographic area or ethnic group into one generic stereotype basket can be somewhat irksome.

Note: Not a snarky comeback at your post per se, just that a lot of people tend to be oblivious to generic stereotyping unless they are the subject of it, and I am hoping that others reading this thread may have an "Aha" moment.

Addendum: As big as the US is, if you pooled all land masses that have a majority Muslim population, I believe it would dwarf the USA.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bollocks. That's one thing the millimeter scan will pick up just fine.

And if you care about your radiation dose (some of us do) you will opt for a molestation rather than a zap.

Uh, no. Many physicists don't like the now-discontinued X-ray backscatter machines, but the mm wave devices are not ionizing radiation. Some guy explained why non-ionizing radiation isn't a problem in 1905; won the Nobel Prize for it, too.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millimeter scans only happen in US airports -- they're banned in ~Europe~ the EU and not really used anywhere else. Also you're very wrong. You can defeat a millimeter scan just by placing the contraband between your palms while your hands are clasped above your head.

> Millimeter scans only happen in US airports -- they're banned in Europe and not really used anywhere else. were . https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/04/19/bodyscanners-zo-gaat-he...

You're right, it's just the EU. I fixed my comment.

The point is their technology is terrible and they are easy to defeat, as has been proven many many times.

They are security theater and they were only put in place because the guy in charge of what scanners were allowed at US airports happened to have a financial interest in the company that made the millimeter wave scanner.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#179
post #158

The Big 4 Middle East/Gulf airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Turkish) have been giving legacy US carriers a lot of grief lately, since they're both cheaper and better on essentially all counts, so I can't help but wonder if they have their finger in the pie here. Few businessmen will opt to fly long-haul if they can't use their laptops, and they're specifically targeting 9 airlines here, not just airports or countri…

That's incredibly evil, but I'm sad to say that after some thought I believe you. It's hard to think of another reason why the ban would be given as a list of specific airports — and it just so happens that American carriers don't fly direct to any of the specified cities. (AA sells flights to a few but they are all codeshares, thanks JamilD for correcting my previous statement.) (Plus, can confirm that the ME airlin…

JetBlue codeshares with Emirates, who flies to Dubai. JetBlue is a relatively small, mostly domestic airline without any widebody planes.

American doesn't fly to any Middle Eastern cities but they partner with both Etihad and Qatar, who do.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#180
post #158

The Big 4 Middle East/Gulf airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Turkish) have been giving legacy US carriers a lot of grief lately, since they're both cheaper and better on essentially all counts, so I can't help but wonder if they have their finger in the pie here. Few businessmen will opt to fly long-haul if they can't use their laptops, and they're specifically targeting 9 airlines here, not just airports or countri…

That's incredibly evil, but I'm sad to say that after some thought I believe you. It's hard to think of another reason why the ban would be given as a list of specific airports — and it just so happens that American carriers don't fly direct to any of the specified cities. (AA sells flights to a few but they are all codeshares, thanks JamilD for correcting my previous statement.) (Plus, can confirm that the ME airlin…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN