News

In-Flight Electronics Rules Eased After Two-Day Crackdown

12:00PM December 29, 2009 | Owen Good

The Associated Press is reporting that increased security measures on international flights inbound to the United States have been eased. The government has not publicly announced any changes, but the AP’s report cites unnamed airline officials “familiar with the matter”.

The tightened restrictions had meant passengers had to remain in their seats for the final hour of a flight, with nothing in their laps. Others had reported a total ban on electronics. The Transportation Security Administration was intentionally vague about what flights might or might not require, but nearly all of it meant bad things for the use of portable electronic devices – at least on international flights. Crecente, however, just flew 14 hours from Australia into the US and was allowed to use electronics in flight.

The AP specifically said: “In-flight entertainment restrictions have also been lifted.” I suppose this means it’s all over, for now anyway.

In-Flight Security Rules Eased [Associated Press on Yahoo! News]

Comments

  • Joshua Iacobozzi

    December 29, 2009 at 12:31 PM

    That’s good. It’s interesting to note the different stories regarding the rules; I thought airlines were required to have the same regulations in regards to what can and can’t be taken onto planes etc.

    • Andrew

      December 29, 2009 at 1:06 PM

      The rules for what can and can’t be taken into planes are decided by that countries government, so it can vary from country to country, that’s why most of these no games on planes rules only apply flights going into America.

  • Ben Latimore

    December 29, 2009 at 2:49 PM

    Hmm, it’s just a matter of time before it all flares up again, and some poor innocent device is in the firing line.

  • Matthew Herne

    December 29, 2009 at 3:31 PM

    It’s good that this has settled down a little. Ben’s right though – it will happen again, but there’s little we can do about it at this stage. Either we allow devices on there (Yes please, I don’t like going on long flights without my music) and end up with some incidents like this, or we ban devices on flights altogether. I think the best bet is to keep screening, but to also improve inflight entertainment so there’s less of a need to use gadgets.

  • Flux

    December 29, 2009 at 6:44 PM

    The knee has jerked, and now the leg is flopping back down to rest. Good reflexes, security guys!

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