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New TSA Restrictions Limit Passenger Movement and Laptop Usage

by Terrence O'Brien on December 28, 2009 at 12:54 PM

We all knew the failed Christmas day bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound Northwest flight would result in stricter airport and airplane security, but recent reports about the shape of those new measures has many digital road warriors fuming and others scratching their heads.

According to a statement from the TSA, "These measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere." But there does seem to be an overarching theme of heavy restrictions on movement and on the use of electronics. Air Canada has warned passengers that delays, canceled flights, and missed connections are to be expected, and that "during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps." This would, of course, include things such as laptops, which Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin complained via Twitter were prohibited on her recent Delta international flight.


So, laptops are outlawed on at least some international flights, and useless on shorter, domestic ones. Of course, neither last week's bombing attempt, nor the notorious shoe bomber, nor the 9/11 attacks were aided by in-flight gadget usage. And even if every passenger was physically restrained with straps during the first half hour and last hour of a flight, there is nothing preventing a determined terrorist from unleashing chaos at cruising altitude.

Clearly the solution is to improve pre-flight screening, not to restrict passengers' movement or their ability to work on a PowerPoint point presentation en route to London. Proper solutions could include bomb-sniffing dogs or the much maligned millimeter wave scanning machines that were squashed by a House bill. All we know is that having the guy next to us not be able to take advantage of the in-flight Wi-Fi doesn't make us feel any safer. [From: Mashable, CNET, New York Times, Air Canada, TSA, and Twitter]

Tags: air travel, AirTravel, flight, laptop, restrictions, safety, security, top, travel, tsa

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