Airlines impacted by Britain's cabin ban on electronic devices on flights from some Middle East and North Africa countries have until Saturday to implement the measure, officials said Wednesday. But passengers "should go to the airport with the expectation that the measures are already in effect", a transport ministry spokeswoman said.
On Tuesday, Britain said it would tighten airline security on direct flights originating from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey by banning laptops, tablets, some e-readers and large mobile phones from hand luggage. The move came hours after the US government warned that extremists plan to target passenger jets with bombs hidden in electronic devices, and issued a ban passengers carrying such items onto flights from 10 airports in eight countries.
While the US announced that they had given airlines 96 hours to inform travellers before the ban came into force at 3:00am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, there was some confusion over when the British ban would kick in. "It will have to be done by Saturday" at 0001 GMT at the latest, another government spokesman told AFP, explaining that some airlines may need longer than others to implement the new measure.
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