Call for trusted travelers to be exempt from laptop ban
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) has urged the government to find ways to minimize disruption for travelers in light of the laptop ban.
ASTA says trusted travelers should be exempt from the rule.
Senior vice president government and pubic affairs Eben Peck said: "With regard to the rumored expansion of the electronics ban to additional European airports, we suggest that serious consideration be given to the possibility of exempting travelers enrolled in Global Entry and equivalent trusted traveler programs from the electronics ban.
"If we have faith in the efficacy of these programs – and we must – then exempting these pre-screened, low-risk travelers from the ban would seem to be a sensible way to both minimize disruption to a portion of the traveling public while incentivizing enrollment.
"Broadly speaking, while we believe that securing the global aviation system from terrorist attack should be the U.S. government’s primary objective, our members have expressed concern about the ban and its potential to negatively impact air travel and the broader industry.
"Indeed, the rumored expansion of the electronics ban to additional European airports raises the same issues – but on a broader scale – as the original ban applying to flights from the Middle East and North Africa.
"These include general disruption to business and leisure travelers, issues related to checking expensive electronics while traveling overseas, the risk that lithium batteries checked in large numbers will pose to inbound passengers, and the possibility that the ban may spread further to additional airports and carriers.
"With regard to the electronics ban as well as other recent actions related to travel, we urge the Administration to expeditiously set clear rules of the road so that travel industry stakeholders can serve their clients, that travel disruptions are kept to a minimum and that the traveling public can maintain confidence in an industry so vital to our nation’s economy."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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