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Electronics Ban Issued To Several Mideast / North African Carriers and Countries

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 21, 2017 | Featured, On Board Experience, Passenger Experience | 0 comments

In news coming out in drips this afternoon, the TSA announced that it was implementing a ban which would prevent certain electronics from being in the passenger cabin on flights originating from 8 Mid Eastern / North African countries, and specifically 10 airports within those countries (According to the AP). I’ve seen some outlets suggest that the list of countries may be as high as 13. The airlines that are affected are NOT American or European based carriers.

It appears the airlines being targeted for this ban are several Mideast and North African carriers including Royal Jordanian and Saudia. The airlines in question received confidential emails today from the TSA alerting them to the forthcoming policy change. Thus far, only Royal Jordanian and Saudia have come forward with any announcements (at least at the time that I published this post). It is thought that up to 12-15 airlines may be impacted by this ban.

The TSA has thus far been cryptic with who the 8 (or 13) countries are, or which specific airlines are affected by the ban. What is clear is that the TSA has mandated that this ban is in effect within 96 hours. This ban applies not only to the airlines serving the USA, but also to their passengers that may be transiting to the USA through connecting flights. For example, if a passenger on Saudia was flying from Riyadh to New York via Montreal, but on an Air Canada flight from ‘YUL’, they would have to check the banned devices on all carriers since their ultimate destination is the USA.

The ban specifically states that any electronic equipment larger than a Smart Phone would need to be packed with checked luggage and not brought into the cabin. From the sound of ban, it appears that larger cameras would be subject to the ban as well. The ban does not included medically necessary equipment such as oxygenators, etc.

A similar policy was in put in place temporarily in 2014 that required passengers to power up devices during security screenings to confirm that the electronics were functional. However this announcement takes it a step further, banning the larger devices from the cabin altogether.

The TSA announced that more information would be forthcoming shortly.

LUFTHANSA Business Class Fare Sale For Spring and Early Summer

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 19, 2017 | Business Class, Fare Sale, Featured, Lufthansa | 1 comment

Lufthansa Business Class fares start from $2500 for travel between the USA and Europe this Spring and into the early Summer.

The best fares are from the East Coast where you’ll find New York to Dusseldorf or Philly to Frankfurt for only $2500. Most other East Coast fares range between $2700 to $3000.

From the West Coast, you can fly between San Francisco and London for only $3100, making it perhaps the best deal as far as ‘cents per miles’ are concerned. Other West Coast fares range between $3300 and $4000.

From the Mid West, you’ll find the best deals out of Detroit, where you can find fares to most of Europe in the high $2000 / low $3000 range.

Departures need to take place between April 25 and June 30, 2017 while return travel must be completed by June 30, 2018. Tickets need to be purchased 10 days prior to departure.

The fare sale runs through March 30.

Are Circular Runways Coming To Our Airports?

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 18, 2017 | Airports, Featured, Passenger Experience | 5 comments

I came across an interesting video showing research and simulations that are taking place that suggest that a circular, banked runway (Think race track style) is better, safer, and more environmentally sound.

The research is being conduct at The Netherlands Aerospace Center and several advantages are being discovered with a 360 degree runway. One being the idea that you can micro-tune approaches and departures to account for wind conditions; eliminating all those enjoyable cross-wind landings we like to watch on Youtube. The research suggests that you can have 3 aircraft departing and or arriving at the same time which would reduce congestion at major airports. Also with a circular runway, aircraft would spend less time in the air holding patterns over airports which in turn would reduce air and noise pollution near the airports.

Here is the video (Courtesy of BBC) explaining the concept along with simulator work showing the effectiveness of the idea. (PS, if any of you use X-Plane 10 or 11, there’s a circular airport that is available….and it’s a blast!).