The US Electronics Ban Is Now Completely Over

Today Saudia announced that they’re no longer subjected to the US electronics ban, meaning that you can once again take electronic devices larger than smartphones into the cabins of their US-bound flights.

Flights from #KSA to #USA Granted Clearance on Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs)

Read morehttps://t.co/X6lEUalXab#electronics_unbanned pic.twitter.com/HpKRc7DPPd

— السعودية (@Saudi_Airlines) July 19, 2017

Saudia was the last of nine airlines to be subjected to the electronics ban, meaning that the US electronics ban is now officially over.

Saudia’s business class product on US-bound flghts

The ban first began on March 21, so it was just over four months from when it was introduced to when it was discontinued.

I’m so happy to see this ban gone, and instead replaced with enhanced security, which is less of an inconvenience to passengers, and also a whole lot safer.

I genuinely thought we wouldn’t see the end of this, because typically when new security policies are introduced they stick around, no matter how nonsensical they are. So this ban having lasted for less than four months is much better than I was expecting.

As a reminder, here’s the timeline with which other airlines had the ban lifted:

• The electronics ban was lifted for Etihad flights out of Abu Dhabi as of July 2, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for Emirates flights out of Dubai as of July 5, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for Turkish flights out of Istanbul as of July 5, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for Qatar flights out of Doha as of July 5, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for Royal Jordanian flights out of Amman as of July 9, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for Kuwait Airways flights out of Kuwait as of July 9, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for EgyptAir flights out of Cairo as of July 12, 2017
• The electronics ban was lifted for Royal Air Maroc flights out of Casablanca as of July 13, 2017

Saudia 777 at Riyadh Airport

If you are traveling from one of the above airports to the US, you can expect additional security screening at the gate. Specifically, your electronics may be tested before you’re able to enter the gate area for your flight, so I’d recommend arriving a bit early.

Yay, yay, yah! I have a Saudia first class flight booked for later this year from Riyadh to New York, so I’m very pleased I’ll be able to take my laptop onboard. I intentionally booked the return for later this year in hopes of the ban being lifted, and it looks like that paid off.

In the meantime, no changes have been made to the UK electronics ban, which applies for flights from ,Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.