It’s a small sign of solidarity with Turkish Airlines against a questionable electronics ban, but I will be flying on the carrier next month from Istanbul to Los Angeles even though it means I will be separated from my laptop for 14 hours.
This was no easy decision. The Los Angeles flight occurs during prime work hours for me so it is not like I’m just going without my laptop overnight–
Oh yeah, and I’m doing it in economy class.
But why?
Two reasons. First, I want to see what it is like to travel laptop free and how Turkish handles it. I will be traveling with a back-up laptop, which I suppose betrays some lack of confidence in this whole process, but that is more a function of wanting to not even risk the integrity of encrypted client data rather than of fear that my laptop will be stolen.
Two, it is some consolation that with a wireless keyboard and my iPhone 7 Plus with Wi-Fi, I will still be able to stay connected, just not as well as I’d like. I know I don’t need to get on a 14hr flight to try that, but it will serve as a good test case.
I cannot imagine watching movies or sleeping for the bulk of the flight so the question will be simple — will it be a productive flight or will I go stir crazy?
We will soon find out and you can bet I’ll be live tweeting from 35,000 feet.
> Read More: Electronics Ban Workarounds on Emirates, Qatar, and Turkish
> Read More: How to Maximize In-Flight Productivity On Your Mobile Phone
I love this. I have a trip on Turkish at the end of the month. I was concerned about the ban until Turkish set up being able to check electronics at the gate. Since this trip is for vacation this works for me. Looking forward to hearing about your experience.
I flew TK from ORD-IST-ATH-IST-ORD and really didnt need my laptop at all. If your phone has a big enough screen. I’m sure it will be fine 🙂 Just plan ahead. You might even enjoy the flight more.
So I’m thinking if your keyboard is much bigger than your phone that they will force you to check it. The ban isn’t just laptops and iPads. Even cameras, etc. Turkish is strict on security and Gozen Security doesn’t mess around at IST.
Solidarity with who? Terrorists? Anything non-USA? You bloggers are tiresome. Anything that takes away from your 1st class jetsetting is evil to you, not the people who want to cut off heads, rape, murder, anyone who doesn’t believe what they do. Blame them, not those trying to protect you, you self righteous entitled SJW millennial. The ban is there for a reason.
So Turkish Airlines is a terrorist organization? I’ll be in Istanbul and want to fly nonstop back to LA. I also want to show my support to an airline that offers a great product that I believe is being unreasonably targeted by a protectionist measure disguised as a national security problem.
Having served in the USAF and White House, I’d expect you to have more respect for the serious national security challenge associated with terrorist groups controlling large swathes of territory and plotting to evade existing aviation security measures.
It’s exactly having worked in the WH and USAF that I can recognize the difference between smoke and fire.
I do hope that this policy will help eradicate terrorism rather than encourage it. I have doubts.
I had no idea you still had access to the same information that the decision makers have.
I flew BOM-IST-ORD on Monday (3/27). BOM tried to tell me I ‘had’ to check my electronics. No. They let me keep to IST. At IST, it was a cluster because they had 3 people to take care of gate checking the entire plane – 1 person at a time. In addition, the security check decided I couldn’t even have my bluetooth mouse. All in, i had 6 “electronics” that needed to be cataloged and checked.
We ended up getting off the gate almost an hour late.
On arrival, however, the electronics were handled by several arrival agents (4 of them I recall) and I had my items before the checked luggage was even coming off the belt.
I’m TK Elite and I started the journey thinking it was going to be my last TK flight for a while due to the hassle, but it also ended up being my absolute best in-flight experience on TK ever.
Solidarity? Well let’s just remember exactly who you are showing solidarity with: The Turkish government owns 49% of the airline, and the de facto number is likely well north of that when you figure in the “private” ownership. Erdogan is diligently working to turn his country into an Islamic theocracy, while also rattling off threats at the EU. So all it takes is a questionable electronics ban to compel you to solidarity with this regime?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying everyone should refuse to fly an airline based on it’s government ties. Sometimes there just aren’t many options to get where you need to go. But your use of “solidarity” implies that you are going out of your way to proactively show your support for this airline, and necessarily, it’s ownership. This is unfortunate.
I flew Qatar on Monday and I was really impressed with how they handled the ban. Flew HBE-DOH-LAX with a 10 hour connection in DOH. At check-in in HBE, they allowed me to keep my laptop so that I could work up until I got to the gate for my LAX flight. When I got to the gate in DOH they packaged my laptop in front of me in a sturdy cardboard box with a bunch of air packs. The box was then sealed so that it would be very obvious if it had been tampered with. After landing in LAX I had the box back in my possession within 5 minutes of arriving at baggage reclaim. I was required to show my baggage tags and ID to a QR rep at baggage reclaim to retrieve my device.
I would have preferred to have had my laptop with me for the flight. This felt like a very reasonable solution give the new rules. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with QR again while the ban is in effect.
Well, I suppose we can wait a year or two for the review once all the 2015 reviews and recycled reviews are posted!
BTW, agree with Wes on Turkey