1. What was the initial reason for the laptop ban on certain flights in March?

2. How many flights/ people could potentially be affected by a new ban?

3. What are the two biggest concerns about this new ban on flights ARRIVING FROM Europe?

4. People have questioned why DHS is not concerned that terrorists would still put bombs in laptops, asking - wouldn’t they still do the same damage if the laptop bombs are placed in the checked luggage? How do experts address this question?

5. Obviously, a ban on laptops and tablets will be extremely inconvenient for travelers - businesspeople trying to work during a flight, parents trying to keep their kids occupied, etc. Re-read paragraphs 15-20. Then watch the videos under “Resources” below the questions.

Politico reports:
“Some luxury airlines affected by the initial ban found ways to lessen the inconvenience: UAE’s Emirates Air said it would offer a ‘laptop and tablet handling service’ that would ‘carefully’ pack the passengers’ devices and return them at the destination, while the UAE’s Etihad Air provided loaner iPads to customers in first and business classes. But such perks are unlikely for the vast majority of U.S. passengers.”

DHS is working to avoid a potential terrorist attack on an airliner to the best of their ability. There is a possibility that laptops and tablets could sometime be banned on flights in the U.S.
a) List some solutions U.S. airlines and airports could use to lessen the inconvenience to passengers.
b) What could technology companies do to address the loss of laptops/tablets during flights?

6. Have you heard the phrases “American ingenuity” or “American ingenuity and know-how”? Ingenuity is defined as: the ability to solve problems in new and clever ways.

Wikipedia describes “Yankee ingenuity":

• Yankee ingenuity is: inventiveness, technical solutions to practical problems, "know-how," self-reliance and individual enterprise associated with the Yankees, who originated in New England and developed much of the industrial revolution in the United States after 1800. The [term] first appeared in the 19th century.
• Yankee ingenuity characterizes an attitude of make-do with materials on hand. It is inventive improvisation, adaptation and overcoming of shortages of materials.
• The term was common worldwide in the wake of World War II, as American forces employed engineering solutions to military problems.
• Today it refers broadly to a typically American pragmatic approach to problem solving instead of traditional methods.

a) Do you believe Americans still have this kind of “ingenuity and know-how” to solve the problems that will be caused by a laptop ban on U.S. airlines? Explain your answer.
b) Ask a parent or a grandparent the same question.