The new personal device travel restrictions are already being implemented in South Africa.
Although the SA Civil Aviation Authority has not issued any regulatory procedure, airlines boarding passengers last night with through tickets to destinations in the US and UK via affected airports, were told to pack their electronic devices, except cellphones, in their luggage.
Officials said passengers should expect delays and some confusion as airlines wrestled with implementing a system imposed at short notice.
South African airports have managed to dramatically reduce the rate of pilferage from baggage and eTNW understands that the pilferage levels are now 40% below the global average measured by Iata.
As there is no regulation in place in SA, check-in staff cannot compel passengers on the leg out of South Africa to put electronic devices in the hold. They are warning passengers that, as they will not have access to their luggage in their transit hub, unless they stay overnight and recheck in their luggage, they must expect their electronic devices to be confiscated before departing on the final leg.
eTNW understands that the measures were triggered when a device exploded on an aircraft in February when an official with airside access handed a laptop with an explosive device to a passenger.
The problem is the possibility of such collusion. Luggage routed to the cargo hold is less susceptible to this.
The affected services from SA are for US-bound passengers to Istanbul, Cairo, Jeddah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Istanbul is also one of the airports affected for UK-bound passengers.
