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Comment by untog | Hacker News Reader

This is how they implement the Muslim ban. Piece by piece, bit by bit, they make it utterly infuriating for any Muslim person to travel to the US. Next they'll ban absolutely all liquids, or something.

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Liquids are already banned to a large extent. You have to buy it inside the terminal after you get security clearance.

In most of the airports (if not all) that I have been lately, there are water refilling stations, usually close to the restrooms or after you pass through the security checkpoint. I usually pass security with my plastic bottle empty, and then refill it with those machines.

" there are water refilling stations, usually close to the restrooms or after you pass through the security checkpoint. "

Done that, security check on one flight I was on at boarding forced all liquids to be emptied.

Dubai does that for some weird reason. They didn't use to until last year though.

Nevermind that, I once tried to board a flight in Dubai with a completely empty water bottle. Just before I boarded the plane, security stopped me and rummaged through my bag for a minute or so as though they were looking for something then just threw my empty bottle out, saying it was not allowed. I was thirsty for the whole flight because of that. They did, however, manage to foil my plan of bringing down an A380 with an empty 200ml bottle.

This. Dubai had some major security theatre.

Get off one plane, go through security to the transit terminal.

Wander around, refill water bottles.

Buy some duty free, get it put in a cardboard box with a ziptie.

Go to gate, go through ticket check, some corridors to gate lounge.

Get cardboard box confiscated and put in a pile of similar looking cardboard boxes.

Asked to empty water bottle... where? You can't turn around. Chug a litre of water.

Have bags 'checked', go into lounge, refill water bottle again.

Pee three times.

Still better than flying through any US airport tho.

This is fine for domestic travel, but not nessesarily for travel to the US. Many of these flights have additional security at the gate just prior to boarding. US is way too paranoid

Given that someone already tried to bring down a plane with a laptop bomb, and was nearly successful, maybe a little less cynicism is justified. Here's the relevant excerpt from the CNN article on this:

>The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic devices in order to target commercial aircraft. It's a particular concern at these airports because of screening issues and the possibility of terrorists infiltrating authorized airport personnel, the official said. Flight and cabin crews are not covered by these new restrictions. In February 2016, a bomb hidden inside a laptop detonated aboard a Daallo Airlines flight out of Mogadishu, Somalia. The bomber was killed and a hole was blown in the side of the fuselage. The aircraft landed safely.

Given it's allowed to check laptops I don't find that very convincing. Some countries/airports do have better checked luggage scanning, but I doubt that's something to rely on with ask of these.

Then why limit it to non-US carriers? Are United planes bomb-proof?

It's not based on carrier, but on the country that the flight originates in. Flights from the affected carriers, originating in other countries, are not subject to the new requirements either.

These things are always presented as a legitimate security measure, whether or not they actually are.

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