UK laptop ban will cripple business class productivity
By Tom Foremski - August 10, 2006
The UK ban on laptops in planes leaving the UK or transferring through, is going to be a big blow to productivity for business travellers. Flights to the West Coast of California can take 12 hours or more, (equal to one and a half UK business days or one US business day.)
The UK is a major destination for many Silicon Valley executives. And London has been making a big push in Silicon Valley and in southern California to position itself as an ideal place to site European headquarters. Could the laptop ban hurt London's ambitions to attract more companies?
The ban comes in the wake of the discovery by British police of a plot to blow up an airplane.
The laptop ban, however, might enable airlines to offer travellers in-flight rentals of laptops. Users could bring their data and applications on USB flash drives.
August 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Silicon Valley | Subscribe to SVW
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Comments (5)
This report is a little naive, no? Bring your data on a flash stick? The ban extends to all electronic devices. Not only that, but a rented laptop would hardly come kitted out with the applications needed by a broad section of the community. Macs, WinTels, Linux?
Posted: August 11, 2006 2:39 AM
Stephen, since a USB Flash drive needs to be connected to a laptop or PC to become an electronic device maybe they'll allow it...? And you can get your apps onto a Flash drive, esp. the newer ones.
Posted: August 11, 2006 2:09 PM
I guess I would choose renting a laptop over not being able to do any work at all during a transatlantic flight. I'm just wondering if the airline would have enough units to hand out to every passenger that wants one.
Posted: August 11, 2006 2:21 PM
Maybe this will give some encouragement to the use of video conferencing, cutting out the need for the long flight and saving some carbon emissions on the way?
Posted: August 12, 2006 6:27 AM
Having the plane you are riding on being blown up by terrorists is also bad for productivity.
I can't imagine putting my laptop in my bags though - the airlines have proven themselves to be quite good at delaying, destroying and losing my bags.
Posted: August 12, 2006 8:21 AM