There’s tons of FUD flying around (sorry, poor choice of words) in the aftermath of that botched terrorism attack on the Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.
It looks like, for the most part, domestic flights — as in starting and ending in the United States — are unaffected, which is good news for all you folks sporting new Android phones after the holidays.
But international flights headed to the U.S. are subject to some new rules, as detailed in a Transportation Security Administration Security Directive and obtained by Gizmodo. In addition to additional screening at the point of departure:
1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
2. Passenger access to carry-on baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
3. Disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.
4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks.
5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
Sorry, folks, but you’ll have to put your Android phones in their full upright and locked positions for the last hour of your flight. Hopefully we’ll see everything calm down soon. And if all this FUD has you freaking out a little, we’ll point you to this excellent piece by fivethirtyeight.com about the odds of an incident on any given flight.
Be sure to check TSA.gov and with your airline before flying, however, as things are likely to change. (And there’s more analysis on this by our Canadian pals at The iPhone Blog.)