While the electronics ban imposed on flights from Middle Eastern and African countries to the US and UK presents a difficult challenge to airlines and their customers, it will not greatly interfere with certain experience personalization initiatives airlines have deployed.
This is the view of Joe Leader, the boss of the Airline Passenger Experience Association, which represents airlines, aviation technology companies responsible for in-flight entertainment and In-Flight Connectivity as well as film and television studios.
Leader says:
"Smartphones contain all the information necessary for the airline to personally identify you. If you look at what Qatar Airways has just done with NFC integration, that's a great example.
"You hold an Android or iOS-based smartphone to it and it downloads your movie, music and TV playlist directly to your IFE system."
Airlines have tried to put a positive spin on the ban and satisfy the needs of their high-revenue flyers. Emirates promoted its large IFE content catalogue immediately following the announcement of the ban.
Etihad Airways launched an iPad loaner program for premium passengers, and Qatar Airways announced that it will loan laptops to Business class flyers who need them, as well as USB sticks to store their work.
But Leader tells us the industry is worried that this may not be enough and that if the ban is prolonged or worse, extended, to other regions, there could be serious repercussions to manufacturers of wireless IFE and wifi suppliers.
"I admire how Emirates, Qatar and Etihad are working to make the best of a bad situation with the electronics ban.
"The amount of content that these carriers have could keep you entertained for the entire flight, but passengers want their personal electronics. It takes away tremendously from the in-flight experience to have to put those in the cargo hold."
APEX studies of passenger habits onboard suggest that ban extending to tablet devices as especially problematic,
"I see a world where most passengers would most frequently use their tablet with the phone, and we've just taken one of those away."
While Leader emphasizes that security is the top priority for all aviation industry stakeholders, he says the approach of other governments to this security risk seems more sustainable in the long term.
"We really want what Australia did just this past week, which was to provide government approved solutions for more thorough vetting of electronics that meets security criteria and passenger experience expectations.
"We are very concerned that the ban could easily expand. All it takes is one actor to successfully make it into Europe or Asia or another area that is not affected by the ban to trigger an overnight ban which could affect airlines on a world-wide basis.
"That's why we have to utilize this firewall in the Middle East, to develop better screening processes to make certain that the threat never comes onboard.
"If this ban expands it would cause a horrific cascade effect across our industry from wifi providers to in-flight entertainment providers of Bring Your Own Device entertainment.
"It introduces a new variable that was never expected in building passenger experience."
Alternatives to the ban, such as adding functionality which allows embedded IFE systems would be impractical at this time Leader says, and might not satisfy customers.
"They were not designed like that. You would need enable Bluetooth keyboards, intelligent iOS or Android interfaces. This would only come about if the electronics ban is long term.
Aside from Business class, the screen resolution and distance is not necessarily the most conducive for a work environment."
The industry has been considering LED projected IFE features which might include turning the tray table into a virtual keyboard, but these technologies are remote.
The best solution is to find a way to end the ban, without compromising security. Leader is hopeful this will happen soon, as device screening procedures are refined.
"Both the US and the UK will work towards a solutions-oriented approach because it will provide more security than placing electronics in the cargo hold.
"We are taking all these laptops and Lithium Ion powered devices and placing them together in a centralized area in the cargo hold.
"That creates a whole other issue as there are specific bans on multiple Lithium-Ion batteries being together in the cargo hold for fire suppression issues. I think that the solution mitigates an immediate threat with a potential new danger.
"The solution, if the problem expands, cannot be to take away everyone's personal electronics."
Related reading:
UK follows US ban on electronic devices on some flights
IATA chief: Find alternative to electronics ban now
