Topic: Harsher travel regulations might ban portable gaming on aircraft? (UPDATE: Safe to game again!)

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=109094

I'm sure you guys heard of that foiled plane bombing in Detroit on Christmas, and the TSA isn't gonna stand for terrorism in any way possible.

So how does it affect us? First the shoe bomber = us taking off shoes for screening, then that liquid bomb assembly plot = no outside liquid, now this folied plot may target our electronics.

Even though no word has been said about it, (being heavy speculation) I'm a bit upset at its possibility but is it really necessary? It's not like some random dude (or kid for that matter) would be on his/her PSP or DS playing some game and it instantly blows up or something.

I'll just ask from here on out, American N-Lifers.

Yay or nay (if this happens)?

I'm split for some reasons because villains are crafty in these modern times and I love portable gaming. So why the hell would this be a threat?

UPDATE: http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=109235

Well, I'm relieved.

I never use air travel, and I don't use portable consoles, so I could care less.

While this doesn't affect me much, especially since I haven't been on an airplane since 2003, this will suck air for portable gamers who go on airplanes. Is banning portable gaming really that necessary?
_{you need to start watching your mouth, dude. i'm tired of editing out your curse words. -- TBD}

I'm affected because I'm a regular air traveller (been flying solo since 7 years old ) and this is a slap in the face for portable gamers who use air travel (like me).

What annoys me isn't the possibility of the ban but the fact that I've gone through about four sites now following links from the GoNintendo source and have yet to find out what the guy did or planned to do that would encourage security to ban all electronics, even portable systems. Can anyone enlighten me here? I got the basic info that he wanted to blow up the plane, but that's (unfortunately) not new, so what was specific to this incident relating to electronics?

Personally, I'd rather read a book, anyway. Don't have to worry about it being charged, and when I'm done with it I can just leave it on the plane or at the airport for someone else to enjoy. But I rarely travel, and when I do I avoid planes if possible. Too many psychopaths in the world. Sure, car travel is statistically more dangerous, but at least if I'm behind the wheel I have a degree of control over my fate.

And when I do travel by plane, I want every security measure possible taken, so if a ban of electronics somehow makes us safer, bring it on.

I don't use airplanes so I really don't care what they ban.

as long as they don't ban books, who cares? there are other ways to divert yourself while on a plane.

Quoted for truth. I think that, no matter the inconviences, this is what it's all about. Dying sucks.

I can't see this happening. Portable electronics includes laptops, and how many business people would be pissed if they couldn't do work on long flights. What seems more reasonable would be having to take out all electronics and have them x-rayed separately like they do for laptops.

Honestly though, I think this is GoNintendo just theorizing about possible avenues "harsher travel regulations" could take. According to the BBC article I read yesterday, he had some sort of explosive powder/liquid material. It was the same material the shoe bomber used actually. I can see possibly the extra scanning of electronics to see if they've been rigged to act as detonators, but the explosive was on his body, not in his PSP. If they're banned, I'd bet it would only be temporarily, like they did for liquids, until they can come up with a more secure screening process.

Although how effective any of these measures would be, is a matter of question. There have been controlled trials done and more times than not, they successfully sneak fake bombs on. I guess if you can't bring anything on the plane, then that makes less stuff for them to look through.

Great pitch-ins I see.

@Token Girl
I think GN is centering it on a theory which would relate to gamers in particular. Sure, if they did, it would have to be temporary.
Too many psychopaths in this worlds anyway. If they use books as bombs, they pretty much have the wrath of air travellers against them.

@Adam From what I heard on CNN, these Nigerian national apparently had explosives given to him with specific instructions from Yemen, and amazingly, he passed through screening and checks thoroughly (as reported by airport officials). He actually got screened twice: first time in Lagos, Nigeria then in Amsterdam. He tried to detonate it apparently, passengers heard a pop, and smelt smoke, then this dude tackled him and they held him until police arrived.

I love the bravery of passengers sometimes, like Flight 93 back on 9/11.
Why should one guy hold you under fear when you have the strength to kick his @$$ with a few other people backing you?

Anyways, the TSA may be jerks at times but they jerk us to keep the airports safe.

My thoughts exactly.

How do they think we survive these long flights without games.

i live in detroit and was in the central downtown area where the plane would have hit, Its weird i was the only one in my group of friends to notice that we could've died afterwards.

Wow. Some shock there.
Glad the plane didn't blow up and kill you. :s

Now this would really suck.

Beeing on the plane for over 14 hours and only read a book??? come on... Not even MP3 players??? Just listen to music I don't like on the air plane radio??? There are even game consoles on the plane. Just freeware games that are very simple but still games. I could watch a movie. But all the time just the same??? I need a little bit divercity...

Everything u take on the plane gets checked. so how would u blow up a plane with electronics??? There isn't a bomb on the plane u can activate with the electronics.

I don't get it. Like the liquid limitation. Makes no sense at all. There a liquid explosives that will blow the plane up even with 100 ml, that are see through... no way to find out that it is an explosive.

Well, the liquid limitation may not make it impossible to sneak in harmful liquids, but it certainly makes it more difficult. And you point out exactly the reason it isn't just checked: there's no way to find out that it is an explosive. The plane provides drinks, so who cares?

Also, what are you saying, "There isn't a bomb on the plane u can activate with the electronics." There most certainly are bombs that can be activated with electronics. Haven't you seen any action movie ever? How he got the bomb on in the first place, I don't know. Seems like that should be their concern, the bomb itself, not the trigger. But for whatever reason I can't find almost any details on what actually happened in this incident, except for what Sylverstone said, which still leaves out what device he used and how the bomb got there.

So I don't understand what happened or how banning electronics will help -- that doesn't make sense to me yet -- but if it somehow does help, bring it on. My advice to anyone upset about this: if you're going to be that bored on a long flight and don't have the attention span to read a book, magazine, or newspaper, talk to someone, do some sudoku, or whatever; just take something to put yourself to sleep and spare the rest of the world your crying (or sleep deprive yourself the night before if sleep medication isn't your thing). Man has endured centuries without iPods and PSPs. I think we can do it for the duration of a plane flight.

Any measure that keeps me alive during a plane flight, is one I'm willing to accept. Typically, I prefer to drive, and if the trip is less than 12 hours, I usually take a work vehicle to avoid having to sit in airports and in a crowded plane filled with idiots. This year, I have to go cross-country twice, and I'm really not looking forward to it. I was hoping that me, my carry on, and my NDS and iPod would see me through. If I'm reduced to my carry-on and a best seller ... so be it.

One thing I most certainly will take a look at though, when I start my overseas traveling ... is looking at the point of origin for some of these flights. I'd like to avoid any flight that originates in Africa, their security measures seem to be somewhat lax.

It looks like right now any new regulations are only concerning international flights; there aren't any changes for domestic flights (yet). Currently, along just generally longer/stricter security screenings, passengers on international flights can only carry on one bag, and they can screen that bag again at the gate when you board. For the last hour of the flight, passengers must remain seated without any personal items on their laps. I'm thinking that could mean no reading or games or anything. I hope they sort out the carry-on thing before next summer, since I'll probably need to max out my baggage limit to bring my year's worth of stuff back home from China. I'd be annoyed about the last hour with no stuff, but usually at the end of a 12 hour flight, I'm too dead to read or game anyways. For shorter flights, it would be annoying, but I don't really fly internationally that often, so it's not too big a deal.

I had to fly back when the liquid thing happened, 24 hours on planes and in airports with no toothpaste is no fun. When they first started the rules, you couldn't even bring liquids on the plane that you got after security, so it was pretty nasty. Luckily for now I don't have to worry about it. In China, they didn't enforce the liquid rule (had a separate security lane for US flights), until right before the Olympics. The rest of Asia's like that too for the most part. It's good, because I'll be flying some over my winter break.

Bloody hell.

People are still willing to kill themselves in order to slaughter innocents because a bunch of religiously-inspired nutterswho've been hard done by dogma driven western politicans and all you're worried about is 'I might have to turn my DS off for a few hours'?

A little perspective here?

Yay, more screening. The last three trips I took I got pulled aside for extra screening coming and going, so I can't wait to see what my next trip will involve.