South Florida's Major International Airports Could Be Impacted By Electronics Ban
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Both of South Florida's major international airports are expected to have flights affected by an electronics ban.
And Monday night, CBS News has learned the decision was prompted by intelligence gathered overseas about potential terrorist activities.
The temporary electronics ban will affect passengers flying internationally to the U.S. from fewer than a dozen airports on flights headed directly to the states.
The measure will ban all electronics larger than a cellphone from being placed in carry-on luggage or carried onto an aircraft on certain flights to the U.S. from the Mideast and North Africa.
A U.S. official says the indefinite ban applies to 10 airports serving the cities of Cairo in Egypt; Amman in Jordan; Kuwait City in Kuwait; Casablanca in Morocco; Doha in Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Affected U.S. airports are in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Montreal.
The measure means larger electronic items like laptops, tablets and cameras will need to be placed in checked baggage.
Earlier Monday, Royal Jordanian Airlines posted this tweet notifying their passengers heading to the U.S. about the ban, saying that cellphones and medical devices are exempt from the ban and that the new measure will take effect on Tuesday.
The tweet was later deleted.
At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, there are flights to the Middle East on Emirates airline. The service just began in fall of 2016.
Mohammed Sulaiman was a passenger on the Emirates flight to Dubai Monday evening.
He's from India and has lived in the U.S. for decades.
"It's unfortunate, that's all we can say at this time. Hopefully things will change," he said.
There are also flights at Miami International Airport from the Middle East.
CBS News has learned that the specific instructions about this ban will be sent out overnight.
Airlines will have 96 hours, or 4 days, to put these instructions into place.
If they fail to do so, CBS4's Carey Codd was told there will be penalties.