Just when you’d begun to slowly let go of the hell of getting out of the city for Thanksgiving, here comes another story to compound the awfulness of holiday travel and stoke your fears about terrorism. NPR reports that not only are U.S. and U.K. counterterrorism officials worried that Al Qaeda may be planning an attack around the holidays, they may decide to ban carry-on bags to help prevent it.
U.S. officials confirmed to NPR that they’ve received intelligence that suggests Al Qaeda may be planning to plant bombs on five different commercial flights bound for Europe around Christmastime. In order to prevent such an attack, they’re considering placing an all-out ban on carry-on baggage, so you can forget trying to avoid airline baggage fees by stuffing everything into an overpacked roller bag.
Oh, but there’s more:
Another possible remedy: banning electronic devices from the passenger cabin. Officials are discussing whether to require that electronics such as cellphones, iPads and computers be placed in the cargo hold with checked baggage, which goes through a much more rigorous screening process. Detecting a bomb, if there is one, would be more likely.
Just another reason to never leave your house.
