Laptop loans offered by Qatar Airways

The ban on laptops in planes cabins did came as a big surprise to everyone. This ban prohibited electronic devices larger than phones in cabins on flights from airports in ten countries such as UAE, Qatar, and Turkey etc.

In response to the US ban, the airlines started bracing themselves with the new measures. Recently, Qatar Airways announced that the airline intends to offer a free laptop rental service to passengers traveling on US-bound flights. But this facility will be offered only to business class passengers. It’s not just that placed the electronics ban on passengers, the United Kingdom instituted its own ban shortly afterward. But the British ban does not include the passengers flying from Qatar Airways.

According to the promotional images that have been posted by Qatar Airways, the laptop offered will be 2015-model 15-inch MacBook Pro. This might be just for marketing purposes as the passengers might end up using a ChromeBook or any variety of Windows PC. Not only laptops, Qatar Airways also intend to offer its passengers an access to a USB memory stick even before boarding the flight. This will allow the passengers to copy whatever files or documents they want to for working on them later on. But depriving economy class passengers of this facility is very perceptive of Qatar Airways as it completely understands that business class passengers are a huge profit center for airlines. But for economy class passengers this might not be a big issue, as it’s hard to productive even if you are sitting in business class during a flight.

Both the US and UK bans on electronics larger than mobiles shrink the value proposition of business class travel. But initiatives like free laptop service might help in reducing the damage caused by the ban. Airlines are choosing different methods to attract passengers such as Etihad intends to offer WiFi service and iPad to premium passengers for free whereas Emirates has allowed passengers to use their laptops until the last minute before boarding the plane.

Via: The Next Web