Smart bag ban goes into effect January 15 for many airlines

As a reminder, several airlines are implementing restrictions on smart luggage due to fire hazard concerns. Passengers must remove the lithium ion battery on any smart bag to be checked or it will not be accepted. While most carriers won’t make passengers remove the smart bag battery on carry-on luggage, the battery still needs to be removable in case the bag must be checked.  Carriers who are implementing the new policy include Alaska Airlines, Allegiant, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest and United. International carriers implementing the ban include Air Canada, British Airways and Qantas.

DHS sets new rules for electronic device searches 

To combat mounting concerns over privacy violations, the Department of Homeland Security updated its rules regarding the search of electronic devices by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Agents are allowed to inspect data physically on a device but not things stored remotely via cloud storage. CBP inspectors must ask all owners to turn off a network connection before the inspection is made. The new directive also says all passwords provided by customers to agents must be destroyed immediately after a search.