Turkish Airlines on Tuesday said it was one of the airlines subject to a US ban on passengers carrying electronics larger than cell phones aboard flights bound for the US. "It has been decided by the relevant authorities that electronic devices larger than cell phones or smart phones should not be allowed inside the cabin," on US-bound flights, Turkish Airlines said, adding that medical devices were exempt from this. US officials said Monday that passengers on some US-bound foreign airline flights will have to check electronic devices larger than a cell phone once US authorities formalise a new ban in response to an unspecified terrorism threat.<br/>
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A 17-year-old Tennessee girl was denied a flight back to the US over the weekend because a Turkish airline didn't provide necessary passenger information, but a resolution is expected shortly, the TSA said Tuesday. In Facebook posts, Sabrina Sadaf Siddiqi said her daughter, Zubaidah Alizoti, was denied a flight home Sunday after the family and friends visited Mecca, the Muslim holy site in Saudi Arabia. The incident unfolded amid heightened scrutiny of President Donald Trump's push to severely limit travel from several Muslim-majority countries, which multiple courts have blocked. After Alizoti was denied her flight, the TSA got the information it needed from the airline and expects a resolution shortly, agency spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said. Turkish Airlines didn't directly answer questions about the issue. Siddiqi wrote that family members stayed with Alizoti when she couldn't board the plane. She asked for prayers as the family tries again to fly home from Turkey to Atlanta on Wednesday. "International carriers are tasked with providing security information to the federal government before a passenger can fly into the United States," Koshetz said via email. "That did not happen in this case."<br/>
With the peak summer travel season rapidly approaching, United Tuesday unveiled a new, fully-redesigned and consolidated security checkpoint in Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of United's principal hubs and a major departure point for flights to Europe. The redesigned checkpoint includes dedicated Premier Access and TSA Precheck security lanes. But more importantly, the checkpoint also features 17 state-of-the art automated screening lanes, making Terminal C at Newark the first checkpoint in the nation to exclusively feature the new lanes. United introduced several automated lanes at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in advance of the busy Thanksgiving travel season last year. A United spokesman said the airline is considering adding more automated lanes at O'Hare, but no decision has been made. United's chief operations officer Greg Hart said of the new security checkpoint at Newark Liberty: "The opening of our fully redesigned state-of-the-art checkpoint in Newark — New York's premier trans-Atlantic gateway — continues our commitment to use the latest technology to improve the airport experience for our customers."<br/>
Lufthansa will deploy Airbus 380 jet airliners on its Bangkok-Frankfurt route in October to replace the existing Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets. Dirk Grossmann, Lufthansa's general manager for Thailand and the Mekong region, said the aircraft change mirrors an anticipated increase in travel demand on the route. It also reflects that Thailand is one of the most important growth markets in Lufthansa Group's network, he said. The change will raise Lufthansa's daily capacity on the route by more than 35% during the winter flight timetable set for the A380 deployment, which runs from October this year to March 2018. With the A380, Lufthansa will debut a first-class cabin on its Bangkok-Frankfurt service, which is not available on the existing aircraft type. <br/>