By Laura Turner
The White House has sent new airport security directives to New Zealand aviation officials, which could see more changes to security checks for passengers flying to the US.
New Zealand officials are now trying to clarify exactly what the new mandates mean for Kiwis. They are currently wading through the new directives, and say a lot of clarification is needed to determine exactly what it means for New Zealand.
Meanwhile on a global scale, security changes have already been dramatic.
Right when airline passengers are standing in the longest queues they probably will all year, security checks are likely to get tighter and the lines longer.
Full body scanners for everyone? If you're flying out of the UK, prime minister Gordon Brown says yes, as soon as possible.
"We'll see, gradually bought in, full body scanners," he say. "They will see checks for explosive traces. That will be done on hand luggage."
And after directives from the White House, passengers travelling to the US will receive more rigorous treatment.
The US is making no secret it will treat passengers from some countries with greater suspicion than others, and there will be no exceptions for anyone travelling through 14 countries the US considers "sponsors of terrorism", like Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, or countries of interest like Afghanistan and Pakistan, among others.
They will will be patted down and 100 percent of their carry-on luggage will be searched.
This is all in the wake of Nigerian man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempting to set off an explosive device on a flight to Detroit on Christmas day.
The White House calls the approach "multi-layered".
The extra security measures put in place at Auckland Airport on Boxing Day will remain in place while New Zealand aviation officials clarify what the new changes mean. Meanwhile US Homeland Security officials will be talking with European airport officials and others around the world in the next few days to brief them on president Barack Obama's findings on airline security.
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