• How would connecting passengers relinquish their devices in Europe, say, if they are traveling from Accra to Atlanta via Amsterdam, and using a laptop on the first flight but not the second?

• Are U.S. airports equipped to handle additional screening volumes given that they already screen incoming international baggage, plus connecting bags?

• Would travelers’ bags be delayed upon arrival from Europe? If so, by how long?

And if answering those questions isn’t enough to generate a migraine, an expanded ban raises a well-documented safety risk that probably will.

Flying mountains of electronic devices with lithium-ion batteries in airline cargo holds presents a risk of fire. FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. forbid large commercial shipments of these batteries after in-flight combustion caused two jumbo jets to crash in 2010 and 2011.

Last year, the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization prohibited cargo shipments of lithium-ion batteries aboard passenger aircraft. Pilots unions and others had pressed for the ban, given the fires, and some have questioned whether even smaller consumer devices powered by the same batteries should also be allowed in checked luggage.

“A Hobson’s choice, for sure.”

Smelling smoke and fighting fires in the cabin is easier than finding one in the airplane cargo hold, and any U.S. decision on expanding the laptop ban should consider the battery implications, said Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in New York and a former executive at four U.S. airlines.

“Given passengers cannot be presumed to know how to properly pack spare and in-use batteries and devices, this proposed order has very serious safety implications for EVERY flight on which it is imposed,” he wrote in an email.

In terms of reducing airport hassles, airlines have raised at least two ideas with U.S. officials: Performing explosives trace detection on every item brought into the airline cabin and installing smaller CT scanners at some airport gates. This type of scan is used on checked luggage but not at passenger checkpoints.

“Airlines may wish they didn’t suggest those measures” given the technology cost, processing times, and the likelihood of more missed connections and late departures, Mann said. “A Hobson’s choice, for sure.”

A device would need to contain at least eight ounces of explosive material to cause damage, and newer airline designs can withstand the impacts of as much as 1 pound, said Roth, a former U.S. Secret Service agent. Larger laptops could accommodate that much material but most smaller tablets and smartphones cannot, he said.