Easing of uk hand baggage restrictions
 

Breaking news on BBC is that larger uk hand baggage allowances will be introduced next week, also that some liquids and things like toothpaste and shaving foam will be allowed.. Details awaited

Excellent news...thanks for providing the reference. I am anxious to learn the details of the relaxed restrictions. Please post when you have time.

Thanks

Flew LGW - MAD this morning. Saw lots of passengers with hand luggage quite a bit larger than the standard box posted at all check in counters.

On the way out of the plane I asked the FA about this, pointing to two backpackers (this was an EZ flight) with packs at least twice the permitted size.

She said that it all depends. Some people sail right through and others are turned back to check in some items. She also said that some people bring a nearly-empty bag into the secure area, then fill up with duty free.

Somehow the pair I spotted seemed more headed to a beachside campsite than hearty duty free shoppers, but you never can tell.

the announcement is meant to be on tuesday, so watch for some serious leaking on monday, with the implementation from next weekend (23rd sept)

Thank GOD. I flagged this yesterday in Newsstand (there was a brief mention in the FT) but hadn't heard any confirmations until now. I am transiting through LHR on the 23rd and 28th, on a short trip for which I only need a small bag. I have been wringing my hands over the prospect of having it get lost in both directions in the labyrinth of Heathrow's baggage transfer system. Hoping that the gods smile on me and I will be able to do carry-on!

keep an eye on the BA board as well then - it will be discussed ad nauseum there, as currently the restrictions are affecting all of us. There's already a thread, but nothing very substantive - it kind of became a list of things we'd successfully smuggled through :o

Just my luck to have bad timing - am flying home LHR-JFK on the 19th...oh well....less schlepping onto and off the plane, but more waiting upon landing :mad:

for words of scant comfort, there would be no guarantee that the TSA will allow the changes the UK government makes onto US bound planes.. there may be scant change TATL :(

(Although obviously, we are hoping!)

The TSA already allows all the changes that I have heard proposed ... and has for at least a week (there have been several sets of changes since Aug. 10). For example the TSA allows most women's cosmetics that the UK does not allow; and there never was a carryon size restriction. So what changes that the UK government is making is it that requires TSA to make a corresponding change?

Good point; I have gotten used to "flyin' dry" and buying shaving cream and toothpaste at my destinations. Anything to avoid checking my trusty roll-a-board! ^

The UK is allowing toothpaste again. The TSA currently bans this (according to tsa.gov). As my toothbrush, toothpaste, and contact solution are the only reason I'm currently checking a bag, I hope the TSA follows the UK's lead. After all, the plot originated in the UK in the first place.

Still no word on why I can bring thermite on board an airplane but not toothpaste!

Actually, the UK restrictions are generally only on what you can take through the security checkpoint. Anything you can buy beyond security can be carried on board. So this goes beyond toothpaste: it includes all toiletries you can buy in the airside shops.

The only exception to this is that you still can't take liquids and gels etc. onto US-bound flights even if bought in the airside shops.

The size restriction still makes packing for a weekend difficult. Hopefully that'll be one of the things that'll be resolved next week.

we're not allowed to carry liquids on bought airside to US - we are already allowed to do that to any other destination ex UK. I don't expect that to change, since that's a worldwide edict in place from any OP to the US (or it was last weekend, it may have changed since then, but I haven't seen anything to suggest it has).

But my post was really made to highlight the fact that just because the UK changes it's restrictions, there is no guarantee that the TSA will follow suit, or that there will be any continuity between the two authorities. I presume you've been following the many threads on BA where passengers have been trying to read the UK rules in a US context, believing that because it's allowed in the US it is the same in the UK? It's caused quite a large amount of confusion, and I was just trying to highlight that the rules are still likely to be different between the TSA and the UK.

The Times reports that:

a) restrictions may be relaxed in size, to 56 x 45 x 25 cms
b) may be announced tomorrow (Monday18 Sep)
c) may be implemented on Friday (22 Sep)

Article does not say when two bags may be allowed. Article does suggest that Airports are insisting on restrictions, whereas airlines want relaxation.

Just to go off-topic, it is beginning to look more like a typical supplier (airport) service quality mismatch compared to customer (airline) service expectation. This might be reasonable if the supplier is not paid enough to provide the service requested, but would be unreasonable if the customers are paying enough but the supplier just won't do it. Since the payments from airlines to airports are regulated, and airlines cannot pay the full price of extra screening now required (and hence cannot charge the flyers), then we may be stuck with restrictions. I for one would be happy to pay another GBP 2 on the ticket to take standard IATA and laptop bags on board.

regards, Talisman

Thanks for posting this report.

Sorry if I'm being dim, but isn't 56 x 45 x 25 cm the standard bag size anyway? I know that if it's one bag only, it's still a restriction from what some airlines were allowing, but one standard bag would be a good start.

Slight improvement
 

Latest update from DfD in London:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...ut_612280.hcsp

Larger hand luggage (56 cm x 45 cm x 25 cm ) allowed from tomorrow, but liquid ban at security still in place. Musical instruments permitted again in the cabin.

Thanks so much for posting this. I am soooo happy now! Who needs toothpaste...at least I won't be walking around in dirty clothes because my bag got lost at LHR.

I'm still trying to translate this.

You can't carry liquids, etc. through security but you CAN buy them in the terminal and then take them on the plane? Boots must be ecstatic!

Except to US, right?

Yes and yes, but this was already the case before today's most recent changes.

I've just been thinking about this myself.

The last few trips that I've done, the size restriction has meant that I have had to check something anyway. So I've just thrown my own toothpaste, deodorant, etc. into that bag and used stuff from the lounge for the bare necessities.

But now that I can bring a weekend bag again, I think I'm more likely to go shopping at Boots because I will resume carrying everything on - which means that I must shop before I fly.

Now remind me, is it still only one minute from the front door of the T1 Terraces to the new location of Boots? :D

Flew out of Gatwick Sunday (9/17). Carryon size (a wooden insert over the usual box) prohibited anything like a normal carryon. We stuffed as much as we could into a small shoulder bag and checked the carryons. They tossed the shoulder bag and found my toilet kit -- grabbed out some athlete's foot cream. Everything else was stuffed into the suitcase, having had a bad experience on ORD getting to LHR the previous week.

All in all, they were essentially allowing nothing bigger than a purse, and no liquids or gels of any kind.

So if they've changed, I didn't see it.

I have no idea how you'd get through with a laptop bag, since most of them would not fit into the new size restrictions. I'd sure hate to check a laptop.

You must be flying with a very big laptop... got mine to fit in the tiny sizer without any problem.

Anyway, it soon won't be an issue any more....

Actually, I was thinking of the bag they usually travel with, with the mouse and power brick and so on.

And that slot was pretty small.

My laptop bag fits, with all the gubbins. Trick is to not have an oversize laptop or an oversize laptop bag ;) And if I carry the laptop, I can't carry much else, and trying to fit my handbag inside it would be a nightmare :(

And the change is due to happen from tomorrow - hence the lack of variation on the flights you have already taken.

One point to note - still only one bag to be allowed on. Not one bag and a handbag etc as it was before :(

The ONLY change to the rules is that the bag size is bigger - and not all airlines (eg Ryanair) are going to allow the full 56x45x25.

This is a wild exaggeration. Both of my laptop bags are significantly smaller than the current permitted size, and the bag that I actually travel with and have successfully got into the sizers is actually a laptop backpack - ie enough for laptop plus bits, and also other personal things on top.Plainly you didn't see the words "From Friday 22 September", either.

This is a major improvement, though. It will allow me to fly with only carry-on rather than being forced to check my bag (and then have it get lost). I am the kind of person who can travel for weeks with a rollaboard, so it is a massive positive for me that I can now carry on all of my baggage. Buying toothpaste at my destination is a minor issue. And I will live without conditioner for my hair. :)

Ditto. Still can't bring that nice duty free with me though (can't get it airside UK) :td: It would also be nice to be allowed a 2nd small bag/personal items.

If the bit about Ryanair is true, it seems a bit ironic given how vocal Ryanair was against the recent security measurements.

It certainly is true - here's FR's website page - and it certainly is ironic. Their maximum size is 55cm x 40cm x 20cm.

Yes, the loss of the "personal item" (which is allowed on US flights) is a challenge. I'm just going to have to stuff my new shoulder bag, which I bought three weeks ago in response to the OLD size restrictions, into my new suitcase, which I bought last night in response to the NEW size restrictions. :rolleyes:

I flew LH from Man to FRa a couple of weks ago and the size of luggage you can take on board was mail box size and they were enforcing it big style, the security staff at MAN seem to be on mission right now as they are lackig fire power but use their voices instead to humiliate people who dont understand what the rules are. I even had to check in my suit carrier which is ultralight with a very expensive suit inside, luckily it came out all OK at TPE

Well anyone who would fly Ryanair deserves it. Those guys are so contemptous of their customers, it is not even funny. Its only a matter of time before they come out with a scheme where you buy a ticket and then you incur an additional fee if you actually turn up to fly! Its the only thing left that they dont do!

Ryanair is still less contemptuous of its customers than the imbeciles in charge of the TSA and DfT are.

Report on my connection through LHR this morning (24 Sept)
 

Toting my newly purchased bag, exactly 56 cm x whatever it is, I flew PHL-LHR (BA 66) last night and am sitting in the T1 First lounge now. Security and boarding in PHL was no problem for the BA flight, as usual--by the time these flights leave, the terminal is nearly deserted. I put my bag through the X-ray machine and no one opened it--a completely opposite experience from my PHL-ORD flight from the same terminal earlier in the week, when my tiny overnight bag was practically examined with a microscope. So far so good.

Then we arrived at LHR, where I had to transfer from T4 to T1. From the time we touched down in LHR at 8:20 AM, it took fully 90 minutes before I entered the lounge at T1. (And it was only that quick because for once, we did not have to sit on the aircraft for 45 minutes after landing waiting for a stand and then a bus.) The queue for security at T1--actually, three of them, because we had to line up first at the bottom of the escalators, then at the top of the escalators, and then at the X-ray machines--was absolutely unbelievable. Only at the third and last queue was there a "Fast Track" (and I use that term with great irony) for CW and F passengers.

Meanwhile, the baggage size restriction, as well as the one-bag restriction, appears to have been pretty much thrown out the window. Apparently, I didn't need to buy that new smaller bag, which is mildly infuriating. The guy ahead of me in the X-ray line had a huge, overstuffed bag that looked to measure at least 45 cm in both width and depth, not to mention well longer than 56 cm. His companion had a standard 22" rollaboard plus another bag. There were no checks at all on bag sizing, nor did I see any bags being inspected at all. The lines were so staggering that if anyone had been stopped for a full inspection, it would have caused a riot, I think.

All in all I am somewhat horrified by the continuing mess at LHR, six weeks after the liquids ban came into force. It is astonishing to me that BAA cannot get their act together to speed the transfer process in any way. If my connection time had been less than 2.5 hours, I would have missed my flight. I am seriously reconsidering my plans to connect through LHR for my next trip--even though I have a reasonable layover of 3.5 hours, and don't think I'll miss my flight, the nightmare of endless queues is starting to seem really, really not worth it.

Thanks for the warning on LHR. Since our last nightmare when we almost missed a connection (even though our inbound landed on time and we had 2 hours layover), I've vowed never to book a connection through there again. And that was in February before the new insanity. My boss is based in London so I sort of have to fly there once in awhile.

He's coming into the US next week; it will be interesting to hear how his departure went.

On my way back, Thursday and Friday, I will be spending a night in London in between my flight from Warsaw and my flight to PHL--I'll try to remember to report back. I have a feeling that check-in and security coming in from outside will be a lot quicker than the inter-terminal transfer (esp. since the benefits of first-class check-in and the security fast track tend to be much more meaningful at that entrance).

Inter-terminal transfer at LHR has always been aggravating, especially in the last three years or so, but now it is just beyond the pale. The minute I get above 1500 tier points, I'm done with it until BAA figures out how to run things.

Agreed. But I'm still glad that even though I'm working on Platinum on AA, I chose CO for our trip to Edinburgh next month just to avoid the dreaded LHR connection (MCI-EWR-EDI instead). Maybe if enough of us do that BAA will get the message.

I flew YYZ/LHR/CPH on Friday/Saturday.

New size restrictions made the flight more comfortable for me (I need lots of stuff to be comfortable on a plane.)

Air Canada would not issue our SAS boarding passes despite checking the bags through to CPH. And there was only 1 hour between flights (which were bought after the latest scares and rules.)

Luckily, there was a concierge at the door of our plane. And we were flying J. She abandoned the celebrity we assume she was greeting, and got us through security. Yes, Security. Despite the fact that we weren't changing terminals, we had to go through security. And the 150 people we cut in front of weren't pleased.

They didn't bat an eye at our bags even though we both had the liquids from the in-flight amenities kit. I did make a show of taking the water bottle out of my bag.

So even if you aren't changing terminals in LHR make sure you have a backup plan because it is a mess and airlines (at least AC) are still acting as if everything is fine.

BTW: Air Canada's email to us inviting us to check in online had incorrect carry-on size information.