UK Hand Baggage

[beerdrinker]

Isn't the Head Girl (Ruth Kelly) due to make an announcement this month to bring the UK into line with the rest of the world and allow two pieces of Hand Baggage?

["Taylor"]

Why does the UK always seem to be lagging behind? :ugh:

[tired-flyboy]

Great so the budget airlines will probably charge you if you want to take more than one carry on......

more money to the airlines (or am i a cynic??)

[Return to base]

If the uk are the first then they get the blame if something happens, if they lag behind they can say they are being careful so that if an event occurs they can rightly say, in their mind, they were correct, so stop complaining.
Even a 5% chance of the latter is sufficient for the politicians to show off their power in looking after us, remember we are now the nanny state :{



rtb

[View From The Ground]

Hi I think you may find that if a relaxation is introduced it MAY be for premium class passengers only (perhaps applied by those who use a 'fast track' or similar facility. It is this proposal that influential industry bodies have been pushing with the Government. Interesting to see whether a Labour Government would endorse such a non egalitarian proposal!

[old,not bold]

God help the rest of us, as most passengers, many probably grossly obese, struggle to get their TWO overweight bags into the OH lockers before sitting down, having already struggled to get them on board in the first place.

And then the last to board find there's nowhere to put their baggage.

Isn't this a Jetblast or SLF thread?

[WexCan]

Two full size carry-ons is a bit much - no locker space!

One carry-on and one "personal item" - laptop/camera case/small handbag much better methinks.

[backseatjock]

Only downside to VFG's proposal re two bags for 'fastrack' passengers is that at LHR, fastrack is rarely fast, especially in T4 where, more often than not, there is one lane open.

The head drops as you cheerfully head down the corridor after having boarding pass checked, only to find a very slow moving queue for one scanner.

Came through T3 Saturday evening and it was just the same but, rather than have people remove their shoes at first security point, they had a second and separate security check for just shoes!

Hard to understand the logic of this, to be honest. Why not simply ask for shoes to be removed at first check point.

Maybe it is me, but LHR just seems to go further and further backwards as each week of travel takes place.

[christep]

Came through T3 Saturday evening and it was just the same but, rather than have people remove their shoes at first security point, they had a second and separate security check for just shoes!
Hard to understand the logic of this, to be honest. Why not simply ask for shoes to be removed at first check point.The logic is that this is totally voluntary - if you don't feel like taking your shoes off then you just walk straight past. The requirement is simply that random checking covers some proportion (20-30% IIRC) of people and there are enough sheeple out there who volunteer to take their shoes off without being asked that thinking people don't need to be troubled by this.

[RobinB]

YES, I got caught out on this "silly rule". Left FAJS on a BA flight to LHR. left with laptop and camera case (small) as hand luggage. No problem what so ever. Return trip back to JNB from LHR was altogether different. No way - one piece of hand luggae only, so I had no choice but to pack my nice expensive camera into my hold bound suitcase.

I agree that the "hand luggage" is abused by many travellers - bloody hell - if one is not first on board, chances of overhead locker space is slim.

[backseatjock]

christep - don't doubt the theory, but on Saturday evening there was nothing voluntary about being herded into a roped off area, sheep like, and instructed to take shoes off for scanning. This just after passport control beyond initial security checks.

If voluntary rule applies throughout LHR, then I assume same applies in T1 and T4 where everyone has to remove shoes at first security check point.

If you are unlucky enough to depart from gate 27-29 in T1 you also have to go through the same procedure again - for whatever reason!

Work in the aerospace business and fully accept the need for security, but I just can't accept the way things are currently being done at LHR. It's neither consistent, from one terminal to the next, friendly, nor reassuring!

[northeast canuck]

I recently had the pleasure of transiting through LHR - I came off of an international flight which arrived at Terminal 4, then had to transfer to Terminal 1 for my domestic connection, where I was greeted with a huge queue to go through security! This is ridiculous and totally unnecessary. I am transiting from a secure area airside, to another secure area airside without having left the secure area! So why on Earth should I need to clear security again? And to top it all off, they implement all the stupid rules so people who had bought duty free (wine etc) abroad were having to give it up because it was in excess of 100ml! Two carry on bags is acceptable when boarding your international flight but when you have to connect through LHR you now have a problem because you have one bag too many and no way of putting it in your hold baggage, which is in transit.

There were many, many angry people in the queue, many of whom were not even destined for Britain! I would imagine that it is like this every day, day in, day out. The security staff were horrible. Then after passing through this mess, I then transited passport control where the official hardly even looked at me, swiped my passport and didn't even say a single word. Now maybe I am wrong here, but to me this is where the government should be putting in the resources and is where they will be catching "rogue elements", and not worrying about how much toothpaste I am carrying.

Needless to say many people will avoid transiting Heathrow in future. We do have many other options.

Heathrow is a national disgrace.

[lomapaseo]

I always find this kind of discussion to be most illuminating.

I will avoid a transit though those airports like a plague. Should this somehow hurt the aviation economy of those local carriers and transit lounges, so be it.

[AlexL]

i beleive the '2 pieces' of hand luggage rule, as applied every where else i've been lately (apart from the UK :rolleyes:) is one piece of 'standard' hand luggage i.e up to a suitcase 55x45x25, and one other 'specific' bag, such as a camera bag, laptop bag, handbag etc. Not 2 standard pieces of hand luggage.
Makes me laugh - if I want to take my laptop I have to put it in my carry on, as I'm only allowed 1 piece, get to security and guess what - have to take the laptop out and put it through the security scanner separately. :ugh::ugh:
You couldn't make this **** up.

[judge11]

'You couldn't make this **** up.'

Oh yes you - could and civil servants (regard the 'servant' bit with the cynicism it deserves) at the DfT are payed handsomely to make up and direct the daily farces enacted at the UK's airports.

[Sky Pilot]

Classic in STN last week. Lady in front of me had a small handbag and a WH Smith's carrier bag. Stopped by security because of the one piece of hand luggage rule, promptly put her handbag inside the carrier bag and suddenly all was well:D
I really don't think a determined terrorist wil find it too difficult to outwit our security screening if this is representative of the intellectual level they are operating on:ok:

[islandhopper]

Friend of mine works at Lgw check in and tells a story of a Caribbean pax coming back to the desk because security would'nt let her take her handbag and a hat box through(neither of which she wanted to check in) so my friend suggests she takes her 3 hats out of the box and put them on her head one on top of the other and then put her handbag into the hat box and see what happens!----------NO PROBLEM??????? infact she saw the lady prior to boarding still wearing the hats!!!:ugh

[take-off]

sorry , but that last post was funny, picturing that pax teetering through security hats a wobbling, now why hasnt the bbc made a sitcom about it? It would be a huge success, as nobody would believe its true!!!!:mad:

[PAXboy]

Whilst this may be a novel way to solve the hand baggage problem, it is not a novel approach. I recall sitting next to a woman going to Jamaica who wore three hats (on top of each other) throughout the flight, so that they would not get squashed. That was 1989.

[25F]

On my last journey I had rather a lot of stuff to take, so the laptop never went into my carry-on until I'd cleared sefarcity. Once through, the shoulder bag comes out, the laptop goes in, and the shoulder bag is now available to stock up on newspapers and slightly-less-expensive-than-airborne food and drink.