Whats happening with Swissport at LGW?

[DespairingTraveller]

@Exascot
Yes, but why am I (who is paying for the service) having to work round the failures and general incompetence of those who are paid to provide it?

And whereas I understand your point, and had already decided that's what we'll do for the sake of a quiet life, it isn't actually a proper solution, because:

a) there are various categories of items that are not allowed in carry-on baggage. And others, which are allowed (like small knifes and scissors) but which can and do fall foul of different rules in other countries, and to the general "rules is what I says they is" attitude of security staff. I don't go on holiday with the inclination or intent of spending my time going round shopping for everyday items that have been stolen off me by officialdom.

b) we now have to waste our time and money buying sizes of products we don't want, simply to meet the bizarre restrictions on liquids, etc., when we could simply have thrown our existing supplies of our products of choice into checked baggage.

c) using up my cabin baggage allowance for clothing, etc., means I can't use it for other items I wanted to take - e.g. as I'm an amateur astronomer and my wife's a birdwatcher, we were considering taking a small portable telescope with us. They are our hobbies and interests, why shouldn't we enjoy them on holiday? We have previously. But that idea's now dead. Not everybody wants to just lie on the beach or gawp at churches, castles and megafauna.

In essence, I am tired of air travel. Certainly for leisure purposes. Navigating your way through a Byzantine web of luggage sizes, security restrictions, etc., that change from week to week, journey to journey, carrier to carrier, airport to airport, country to country, just to "enjoy yourself" is bad enough to start with, and is ceasing to be something I'm prepared to do, without throwing in the likely failure of suppliers to deliver the service they contracted for!