ALL hand luggage has been banned on flights from the UK from this morning onwards.

Personally, this means I will no longer take my 'babies' overseas as there is no way to trust checked baggage that can no longer be safely locked.

Just a word of warning for anyone visiting us in the next few weeks .... your return flight will be affected and you will have no choice but to put cameras in the main hold.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778575.stm

Yup, but it's better than having airliners blown up mid-flight

I'm not quite sure which forum to put this in, but as most of the discussions on carry-on bags is in this one ...

Beware of the current UK flight ban on carry-on bags due a recent security scare. This affects any flights checking in at UK airports. The official advice is as follows:

"Following this morning's police action, security at all UK airports has been increased and additional security measures have been put in place for all flights.

With immediate effect, the following arrangements apply to all passengers starting their journey at a UK airport and to those transferring between flights at a UK airport.

All cabin baggage must be processed as hold baggage and carried in the hold of passenger aircraft departing UK airports.

Passengers may take through the airport security search point, in a single (ideally transparent) plastic carrier bag, only the following items. Nothing may be carried in pockets:

Pocket-size wallets and pocket-size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards etc (not handbags)

Travel documents essential for the journey (for example passports and travel tickets)

Prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (eg, diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic

Spectacles and sunglasses, without cases

Contact lens holders, without bottles of solution

For those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags)

Female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg tampons, pads, towels and wipes)

Tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs

Keys (but no electrical key fobs). All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items they are carrying must be X-ray screened.
Pushchairs and walking aids must be X-ray screened, and only airport-provided wheelchairs may pass through the screening point.

In addition to the above, all passengers boarding flights to the USA and all the items they are carrying, including those acquired after the central screening point, must be subjected to secondary search at the boarding gate"

So all carry-on camera bags, or cameras themselves, WILL be checked in.

Andy

The restrictions also apply to all flight transfer connections as well, so if you are transiting through the UK you will be caught out

ontime wrote:
Yup, but it's better than having airliners blown up mid-flight

provided british inteligence have got their facts right this time and haven't caused another embarassing scare which would be worse. If their information is wrong again, people will stop believing the threats and throw caution to the wind and then we will have a disaster on our hands.

Oh great! That means that at least 10% of gear will be smashed.

With airline luggage theft levels at an all-time high the bad guys on the ground must be rubbing their hands with glee . . . an opportunity for them to stock up on the latest camera equipment, and all those laptops, cellphones and organisers as well !! . . .

Christmas time in August !!

We seem to be sliding backwards into the abyss very quickly.

HiltonP wrote:
With airline luggage theft levels at an all-time high the bad guys on the ground must be rubbing their hands with glee . . . an opportunity for them to stock up on the latest camera equipment, and all those laptops, cellphones and organisers as well !! . . .

Christmas time in August !!

We seem to be sliding backwards into the abyss very quickly.




You probably need to read or watch the news before you make astatement like that. This restriction is in effect because of the real threat to airlines, busted by police and MI5.

I don't know if I will put my gears and laptop through the luggage check, unless I don't have a choice. For now, I think this restriction only applies to UK. But I can see this may eventually apply to flights within North America. Well, it means more driving from now on and stay away from airport as much as possible. How sad.

I've been watching BBC Prime since 8am mate. It's receiving saturation coverage.

I'm refering to those people who work in the airline ground services, sadly too many of whom appear to have long fingers. They are going to love this time, for all the wrong reasons!

(In my optimistic mind) There is no way they can keep this one going for too long. Unless of course the airlines want to pick up responsibility for what happens to camera equipment and computers. And I don't see how they would want to. And no computers would probably do something to business travellers...

Sorry, I didn't mean to be ofensive.

But you can't put a thievery from luggage in front of threat to human life.
I'd rather see thousands of stolen lenses and laptops than single airplane being bombed.
But I see your point, I'm flying to Europe on Saturday. hopefully.

Tomas

If the baggage handlers can steal from luggage willy-nilly (which they do) then what can they put into luggage that passangers don't know about? Could baggage handlers be a recruiting ground for al-quaida sympethisers? Surely not - until baggage handlers do start putting bombs in luggage!

I already stay away from airports as much as possible. I find their "security" is pretty much a joke as what they do is effectively closing the gate after the horse has bolted. They never look for holes in the fence.

I'm looking now to see what ferries go between the UK and US. I can't say flying really appeals to me what with baggage theft etc.

I will be travelling in the US tomorrow. I was planning on using my new Think Tank Airport Security Bag. With the various restrictions, I am now wondering whether I should think differently. Local radio state the restrictions sited above. However, TSA notification states only liquid restrictions. The inherent threat in flying is one thing. But, confusion and misinformation are another. I wish some accurate information can be obtained. This is what leads to frustrations and distain.

Update: TSA has posted banned and acceptable materials list. The local radio station (Dallas) has finally begun reporting the right information. With this, I will go with my original plans sans liquids and gels.

Edited by jhom on Aug 10, 2006 at 04:15 PM GMT

Two words...insure your camera...oops I guess that's three. Although it would suck to say go on a African photo trip and have to check your camera to find you get there and you're baggage stolen. That would be a lot of wasted money on a trip.

I think it will only be for the next few days as there is a very real terrorist threat at present involving carry on. No doubt it will be back to normal soon. getting your camera smashed my possibly be better than getting both it and you blown up over the ocean due to an ignored and specific terrorist threat.

I wonder whether this terrorist plot is as real as the other terrorist plot where they shot one guy and then found that nobody arrested or raided was involved in anything whatsoever. Or whether it'll be like the innocent and unarmed Brazilian that was executed by the police

Well lets do nothing and find out.

Let me ask you this...

If baggage handlers can steal from luggage (which they do) how many bombs can they put on a plane?

Aircraft maintainance technicians - how easy is it for them to partially sever important hydraulic hoses? Supervisors - how easy is it for them to do the same? How easy is it to fill half the fuel tanks with water and the other half with fuel and how far would the plane go before it dropped from the sky? We can't even ensure aircraft safety so passangers carrying bombs is trivial in comparison.

Then let's look further - how easy would it be to fly a small plane from an offshore island to within a short distance of a jumbo then to fire a hand-held surface-air missile from the plane into the jumbo?

Rhys wrote:
Let me ask you this...

If baggage handlers can steal from luggage (which they do) how many bombs can they put on a plane?

Aircraft maintainance technicians - how easy is it for them to partially sever important hydraulic hoses? Supervisors - how easy is it for them to do the same? How easy is it to fill half the fuel tanks with water and the other half with fuel and how far would the plane go before it dropped from the sky? We can't even ensure aircraft safety so passangers carrying bombs is trivial in comparison.

Then let's look further - how easy would it be to fly a small plane from an offshore island to within a short distance of a jumbo then to fire a hand-held surface-air missile from the plane into the jumbo?

All that you say is true, however I would pose the same question to you.

How many incidents of airline terrorism have there been because of maintenance technicians or baggage handlers? How many times have jumbo jets been shot down by surface to air missiles?

In contrast how many airliners have been hijacked or otherwise blown up by terrorist passengers?

If it were to easy for the terrorists to infiltrate the technicians or to fire a SAM at a plane, don't you think they would be doing it now?

Damn terrorist, it's making everyone else life inconvenience. Soon we might have to go on board naked.

Shit shit shit... excuse my french if it offends.

I'm booked on a flight to London next month, to cover a business conference. On the way in I may be able to carry on my gear, but what the heck do I do now on the way back? Buy good insurance I guess? What if I can't carry on my gear en-route? It's going to be hard to shoot a conference if I don't have any gear!

You can always ship FedEx.

Anyone over there know a good (and easy to find) equipment rental place? London