Airlines one bag carry-on rule

[ragazza]

I was flying from Edinburgh to Madrid yesterday, and had my usual small handbag, and a carrier bag containing 2 wine glasses. (They were a birthday present and v expensive, so I couldnt check them in).
I then bought a few books at the airport, which the shop assistant put into two small plastic bags, since they had no large ones.
Then when I was going through security I was stopped since I had 4 (albeit small) bags.

There were other people going through with enormous bags, with stuff spilling out the top, and they got through no problem, since even though they had about quadruple the amount I had, they had it all in one bag.
Is this the most stupid rule - what is the point of it?

The guys on security said that if I stuffed all my stuff into one large bag it'd be no problem. The shop had no big bags, so in the end I had to return the books to the shop, and balance my handbag on the top of the wine-glass bag, to make it appear like one bag! Utterly pointless!

(I suppose I should be greatful they let me through with wine-glasses -one could do alot of harm with shattered glass).

I used to love airports and flying, but now its a case of trying to remember one rule after another.

 

[ClubMan]

(I suppose I should be greatful they let me through with wine-glasses -one could do alot of harm with shattered glass).

No tweezers but glasses are OK? Those security rules really make no sense at all...

 

[MugsGame]

Note this is an airport security rather than airline rule. Up to date UK restrictions can always be found on [broken link removed]. You could have bought your books after the security check, assuming there is a book shop airside.

 

[gipimann]

Had a similar experience 2 weeks ago going through Bournemouth airport security - had a handbag and a plastic bag with my raincoat in it, and was asked to put the handbag into the plastic bag! Had my clear liquids bag too of course!

 

[Seagull]

We had the same thing recently flying back from Luton. Including my wife's handbag, we had 5 bags between 3 people, one of them being an airport shopping bag with a newspaper and a bottle of water, and another being a small toddler back pack because she likes to carry her own stuff for the plane. It was no problem to condense it down into 3 bags to get past that check, but by the time we got on the plane, it was back to 5 bags.

 

[Guest120]

It's to speed up the security checking part.

If everyone was carrying 3 or 4 bags, even ones from shops, then the process would be increased greatly as each bag needs to be monitored as it goes through the xray. Having one bag, even a bag with multiple bags in it, keeps the time to a minimum.

It's simple really.

I used to love airports and flying, but now its a case of trying to remember one rule after another.

There are hardly that many things to remember to be honest.

 

[ragazza]

It's to speed up the security checking part.

If everyone was carrying 3 or 4 bags, even ones from shops, then the process would be increased greatly as each bag needs to be monitored as it goes through the xray.
It's simple really.

I'm sure that's not the reason, since it doesnt make any sense.
All your bags, your coat, belt, boots etc, are just lumped on top of each other into a plastic carrier tray to go through the scaner. It doesnt make any difference time-wise if they are encased in one larger bag.

 

[Guest120]

It doesnt make any difference time-wise if they are encased in one larger bag.

Yes it does. The time of putting all the bags in and collecting them on the otherside.

Contact the Terminal Services Office (TSO) at Dublin Airport and I'm sure they'll tell you this.

 

[Deirdra]

I fully understand and agree with ragazza, it does seem to be more and more rules coming in and in my experience the UK airports seem to be most customer unfriendly ones. Other jurisdictions implement the rules of course, but seems to be a lot more humane.

My latest gripe was getting caught for excess baggage charges on a long haul, through flight ticket I booked, 23k allowance on the longer haul and only 20k on the Dublin London section. Got out with 23k luggage on the outward journey without any excess charges but not on the way back. Excess charges seem to be quite inconsistent, or maybe I've just been very unlucky recently.

 

[Sunny]

Yes it does. The time of putting all the bags in and collecting them on the otherside.

Contact the Terminal Services Office (TSO) at Dublin Airport and I'm sure they'll tell you this.

Quote from Transportation Security Administration in the US:

The secret to getting through security smoothly is to de-clutter your carry-on bag. This lets our Transportation Security Officers get a clear, uncomplicated X-ray image of your carry-on.....

Now that make more sense than piling loads of stuff into one bag even it means an extra 30 seconds to allow a second bag through....

 

[Seagull]

The check for one bag per passenger was well before going through the xray and bag scanners. I think by the time we got there, one of the smaller bags had already come back out. The bag scanners didn't do a count, and didn't seem particularly fussed about the number of bags.

 

[zag]

I had the same situation in Heathrow a while back. I went for a course in London and only brought a small bag with me. At the course I got another bag with the notes, t-shirt, etc . . . It was prety empty, but it was a bag.

Coming back through security the lady at the entrance to that horrible passageway towards the x-rays tells me I can't have two bags. But sure, it's mostly empty, I said to her. It's two bags she says to me.

So off I went to stuff the bag inside the other one, showed her my *one* bag as I walked past, stuck it on the x-ray, unpacked the two bags on the far side and went on my way.

I have no idea what showed up on the x-ray, but it can't have been clear or easy to interpret. But, hey, it got through faster.

Meantime there were plenty of people coming through with a laptop bag and a carry-on or with a handbag, laptop bag and carry-on.

I have learned at this stage to just do what they say, tick the boxes, push the buttons, walk the walk, endure the rubbish and fly less. If BR (or whatever became of them - National Express Virgins or something) ever got around to starting up a sleeper from Holyhead again I would be at the head of the queue - good nights sleep, proper food, no queues, arrive in the centre of London in good time. It's not going to happen of course, but I would be right there if it did.

And don't get me started on the security checkers that allowed the wine glasses through (and on to the plane). Hopefully they got the dangerous water-like substances instead of the long stem glasses that could act just like a long bladed knife. Oh, hang on, knives are banned, probably not glasses. I wonder what would happen if someone turned up with a knife *made of* glass . . . that would have them scratching their heads for a while.

z

 

[ragazza]

And don't get me started on the security checkers that allowed the wine glasses through (and on to the plane). Hopefully they got the dangerous water-like substances instead of the long stem glasses that could act just like a long bladed knife. Oh, hang on, knives are banned, probably not glasses. I wonder what would happen if someone turned up with a knife *made of* glass . . . that would have them scratching their heads for a while.

Yes, the more I think about it, I'm amazed they let me through with wine glasses. I was loking at the scanner monitor when they went through it, and they were clearly recognisable as wine glasses.
My sister had also brought them from Heathrow to Edinburgh to give to me, so they got through on 2 different flights.

 

[Guest120]

Yes, the more I think about it, I'm amazed they let me through with wine glasses. I was loking at the scanner monitor when they went through it, and they were clearly recognisable as wine glasses.
My sister had also brought them from Heathrow to Edinburgh to give to me, so they got through on 2 different flights.

But sure you can buy glass objects airside in most airports so why would they stop you? Airside in Dublin Airport for instance you can buy John Rocha wine glasses, Waterford Crystal, Swarovski Crystal etc.., There are no restrictions on bringing these object onto the plane from airside shops.

Bars airside also serve drink in glasses, quiet easy to bring onboard.

 

[zag]

bluetonic - that is *exactly* why the security checks where you have to leave your water behind are pretty pointless. I accept that there is a valid requirement for some checks simply because you hear of more planes being hijacked (even though it is a tiny number in the grand scheme of things) than trains, cars, or ships. Planes and airports seem to be a target because of their high profile and some protection is warranted, but stopping people taking water from one side of the building to the other and then selling them water that is identical to the stuff they left behind is unbelievably stupid.

To get back to the point of the original post - whether you have two bags or one doesn't make much of a difference. There is an increased porcessing time for two bags, sure, but there is an increased complexity in trying to interpret the contents of a very tightly packed bag. So, with one bag you get through faster, but presumably miss more 'risky' material.

Maybe airports should introduce express security check queues for those people with no carry on bags - that would speed everything up for the light travellers.

z

 

[ragazza]

But sure you can buy glass objects airside in most airports so why would they stop you? Airside in Dublin Airport for instance you can buy John Rocha wine glasses, Waterford Crystal, Swarovski Crystal etc.., There are no restrictions on bringing these object onto the plane from airside shops.

Bars airside also serve drink in glasses, quiet easy to bring onboard.

Yes, I had forgotten that you can also buy glasses airside.
I suppose I'm amazed that they make such a fuss of you carrying a tiny pair of eyebrow-tweezers, but let you in with glass!