AVOID HEATHROW in London UK at all costs -- Allow only 1 carry-on -- rigidly enforced

[Randy_Vestal]

As an American who has lived in Britain for the last eight years (my wife is British) I have to agree with Marty; the policy is overly restrictive, out of sync with the rest of the world and IMO has dubious value in protecting any of us from terrorism. And it is not just restricted to Heathrow, it's all UK airports (Luton, Stansted, Gatwick, etc). And while the policy may be "well known" within the UK and parts of Europe, there are plenty of places where it is not. We have had plenty of friends and business colleagues fly into either Heathrow or Gatwick and either be caught-up in this or surprised that it was so restrictive.

It's a problem not just for photographers traveling with expensive gear, but also for business travelers. In the past years, we use to take at least two trips per year to the US, both as holidays to see family and as photo trips to accumulate stock images. We had a back-pack of photo gear each, plus a long lens case each. No more. We haven't done a US photo trip in a year and I doubt that we will until the policy changes (assuming it does ).

Almost as worse is that the carry-on sizes for the "one bag" have changed as well. As I recall, they were changed by the government at least twice in the last year. And at least one airline has a permitted carry on size that is less than the government permitted limit.

[MikeA]

All good points.

Note that I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the policy, although I would guess (hope) that the UK government would have a lot more information about the specific risks it is attempting to mitigate.

As an international traveler in this day and age, I must inform myself about restrictions for travelers in places I intend to visit, or risk a lot of hassle. 9/11 and subsequent events in the world have eroded our rights and freedoms - not happy about that, but not much I can do about it either.

I flew to Hawaii a few weeks after 9/11. Flying into the US at that time was not pleasant, but the communication was good: Expect delays, searches and restrictions. That's exactly what we got. What I didn't expect was the severe restrictions at the USS Arizona Memorial. In the end we decided to go and see it on another trip. I realize that the whole of the US was in shock at that time, but if you think the UK cops are unyielding...

As far as taking a lot of photo gear overseas, I believe quite a few photographers now send it in beforehand UPS/Fedex/DHL or whatever, usually only carrying a limited amount of gear in their luggage, for precisely these reasons. If it's a paying job, the last thing you need to be doing is arguing with airline attendants or missing connections over hand luggage.

Mike

[cmandsager]

I just had this experience at Heathrow as well. You are really screwed when US flights to Heathrow will alllow 2 carryons. I got there with my briefcase and camera bag to connect to another flight. As I went to board the second flight, I was stopped and told that I needed to check one of the bags. Given the value of the equipment in each and the type of bag they were in, I could not check either one of those bags. My luggage was checked through, so consolidating it into one of those items was out as well. I ended up having to buy a hardsided suitcase that I could put my camera bag in so I could check it. Fortunately, I had enough time to do that. Very expensive and frustrating experience.

[MathewLodge]

None of this is new -- it has been this way since the "liquid bomb" scare in August 2006. At that time, the only hand baggage you could take on a flight to/from the UK was your passport. Then the government allowed one bag but no laptops. The current "one bag" policy and liquid restrictions have been in place for at least 6 months, and on the last US-UK flight I took (3 weeks ago) there was an announcement upon landing reminding US passengers that they should only plan on taking one carry-on when returning to the US.

Many other European airports and airlines have the same restriction, so it is not just Heathrow. I just flew from Florence via Frankfurt to Heathrow, and was only allowed a single bag on all legs of the trip.


So... regardless of how annoying this is, the moral of the tale is to read about airport restrictions in advance and not to assume that the rest of the world has the same allowances as the US.

Cheers,

Mathew

[Randy_Vestal]

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel here. There was an article in both the Times and the Telegraph about two weeks ago that indicated that the government was going to do a review of the policy and would likely go back to the two carry on rule. I can't find the links to the articles right now, but if I do I'll post them.

As I recall the articles state that the airlines have been lobbying extensively to go back to the two item carry-on, citing disparity with the rest of the world, costs to handle the increase in checked baggage, etc. The article went on to say that the government was going to review the situation and would likely lift the ban on two carry-ons, but not until after the peak holiday season. (In the UK, this would be sometimes after Aug). But the article did state that the government was going to "trial" a process by which passengers arriving at Heathrow to connect onwards with two carry-ons would be allowed to continue their journey with two carry-on's.

I don't know if this "trial" has actually been implemented or not; maybe someone who has traveled recently through Heathrow could comment?

[Dennis_Vied]

Government agencies have been playing catchup since 9/11. Nobody really knows what the terrorists are planning so they try any number of things which they think will work, all at great inconvenience to the traveling public. These actions should be temporary until a permanent solution is realized. Can you imagine living like this the rest of your life? Until we stop the lunacy at its source, we are all doomed to face the idiocy of airline security. I think Europe is getting the message. The governments of the US and UK are under great pressure to mitigate or stop their efforts to effect a permanent solution. God help us all if we can't effect a permanent solution.

[Tony_Gamble]

The UK broadsheets are full of articles this weekend on the subject of how much damage this Heathrow debacle is causing to the UK.

Worry is that Heathrow is a Spanish company and the senior members of the UK Gvt don't use the normal check in channels.

Tony

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