Darren you will actually find that the New allowances that start from tomorrow for Hand Luggage have reverted back to the Original Size that has always been allowed for Hand Luggage. It never ceases to amaze me though that people think they can still get away with virtually full size suitcases weighing 15 Kilos or more!! and wonder why they struggle to get them into the overhead lockers.

Good News for Women and others!!!!! that use Lippy, it’s now officially allowed on board as from tomorrow. Have you got your flights booked Carol!

Typical….they “steal” my lipstick one week, and change their minds the next!!!
I feel a trip to Leeds coming on.

Would not even consider it…….flights are too cheap to be bothered with sea crossings.

I came back from Bombay on Friday night and was alowed my usual carry-on. At Heathrow it was refused when I tried to get onto my transfer despite the airline rep telling me in Bombay that there’d be no problem.

Why can’t these people sort their standards out.

I notice that the US will allow liquids from Tuesday, no word from the British authorities yet.

Are these people making it all up at random in a desperate attempt to make us think we’re in a war?

Bombay has notoriously high security. They have real Islamic terrorists trained in camps in Pakistan blowing bits of their transport infrastructure up rather than kids with big ideas.

They banned liquids and knew all about the relaxation at Heathrow on Friday. We had three rummage searches before we got on the plane and all luggage is X-rayed in front of you.

However when we got to Heathrow we were checked and refused access to Gate 8 in the Transfer Centre. We therefore had to sit arround in the check-in area for a couple of hours before we could check in our luggage and then go right through the whole security procedure once again.

As we were being security screened we saw people having stuff taken from their luggage that they’d been assured would be ok at their poiint of departure, which in this case was Prague.

It therefore seems reasonably obvious to me that Bombay wasn’t the only place where the wrong information was given out.

At this stage it has to be deliberate. This has now been going on for a couple of months. Someone somewhere wants to make the travelling public think they’re in a war…

I am still confused about the bag size allowed. On the government and BAA websites it gives maximum dimensions of 45 x 56 x 25 but on most of the airline sites it states a maximum of 40 x 55 x 20. And to add to the confusion, on the EasyJet website, “Regulation 10 - Baggage” states that “passengers are permitted one standard piece of hand baggage to a volume limit of 55×40x20cm”. This suggests that the dimensions of the bag don’t matter as long as the total volume is within the limit. But I understand that they are using measurement ‘cradles’ at check-in and if your bag won’t fit in, regardless of the volume, you will not be allowed to take it on. So… if your bag is within two of the measurements but slightly outside one, will that be enough to ban you from taking it on, or not?

I have spent hours researching this on the Internet and have also visited a couple of luggage shops where they are merrily selling people bags that adhere to the government/BAA measurements.

I need to resolve this because I’m wanting to resume my travels and have a dread of getting to the airport alone and being told that I can’t take what I’ve packed as hand baggage. I don’t travel light and unless I can take my laptop and other essentials, I won’t feel comfortable about leaving the country.

Can anyone explain this discrepancy, please, and tell me whether all three measurements of the bag are important?

Many thanks Darren. Yes I had read that webpage but info on individual airlines’ websites varies from it. I’ll be interested in the response from BAA but I suspect they will just say that airlines differ and you should consult them before you fly.

If all else fails, I’m going to get into my car, drive up to Gatwick and interrogate a few people to see if I can find out the answer once and for all!

By the way… I love your website and I’m so glad I found it.

And of course the new rules say a ladies handbag must be contained within the single bag, which is new and nobody is telling anyone about this.

The whole business is an incoherent mess.

I watched the Samsonite shop at Heathrow doing massive business last week, so not everyone is unhappy…

Is there actually someone with a name in charge of all this or is it just a faceless nobody who daren’t put their head above the parapet?

I’m still getting the distinct feeling that this is more about upsetting people than any actual danger there may be. The people concerned have been arrested, the idea of a deranged terrorist doing a suicidal end run at Teeside International Airport is more than a little laughable, and becoming more so as every day passes…

Ann, yes all three measurements are important, if the Hand luggage doesn’t fit in to the Cradle, because of too much Volume, therefore being Wider than the Width or length of the cradle, then they might ask you to re - pack the bag.
These Sizes are the Sizes that were in place in the good old days 56cm(22″ long) 45cm (18″ wide) and 25cm (10″ deep) but they never used to enforce it much, so people just got used to carrying Larger and Larger and heavier bags.

On a Charter Flight the dimensions are 18″ x 12″ x 9 ” and should weigh no more than 5kgs

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