Carry-on Luggage Banned???

[Gambitt]

Turns out Transport Canada is as fed up with airport delays as harried travellers.

After sending in RCMP and local police to help pat down air travellers and search carry-on bags, the federal transport authority went one step further and banned carry-ons outright.

As of yesterday evening, with the exception of such essential items as medication, diaper bags and canes, passengers on flights from Canada into the United States must check all their belongings.

A slate of stepped-up security measures following a Christmas Day attempt to blow up a flight bound for Detroit caused bedlam at airports as passengers were limited to a single carry-on and patted down by screeners individually. Hundreds of U.S.-bound flights were cancelled or delayed as movement in departure lounges slowed to a crawl and lines of travellers snaked through echoing airports.

The chaos, especially at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, was enough to irk federal Transport Minister John Baird.

According to sources, he called Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan for assistance. Mr. Baird's chief of staff, Chris Froggatt, confirmed the request for RCMP officers to assist at airports was made on Sunday night.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the Crown agency in charge of airport security, could clearly not handle the backlog. In fact, some in the industry believe Mr. Baird was let down by CATSA, which "over-promised" and "under-delivered," said a well-placed airline source.

"Airlines realized things were going from bad to worse when ... airport authority spokespersons started blaming customers for not packing properly," said the source.

Sunday saw nearly 140 cancellations and scores of delays at Pearson, causing not only inconvenience but considerable expense for the airlines.

Some Canadian airlines, seeing the chaos caused by thousands of emptied purses and rummaged-through backpacks, had taken steps of their own to restrict carry-ons Sunday night, said WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer.

Close to 100 RCMP officers were dispatched to Canada's major airports yesterday to help with the delays caused by the new security measures. The largest contingent of RCMP was at Toronto's Pearson, with about 40 officers there early yesterday and another 40 on the way. There are also officers in Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal.

Transport Canada wouldn't estimate yesterday how long the heightened security will last.

In the meantime, the pandemonium at passenger-packed airports lessened somewhat, with airports reporting longer wait times but nowhere near the hundreds of cancellations and delays reported Sunday.

Wait times eased at Pearson, which saw the brunt of cancellations to short-haul U.S.-bound flights and where many passengers faced seven-hour waits to get through security on Sunday. Departures at Vancouver International Airport, where passengers faced relatively light wait times of 90 minutes to three hours on Sunday, were delayed by a three-hour computer glitch yesterday morning.

I'm sure glad our flight to Jamaica doesn't go thru the US.  
There is no way I'm packing thousands of dollars in camera gear, laptop, and dive computer in a checked bag!  
(Unless the airline wants to hand me $5000 in cash, to hold as collateral!!)  

[bmnichol]

What a total screwed up mess.

Gambitt, might be easier to drive to Jamaica! I know, I know no road, but it still might be easier. lol

The airlines cannot guarantee that checked baggage will arrive in tact! The only options we will have if they ban carry on luggage on all flights is to buy disposable cameras. I won't be packing my expensive electronics in my suitcase either.

And btw when they institute strip searches I will find new vacation destinations that I can drive to!

One other thing, I don't think they should bother to give this guy a trial, just execute him now! He was planning on killing hundreds of people plus himself, give him his wish. Maybe harsh, but I am getting sick of this BS.

[mojitomiss_cuba]

I'm with you Brenda! 
Give him his wish and send him straight to hell! See if he finds paradise there!

[kharmar77]

I really hope it has relaxed by the time we have to go through Chicago March 31st... not that I disagree with taking all necessary precautions....
Karen

[FredTracie]

We just finished taking the boys to different points of departure as our youngest flies out of Ottawa with the Cdn. Forces and he had orders to take all the regular things in his carry-on, He is going to Fort Irwin in the Mojave desert for training before heading to Afghanistan. Our oldest son, we took to Pearson yesterday as he is doing his Co-op term for school with Amazon in Seattle.
 The amount of paperwork he needed was substantial and he heeded the warnings and only packed his laptop, necessary papers in his backpack, He was told that his backpack (the laptop style) might be to big but thankfully it was OK. Thank goodness for the Heye's weigh scale as his first bag was 49.7 lbs and his 2nd bag was 50lbs on the nose which brought a chuckle from the NWA staff.(still cost $20/1st bag and $30 for the 2nd) Anyway he proceeded through US immigration and then was patted down by the RCMP and boarding pass checkmarked and then continued to have his carry-on emptied and searched and again marking the info on his pass, but ultimately not a huge issue,
 We saw many people having to repack their carry-ons as they were getting boarding passes (one family was over 20 minutes) and this certainly slowed things down.
 For those that packed smart there were no issues, for those people who didn't ..well they created the tie ups and their attitudes made things worse!

       Cheers...  F&T