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No hand luggage for flights?
Hand luggage rules are currently all over the place for airlines with some allowing usual allowances and some only allowing a small person item like a handbag or a laptop case.
The UK Department of Transport has just issued new guidelines about travelling. I take this as a good sign meaning that we may all actually be allowed to travel again reasonably soon!
The guidance, produced by the government’s International Aviation Taskforce, in collaboration with the travel industry, also provides advice for passengers on how to travel safely and on how to follow social distancing measures at each stage of their journey.
The guidance focuses extensively on the health and safety of passengers and staff and in line with international best practice, is the culmination of an extensive consultation by the government with the aviation industry and public health experts. It outlines a framework for the industry to operate from once travel restrictions are lifted and when it is safe to do so.
The guidance to passengers covers all aspects of the travel experience, from checking the public health requirements before booking a flight, to navigating the airport safely and boarding the flight or leaving the airport.
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said:
Today’s guidance is a positive next step towards ensuring a safer and more sustainable aviation sector.
The government’s advice currently remains to avoid all non-essential travel, but today we are taking the necessary steps to ensure a framework is in place for the aviation industry to bounce back when it is safe for restrictions on travel to be lifted.
Tim Hawkins, Chief Strategy Officer at MAG, said:
This new guidance provides the basis for the restart and recovery of the UK aviation industry – it offers clear information for us, our passengers and our airlines on the steps needed to create a safe travel experience.
The guidance is the result of strong collaboration between government and the aviation industry, drawing on advice from independent medical and scientific experts who have looked specifically at what safety measures are needed at each stage of the travel process.
With similar protocols being adopted in other countries, and a targeted approach to reopening travel to low-risk countries, we will have the elements in place to get our economy moving again and protect jobs throughout the whole aviation supply chain.
Practical advice includes wearing face coverings when in the airport, washing hands regularly after touching any surfaces, checking in all baggage including hand luggage, and remaining seated as much as possible during the flight.
Face masks
The guidance says “If you can, you should wear a face covering in airports and onboard aircraft.
Some people may not be able to wear a face covering. For example, children under the age of 3, people with breathing difficulties and people whose disabilities makes it difficult for them to wear a face covering.”
Hand luggage
It says “You are strongly encouraged to check in baggage to the aircraft hold and minimise any hand baggage. This will speed up boarding and disembarking and minimise the risk of transmission.”
For operators
The guidance to operators will also support staff by promoting safe practices and workplaces. This includes extensive cleaning of aircraft, increasing the availability of handwashing and hand sanitiser facilities, reducing face-to-face interactions with passengers, and introducing protocols for symptomatic passengers and staff.
What airlines chose to do in response to the guidance is another matter, particularly for low-cost carriers that charge for checked-in baggage. The document says that airlines “should” not must but I would still expect them to follow that. We will wait and see as airlines start to react to the news.
It is interesting reading if you have the time and it has some useful links. I welcome the guidance as at the moment it has been very much up to airlines to decide what to do. Industry standards were needed so all airlines took a safe approach.
10 comments
No hand luggage?
Presumably, this will mean items that normally have to go in hand luggage because it can’t go in the hold will have to be left at home… like battery packs and lighters?
I’m guessing they will have to allow a small personal item each for things such as medication and valuables that can’t go in the hold. It will be up to the airlines to set the limits.
Business travel with a laptop could be problematic, too…
I’d never put my laptop, iPad nor camera gear into checked-in baggage.
Similarly, Li-ion camera batteries are banned from checked-in luggage.
Hopefully airlines apply common sense, perhaps taking camera bags etc from passengers at the gate and carefully and securely placing it in the hold and returning directly to the passenger at the other end.
As, seemingly, with all UK Government guidance at the moment you are “strongly encouraged” to check in hand luggage, not made to. Which to me means every airline will apply it differently and ultimately everyone will ignore it. Berlin airports (and seemingly only Berlin airports in Germany, certainly not FRA or MUC) are very strictly enforcing a one hand luggage rule. So a recipe for more confusion in the UK, if you ask me!
‘The guidance is the result of strong collaboration between government and the aviation industry, drawing on advice from independent medical and scientific experts…’
Obviously no one asked Michael O’Leary as Ryanair immediately stuck two fingers to the guidance on hand luggage!
All about the money…. which is why I would never set foot on Ryanair
What if I want to take my iPad along, and various wires for charging it and my phone? What about my passport? Do I have to keep that in my pocket during the flight? What about my battery pack that cannot go in the hold? Have I got to juggle 15 items of various sizes and weights after check-in rather than having them in a convenient bag? How many people touch a bag put into the hold? Five, ten? How many touch my personal hand luggage? Just me.
Why is it that the giver thinks it safer to check in all hand luggage into the hold (when you check anything into the hold the checked in luggage is handled by any number of different people at both ends of the journey which surely has more potential of cross contamination than a small number of people touching the release catch on the overhead locker. Are we looking at the governments assisting in revenue creation for the airlines, airports and handling agents!!! Surely not!!!
That will not please the Mrs, she takes numerous pairs of designer shoes on our holidays and she refuses to put them in the hold. No shies, no holiday!
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