No more UK flights for CJ

[cjsmith]

I'll get on a transatlantic plane without carry-on luggage when they pry it from my cold dead hands.

(Or when they pay me the full replacement price of my checked luggage when I board. On the unlikely chance I ever see it again, and on time too, I'll gladly refund the money... minus a modest handling charge. AND they must have at least three decent full-length novels in the passenger cabin for me, as that's how many I'll need.)

Comments

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Not to mention business travelers (or square dance callers) without carry-on lap tops. Yeah, right, we'll check that for your oh-so-careful luggage handlers...

(Could be the end of the commercial airline industry as we know it...)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ayep - full replacement price and that includes the data!

I wonder if it could mean the birth of a new industry, as people coordinate FedEx drop off and pick up with their flights. "747 heavy, flight of two" -- one with the pax and one with the cargo!

I like the fly naked idea.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Ben Franklin is probably doing about 2,000 RPM in his grave about now. Sound bite of Dubya's I heard on the way home from lunch: "We're still not completely safe." Um, dude, we're never going to be completely safe.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's the sort of thing that makes me want to smack around a bunch of sheeple just on general principle.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

I hope it doesn't spread to the US.

Alan wouldn't make a flight to California which I'd like to do next year.

Guess we'll stick to road (car) trips for a while.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I hope it doesn't too, but I'm not banking on it. The US is very fond of expensive and annoying security restrictions.

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

*sighs* My mother in law is flying here, this Sunday. Blech! Fortunately she has a good attitude about it, but geez!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I feel for her! I hope she has a few good books memorized!

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

I guess it's a good thing I didn't take advantage of any of the amazing fares to London that I saw earlier this summer, in order to go visit my sister. I wonder if I'll ever see her again?

*sigh*

Idiots.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

My guess is they (the airlines) will get over it, at least to the extent of allowing books and a bottle of water again. But it'll be no fun for the next six months or a year.

[sharya.livejournal.com]

What??? They won't let you take a carry-on?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, recent events. Here is one news story.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

This seems to apply only to flights in and out of Great Britain.

Since I'm a United frequent flyer ... if I were going to Europe, this would be a good excuse to take a United or Lufthansa code-share flight through Frankfurt ... or perhaps enter and leave Europe through Copenhagen or Paris.

(Oooh...Paris. That's a great excuse to take the Chunnel train to London!)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, only the UK so far. I am hoping it doesn't spread, but it may well.

The Chunnel! I seriously want to take that train some day.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

The TSA announcement that I saw says only no liquids, gels or creams.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Never mind. This is something the British are implementing on their end.

[hot-turkey.livejournal.com]

This completely screws us, because we have, up until now, tried very hard to fly without checked baggage. Never again, it appears.

I'm in favor of implementing the security technique illustrated in The Fifth Element, where they just knock you out before takeoff, and you wake up at your destination..... :-P

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

As have I. Checked baggage has a bad habit of not showing up. If it's going to do that I'd rather not bother packing it.

I'd rather be sedated for ten hours than spend it on a plane with no books and no water.

[chiefted]

Hmmmmmm. Amtrak at Christmas time to the East Coast is sounding better and better even though its a combined 6 extra days out and back if I go by rail.

and Ya they can have my MacBook Pro and iPod when they pry them from my cold dead hands cause I am not getting on a 5 hour flight without entertainment plus like I would trust the "ramp apes" with those things.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

At least the US flights, so far, are not as severely restricted as the UK flights. I admit I sure don't want to check a laptop.

[eichin.livejournal.com]

Now if only someone will use this as an excuse to start running high speed transatlantic hydrofoil service... something like the CatFerry but larger. Probably still take about 2 days, but that beats the 6-10 day range now...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I'd ride that just to have the experience of it. I wonder to what extent weather could really hose such a thing.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Not just no laptops, but no cellphones! So you won't have a cell at your stopover airport! And when your checked luggage is lost, ohhh, the trauma!

And this article (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/10/terror.newthreat.ap/index.html) even mentions watches!!!

I had been tentatively planning a UK visit... I'm a lot more skeptical now. :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And please put your pacemakers in a separate tray for X-ray screening. (half joking.) I'm glad I'm not going to the UK very soon; I'm hoping they'll get a bit more sane about things by the time I go back.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

The nice thing is we already hate Heathrow and would avoid it if at all possible. For our upcoming Italy/Germany trip, SFO-Frankfurt is the way to go. I'm very glad we have no other commercial flights scheduled for a while. There's Berkshires for me in October, but I guess I could fly myself. And there's Christmas, which we haven't done anything about yet. But that's it.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

As opposed to those of us scheduled for 2 flights a month, every month... :(

[ericainohio.livejournal.com]

Time to implement that buttered cat array.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Add some propulsion and you've got a sizzling business idea there!

[davidlevine]

I doubt the no-carryons-at-all restriction (which currently applies only to UK-to-US flights anyway) will last more than a week. Too many government officials fly frequently for that one to last.

The no-liquids-or-gels restriction is likely to be permanent, because (like the thing with the shoes) it's a slam of a specific barn door, it appears to be "doing something," and it's not so appallingly intrusive that the public will rise up in anger against it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

As for the first, that'd be my guess as well, but I am not sure. Airlines hate carry-on luggage. (My theory is that they cannot STAND the idea that, at the other end of the flight, the customer still has ANY of his personal belongings!)

[firecat]

I would have been in a fine fix if I'd had to check my cpap machine on my last flight, where the last leg was canceled and they refused to release our checked luggage to us.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Medical devices are a serious issue. Did you read about the folks who insist on X-raying crutches and walkers separately? And then they drop people while walking them through the door? Anecdotal, to be sure, but (sadly for what this says about my cynicism) believable as all hell.

[spicy-turkey.livejournal.com]

Posted on the Gatwick airport website:
"In brief:
Hand baggage restrictions are in place;
Passengers will be handsearched;
Footwear and all items (including pushchairs and walking aids) must be x-ray screened;
Liquids will be removed from the passenger."

That last part sounds painful.... ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, another friend noted that! Wasn't there a Star Trek episode...? On the other hand, they could haul a lot more passengers that way. Stack 'em like cordwood.

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

The thing I wondered about when I first heard of the liquids ban this morning was:
a) What about prescription medicines? Would pill form (if available) be ok?
b) What if some one has a medical necessity to keep up their fluid intake? Would liquids be provided once on the plane, by the airline, more than the usual 1-2 beverages mid-flight?
c) Or what about formula for infants?

I'd like to go back to the UK some day. jemstone's mother was thinking of a trip to Ireland next year. I guess we'll wait and see what happens. Hopefully things will somehow improve. Maybe have explosive sniffing dogs smell-check all liquids going through the security checkpoint?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

c) if you are willing to taste the formula or breast milk, they'll let you have it, is what I've heard... BUT not if you want the liquids for yourself, only for babies. No clue about a). Insulin, for example, is hard to smell-check because the bottle is sealed with that rubber top and you draw it out with needles. (Gee, I wonder whether THAT'S allowed on flights. Insulin with needles. Obviously needed by a diabetic passenger. Also obviously easy to kill someone with it.)

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm flying Monday for our DR test in NY.

I wasn't going to check anything. So much for that - I want my Burt's Bees, my deoderant, and my toothpast, dammit!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ayep! I hear things are changing rapidly, though (already I've seen a retraction of the baby formula taste test thing) so it might be worth checking again on Sunday.