New carry-on rules were confusing at first. But we've made adjustments, and the results haven't been all bad.
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
Published August 23, 2006
Nobody will confuse 8/10 with 9/11.
But the day Uncle Sam outlawed liquids and gels in carry-on bags two weeks ago still provided plenty of confusion and anxiety.
Women pleaded with screeners not to dump their pricey makeup. Road warriors threatened to drive if they had to check luggage. My favorite was the Pizza Uno clerk in Fort Lauderdale who demanded the twist top to my bottled water so I couldn't sneak it onboard. Never mind that my seat mate on the flight from Tampa walked onto the plane holding a Starbucks latte.
Then within days, a funny thing happened. Everybody figured out how to navigate the maze.
Take Tom Fitzpatrick. The Panasonic laptop computer salesman from St. Petersburg hasn't checked a bag on a business trip in seven or eight years. He doesn't want to risk becoming separated from his stuff and figures the odds are higher for people like him who fly every week.
A checked bag might not make it to his connecting flight on time. Fitzpatrick often checks in, then jumps on an earlier flight if there's room. It's a near certainty that his checked bag would stay on the original flight.
Fitzpatrick also doesn't like waiting at the luggage carousel. Once he lands at Tampa International Airport after a road trip, he says, "I just want to be home."
His solution: Send the newly banned items ahead by express delivery. Fitzpatrick was in Phoenix when the new rules went into effect Aug. 10.
He boxed up the Aveeno shaving cream, Neutrogena shampoo and his $45-a-bottle Armani Mania cologne at a UPS store near the hotel. They arrived at his home by 10:30 the next morning. Now, it's his routine at the beginning and end of each business trip.
Louis Miller, executive director of Tampa International, just tweaked his habits a bit on a trip to New York. He packed a disposable toothbrush sprinkled with cleaning powder in his roller bag and left the shampoo and aftershave at home.
Travel companies pitched in to make things easier for customers. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. hotels, for example, offered guests free contact lens solution, hair spray, hair gel and deodorant, along with the usual shampoo. Airlines stocked more bottled water, soft drinks and juices for thirsty customers who couldn't bring their own.
The Transportation Security Administration TSA relented on stick deodorant and now allows up to four ounces of liquid nonprescription medicine. There's speculation the agency will allow small quantities of liquids such as eye drops and nasal sprays at some point.
Meanwhile, many airline employees are hoping the TSA keeps the status quo. Checked luggage is up anywhere from 20 to 50 percent, almost all of which are bags that travelers used to hand carry.
That's making life easier for flight attendants. They aren't nagging customers as much to check oversized carry-ons or playing referee for travelers battling over bin space, says Linda Thyrre, a JetBlue flight attendant who lives in Madeira Beach.
"We usually have to debate with people," says Thyrre, recently recovered from a shoulder injury she suffered from hoisting heavy bags into overhead bins. "Now, it's a non-issue."
Flights are not only a little friendlier but also more on time, says Cheryl Mohn, an American Airlines flight attendant from Apollo Beach in south Hillsborough County.
Think about the biggest bottleneck to boarding a plane: passengers blocking the aisle as they try to jam a too-big bag into a too-small bin. Even if it only takes 15 or 20 seconds, Mohn says, multiply that by dozens of people and you quickly get a long delay.
Even cleaning planes is faster now, with far fewer coffee cups, juice boxes and water bottles left in seat back pockets.
In the first week of the carry-on rules, Mohn says only one flight she worked left the gate late.
The five-minute delay departing Philadelphia demonstrated one downside of the changes: Baggage handlers couldn't load all the additional checked luggage in time.
That's a trade-off most fliers will gladly accept.
