Would You Support a No Carry-on Item Policy?

Let's get it over with. NO carry on items whatsoever except pills, ID and boarding pass. NO wallets. Minimal clothing, check the coats. You can get rid of those baggage scanners. Get the best metal detetors (and I'm assuming they'd catch any surgically installed metal). The airlines would have to supply on demand, for free, all basic comfort items (like shaving, brushing, ... blankets). A $1000.00 ATM card immediately to anyone who loses his one checked bag and is stranded without clothes and toiletries.

I'd feel safer and would be comforted that it applies to everyone (even the flight crew). There would be no industry rivalries (all electronic devices banned).

The airline industry could ease their profit woes with more income from phones, and perhaps they could drop worries and provide nominal fee internet. But they'd have to stop charging for drinks.

Sure, 20 persons could still smuggle enough liqi-gel "inside" but they wouldn't have batteries or wires! Maybe we'd have to submit to "random probing"? Would taht be too much?

I think it's time. Do you?

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... general idea is that this is a short term thing. I think all those duty free shops you see in departure lounges would be out of business pretty damn quick if passengers couldn't buy their booze, fags & sweeties, not to mentiion gift items, books, cd's and small electrical products people buy there. I guess they will have to make some kind of stamp or visa form to show what you have just purchased to allow you to take it on, but the airports make a lot of money from either selling their own duty free goods or from the rents they make from duty free shops.

Also, what is gonna happen with luggage charges. I tend to carry on at least one if not two bags plus my checked luggage which all comes in at way over the usual weight limits. Is there gonna be a whole lot of people paying extra baggage costs?

I think airports will probably revert to carry on luggage being alllowed, but it may well end up with the ban on fluids remaining in place. Also I wouldn't mind seeing a permanent ban on mobile phones - I know its a little foolish but I always seem to be the nervous nelly sat next to someone who plays with their mobile at various stages of the flight despite the reminders to switch the damn things off.

I think all those duty free shops you see in departure lounges would be out of business pretty damn quick

Certainly something that would not break my heart. I'm there to travel, not shop. But they have to sell safe items only and you are behind the security line, so I suppose you are right, they might have to allow the duty free (but shop on your last leg). But I'd get rid of the stores anyway.

Politely, it's intereseting how much we put consumerism before (what I really see as) the most safety possible.

I'll back out of this discussion here!

I am not sure about this one. I mean I get irritated with people hauling everything including the kitchen sink into the aeroplane, but only because I have deep down inside me a fear of dropping out of the sky. So I reckon the lighter the plane the better. As carry-on is not weighed, the extra weight an aeroplane has to carry could be significant.
So I say, do what they are already doing on some air-ways, and limit hand luggage severely, but I wish they would weigh it as well. No more roll-ons, that would be a good start, they look 'orrible any-way, like those shopping trolleys bag-ladies use to haul the booty home.

If you got rid of duty free shops airport landing charges (and thus the price of your ticket) would have to go up quite a lot.

Putting valuable gear in the hold is the same as giving it away. They don't call Heathrow Thiefrow for nothing and I suspect airports all around the world have the same chancers working there.

If you got rid of duty free shops airport landing charges (and thus the price of your ticket) would have to go up quite a lot.

You are quite right. I read a few months ago in the travel pages of a national newspaper in the UK that if duty free and other shopping "airside" was stopped airfares would have to rise at least 20% to compensate the airlines for the increase in landing and aircraft handling fees.

In any case, watch out for the inevitable increase in airport passenger and security tax added to your ticket as a result of the extra security measures being put in place!!!!

[Doug]

I don't understand the problem with duty free. Aren't the shops found after you go through security? I know some airports that deliver the purchases to the gangway so the passengers don't have possession until they board the plane.

Like most readers, I've been a frequent flier for many years and I know what I need on board to make my flight endurable (for me, newspapers and a few periodicals and books). I don't require access to a lot of stuff. But as others have mentioned, it's the inconvenience of having to wait for checked luggage and the theft and lost luggage issues that trouble me. Airlines benefit when passengers lug their own bags because it requires fewer ground crew. Suddenly changing the rules will inevitably result in extended total travel times as you wait longer at the carousel.

El Al has the reputation for being the most secure airline. Here's how Wikipedia describes their security practice:

At least six (formerly two) undercover agents accompany each international El Al flight, sitting amongst passengers whilst holstering firearms. All El Al pilots are former Israeli Air Force fighter pilots, and all El Al flight crew members are trained in hand to hand combat. In fact, most El Al employees have served in the Israel Defence Force (since national service is compulsory in Israel for most citizens).
El Al security procedures also require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats. All passengers are classified on a basic 3 tier threat scale: Israelis and Jews are usually classified as the lowest threat, Westerners are usually classified as medium level threats, and Arabs (particularly males) are usually classified as high threat. In addition, all luggage must pass through a decompression chamber; this simulates pressures during flight which may be triggers for explosives [1]. El Al is the only airline in the world that passes all luggage through this special chamber.
The El Al fleet is also the only commercial airline fleet in the world to be equipped with anti-missile countermeasures.
As a result of the tight security, only one El Al plane has been successfully hijacked, in 1968

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al

Personnaly, I think that total nudity in flight with compulsory anal inspection before boarding is the only feasible solution.

Can't wait.