Freshening up during a long flight to the United Kingdom and the United States won’t be easy now that toothpaste, hair gel and other toiletries have been banned from travellers’ small, single piece of hand luggage. But the new baggage-restriction laws, implemented on Monday by the British Airports Authority (BAA), also pose other concerns for the future of travel.
South African Airways (SAA) passengers flying home from the UK, Mumbai, India and Mauritius are now allowed only one piece of carry-on luggage, with limitations regarding size and content.
The single bag may not exceed a maximum length of 45cm, width of 35cm and a depth of 16cm. These measurements include wheels, handles and side pockets. This is less than half the size travellers were able to take on board before last week’s terrorist scare in Britain. Other bags, like handbags, must be carried within the single hand-luggage item.
Passengers are not allowed to carry items made of or containing liquid. These include gels, pastes, lotions, toothpastes and hair gel. Prescription medicines in liquid form needed during the flight will be permitted, as will baby milk and food — as long as the parent tastes it first.
Travellers flying to the above destinations from South Africa need not comply with the new regulations. However, SAA said in a statement last week that passengers connecting to further destinations at London’s Heathrow airport are requested to travel without hand luggage to avoid inconvenience.
According to an article in London’s Financial Times on Tuesday, these restrictions mean an end to the days of business people travelling with just a suit carrier and briefcase, because from now on travellers will be forced to check in their luggage. David Meyer, editor-in-chief of Business Travel News, told the Financial Times: “If, for a prolonged period of time, people can’t bring more than one bag, then it’s going to cramp their style and make it harder for people to move as quickly through airports.”
But at least travellers leaving the UK don’t have to parade their private possessions and medicines in plastic bags, as was the case when the BAA banned all hand luggage on flights when it raised the country’s threat level from “severe” to “critical” as a result of last week’s foiling of an alleged terrorist plot to blow up US-bound commercial flights.
In a personal account of events at Heathrow airport, Antoinette Pienaar, a journalist for Beeld, wrote on Monday: “Heathrow was chaotic — crying babies and tired travellers with their most private possessions in see-through plastic bags. I wondered how people living with HIV/Aids felt about walking around with bottles of anti-retroviral medicine clearly visible to everyone.”
Brenda Harrison, a traveller who arrived at Johannesburg International airport on Tuesday morning from Gatwick, see-through plastic bag in hand, told the Mail & Guardian Online she had waited in a queue at the British airport for two-and-a-half hours.
As stipulated by the British government, all flights departing from London are subjected to full security screenings. Passengers are hand-searched, their shoes are removed and they are X-rayed. Pushchairs and walking aids are checked and screened.
Harrison said queuing at Heathrow was a tiring experience because she was on her own and therefore couldn’t go to the toilet or even buy a drink. “We were queuing outside; thank God it wasn’t raining. It was raining at Heathrow.”
Security
Less room in carry-on luggage means that travellers will have to place their valuables and expensive items such as perfumes or cameras in their suitcases. This could make suitcases more vulnerable to luggage pilfering and theft at airports.
SAA spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan told the M&G Online that the airline is prioritising additional security to ensure luggage pilfering does not happen. “We’re doing as much as we can to make sure it’s contained,” she said.
Airport Company South Africa (Acsa) spokesperson Solomon Makgale said the infrastructure and systems Acsa has put in place at Johannesburg International airport are successfully addressing the issue of baggage pilfering.
“Regular crime-blitz operations are undertaken, often making use of undercover agents and surprise raids. Access control to the restricted zone is another focus area. All airside staff now make use of a single gate for entry and access, called ‘Charlie Gate’. Security at the gate has been upgraded at a cost of R8-million to include all new facilities and screening equipment,” he said.
He said in addition to the security upgrade at the gate, Acsa is completing a new ablution facility at the gate, at a cost of more than R23-million. Airside staff will have to store personal items at a lock-up centre and take nothing but their required equipment into the baggage area. This will further control the removal of items from restricted areas.
O’Sullivan said travellers have been patient and understanding, and are not lashing out at SAA.
On the bright side
Looking on the brighter side of flying, SAA travellers can at least look forward to a change in menu on all the carrier’s domestic flights.
The new menu — created by Air Chefs’ George Bopape, Robert Baxa, Jabulani Gumede, Ben Kekai, Obed Baloi and Tsepiso Kotsokoane — features a pecan roll with chicken loaf, cream cheese, sweet chilli and cucumber or a vegetarian bagel for a morning and afternoon snack.
SAA is also reintroducing hot food at lunchtime and will serve bobotie or linguini pasta.
The upgraded business- and premium-class menu is even more tempting, with smoked-salmon bagels as snacks and roast chicken breasts with potatoes, or beef strips with paprika served with penne pasta, for lunch.
Bongi Tshazi, food and beverage specialist for SAA, said customers were complaining that there was not enough to eat on flights come lunchtime. “We had to listen and do something about it,” she said.
There are no plans to change the menu on SAA’s international flights — but this might not be such a bad thing, as brushing one’s teeth in mid-air might very well be a thing of the past.