Carry-on baggage banned by Pan-Am

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Carry-on baggage banned by Pan Am

By Robert Perez, Sentinel Staff Writer

September 27, 2001

SANFORD -- Pan American Airways, which operates a hub at Orlando Sanford International Airport, on Wednesday became the first U.S. airline to ban most carry-on luggage. The carrier now allows passengers to carry on only wallets, purses and, for those traveling with infants, diaper bags. But that's it.

All other bags, including briefcases, laptop computers, backpacks and even fanny packs, must be checked as baggage. But other major U.S. airlines, including Delta, US Airways, Southwest and Continental, said they had no plans to curb carry-on bags.

Orlando International Airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said she had heard of no such restrictions among the 80 or so airlines that operate out of the airport.

Customer reaction to Pan Am's move was mostly favorable, said John Nadolny, the company's vice president. Passenger Monica Bauer of Stowe, Pa., said she was delighted. "I think everything should be checked in," Bauer said as she was about to board a flight Wednesday.

The elimination of carry-on bags will make boarding and exiting planes quicker and allow security personnel to screen passengers and baggage more thoroughly, said Diane Beaudry, Pan Am's security director. It also means baggage handlers will have to do their jobs more quickly, Nadolny said. The airline has shuffled some of its staff to handle the heavier luggage loads.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration quickly enacted a series of new safety measures, including an end to curbside check-in, a ban on knives and increased manual searches of baggage. The agency did not ban carry-on baggage, but Pan Am officials said they thought there was no need to wait to take that step.

A poll conducted last week for the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-Channel 2 found 56 percent of Florida voters would support eliminating carry-on baggage. The telephone survey of 807 registered voters was conducted from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21. Richard Gritta, a professor of finance and transportation at the University of Portland in Oregon, called Pan Am's prohibition a good idea "under the current circumstances." He agreed it will make it easier to get on and off planes and will reduce the potential for problems between passengers.

But the drawbacks are that business people won't be able to take contracts or other work aboard. Passengers also will be less likely to take with them anything of value."I won't carry anything valuable in baggage that I check in," he said. "Anybody who already does is foolish. Who is going to make sure my laptop isn't stolen? That opens them [Pan Am] to liability."

Nadolny said Pan Am will make special arrangements to handle laptop computers -- passengers can pick them up from gate personnel at their destination and not at the baggage carousel.

Rene Stutzman, Joe Rassel and Sarah Hale of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Robert Perez can be reached at rperez@orlandosentinel.com or at 407-322-1298.

Copyright © 2001, Orlando Sentinel

-- Swissrose (cellier3@mindspring.com), September 27, 2001

Answers

This is the first COMMON SENSE reaction I've seen to the terrorist bombings. Yahoo!! I hope the other airlines follow suit.

I got sick of tiny people trying to cram there oversized carryons into the overhead luggage compartments making the rest of the people wait while they struggle with it. This will save a lot of time spent in lines.

Woohoo!!

-- Guy Daley (guydaley1@netzero.net), September 27, 2001.


Yeah, but wouldn't it be nice is they finally started to match checked baggage to those that board the plan???

The Pan-Am Flight brought down over Lockerby (sp) Scotland was brought down this way, by someone who checked baggage but did not board.

You know, the terrorists don't have to die with their victims!

If they start matching luggage with people on board and checking out people the service the planes (they found 3 more box cutters stuffed in seats on planes that were never boarded on 9/11!!) -- I'll gladly wait and let people with carry on bags, that are looked thru (with the person right there) struggle to get them in the overhead.

-- Jackson Brown (Jackson_Brown@deja.com), September 27, 2001.


It's one thing to force people to check those rolling piano cases that pass for luggage. It's quite another thing to ban computer bags from carry-on. Mine is much smaller than a diaper bag. It can't be that much trouble to have it searched at the security checkpoint.

I sometimes have to fly in my job, and I have used the time on the plane to catch up on work. I also recall getting back a checked briefcase once that was squashed flat and had luggage cart tire tracks across it. There is no way I will trust my notebook to the tender mercies of the gorillas at the airlines - even if some flight attendant is standing guard over a pile of computers on the tarmac. No thanks. During the worst paranoia of the Gulf War, when it took an extra 40-60 minutes to get through security at my local airport, business travelers were still able to take their computers with them. We had to show the contents of our bags and prove the computers actually worked, but we could take them on board. That was also at a time when there were lots of terrorist threats in the news. It has been years since I was required to show that my computer was real. Maybe we should just enforce the rules we had 10 years ago?

For now, I don't have to travel Pan Am. Whew. If other airlines start to require the same thing, I guess I'll have to switch back to autos and trains, or maybe start carrying a big black leather "diaper bag" when I fly.

(grumblemumblegrumpgrumblehmph)

-- Margaret J (mjans01@yahoo.com), September 28, 2001.


Jackson Brown - Truly the only 100% solution to never being involved in an airliner accident of any kind is to not fly at all. IF you think you can be safe because all carry on and checked baggage has been searched and X-rayed, think again.

Its no big deal to situate yourself a mile or two away from the end of the runway and fire off a shoulder mounted LAW (portable missile) at a big lumbering airliner coming in for a landing. If you think its impossible to smuggle in weapons then think about the thousands of tons of human cargo that gets smuggled in every year.

I don't know how many miles of border and shoreline the 48 couterminous states have but we can't watch it all, all the time.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley1@netzero.net), September 28, 2001.


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