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This is my first post of the year, and it’s not even about incentive compensation… But I thought that a quick talk about a first hand account of my experience with the new airport security measures for Canadians planning a trip to the US could benefit fellow flyers.

We remember that in 2001, the failed shoe bombing attempt, resulted in having to remove our shoes for screening. After the liquid terror plot two years ago, we were no longer allowed to carry liquids in containers over 100 ml through the security checkpoint. Now, in response to a failed terrorist attack on board an aircraft from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, 2009, United States bound passengers are no longer allowed any carry-on bags.
I’ve taken two flights to the United States so far in January and this is what I have noticed:
New Security Measures:

• Every passenger going through security now gets a pat-down.
• No more carry on items are allowed (except for a few exceptions).
• Everything carried on the plane (as per the exceptions) is manually searched.
• Laptops are all screened for explosives.
• Going through security takes about twice as long as it did before.

If you are reading this post after searching about what is allowed on the plane, the official answer from CATSA is the following:

“Carry-on bag means items to which a passenger has access to during a flight, but does NOT include personal items such as medication or medical devices, small purses, cameras, coats, items for care of infants, laptop computers, crutches, canes, walkers, containers carrying life sustaining items, a special needs item, musical instruments, or diplomatic or consular bags.”

In other words, you NOT allowed to bring anything on the plane, unless they are considered a ‘personal item’. The problem is that depending on who you talk with, some items may or may not be considered ‘personal’.

When I was going through screening this morning, there were quite a few problems. A lady in front of me checked her luggage but kept her jacket, a purse, and a laptop which was protected by a small laptop pouch. She was asked to check in her purse because apparently the number of personal ‘bags’ is also limited to 1. She finally managed to fit the laptop inside of her purse and was finally let through.

Quite a few women had similar purse problems: according to CATSA, small purses are allowed (10in x 12 in x 5.5 in). Anything larger than that is considered not acceptable. More than one passenger were not asked to check in their purse by the airline, only to be turned around after having waited in line at the security check point for 30 minutes.

But women were not the only ones having problems. The definition of a ‘laptop carrying case’ is even more confusing. Only ‘regular’ carrying cases are considered personal items. Another guy in front of me had a small computer carrying case, but instead of having the regular single shoulder strap, it had a double strap to carry the bag as a backpack. He was required to check in the bag and ended up carrying only the laptop on the plane.

The laptop bag policy is also pretty subjective because it doesn’t specify sizes of the allowed ‘regular carrying case’, versus the non acceptable suitcase. I’ve seen many passengers getting through the security check point with pretty large laptop cases filled with much more than just a laptop… and I’ve also seen many people with smaller carrying cases who were asked to check it in.

So… to avoid having to check in your purse or your laptop bag, make sure that the purse is under the required dimensions and that the laptop bag is small and looks as ‘regular’ as possible.