The business-traveler fantasy of the carry-on-only flight is no more. In response to Thursday’s news of the foiled plot to blow up trans-atlantic flights using liquid explosives, travelers on both sides of the pond were greeted at the airport with an onslaught of new restrictions and longer and still more byzantine security queues. In the UK, travelers were required to check all but the essentials before boarding, their carry-ons reduced to plastic baggies of glasses, prescriptions and passports. According to a piece in the NYT some who arrived without the time to stow their gear in checked luggage had to part with iPods, cellphones and toiletries, or face missing their flights. The new security measures, coupled with countless canceled and delayed flights, have caused mammoth backups at Heathrow and other British airports, where, according to the BBC, some fliers have been grounded for up to 58 hours between connecting flights. While the delays will eventually ease up, the carry-on rules will remain in place for the immediate future.

Restrictions are lighter in the US, requiring only that any liquids, creams, gels or pastes be packed in checked bags. Still, travelers who arrived at the airport Thursday and Friday without knowing the new rules had to throw out an arsenal of toiletries before boarding. Check out this news report from Phoenix, and the amazing indignation of one lady forced to chuck her makeup kit full of expensive products. (Why do I suspect that some lucky TSA employees are going home with pocketfuls of Chanel and Kiehl’s this weekend?)



For a view of the situation on the ground in England, and some news coverage that’s more concerned with the terrorism aspect of recent days than with the indignity of having the government confiscate your toothpaste, take a look at this report from the UK’s Sky News: