Common sense returns

According to BA, the hand luggage restrictions imposed on air travellers at UK airports will soon be ditched

Security restrictions at UK airports mean passengers may only carry a single piece of hand luggage onto a flight, forcing them to cram items such as handbags and laptop cases into a single larger bag.

The unpopular controls have been blamed for adding to delays at busy airports like Heathrow. BA chief executive Willie Walsh is optimistic that the "hassle factor" of the one bag limit may be ended by the government before Christmas.

Hoorah. It seems absurd that you can only take one piece of hand luggage through the security check and then once through you can buy any manner of goods, including restricted items like lighters and bottles of liquids of all descriptions from the duty free shops to take on the plane.

In our experience the "hassle factor" has been made worse by "jobsworths" who apply the rules in an arbitrary fashion much to the annoyance of passengers.