One-bag Limit Ends at Some U.K. Airports

As of Jan. 7, airline passengers traveling through or from 22 U.K. airports, including London’s Heathrow and Stansted airports, will be free of government restrictions that had limited them to one carry-on bag.

The government had counted laptops, purses and camera bags all as separate pieces, which counted towards the limit, and the rule caused major inconveniences for some travelers, particularly business travelers with laptops.

As a result, British Airways said some of its business customers who used to connect through Heathrow instead were booking away on other airlines on flights that connected through airports without such limits.

The one-bag rule also resulted in a surge in checked bags, which some blamed for an increase in mishandled baggage, especially at Heathrow.

The U.K. government’s one-bag rule will remain partially in place at London’s Gatwick Airport for the time being, but the British Airports Authority, which runs Gatwick, said it expects the government to lift the limit completely at Gatwick early this year.

In the interim, the government is lifting the one-bag limit at Gatwick for passengers catching connecting flights through Gatwick’s South Terminal as of Jan. 7, the BAA said.

As of Feb. 11, the limit also will be lifted for passengers taking connecting flights via the North Terminal.

The U.K. implemented the one-bag rule after it made arrests in August 2006 to thwart a terrorist plot to use carry-on liquids and other components to create explosives onboard transatlantic flights. But the U.K. never fully explained why it had to be the only country to apply a one-bag limit, beyond saying it was easier for security personnel to screen one bag than two.