22 UK airports allow more than one bag

There are now 22 airports in the UK which from 7 January will allow passengers to carry onboard more than one item of hand luggage, with Glasgow airport one of the latest to be added.

Glasgow airport, Edinburgh airport and Newcastle airport have now all been approved by the Department for Transport. These airports, along with 19 others including Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester, have all convinced the DfT that they have the airport security systems in place to avoid queues at security caused by the increased number of bags being screened.

But a number of major airports in the UK have still not demonstrated to the DfT that their security systems can cope with more cabin baggage. These include Gatwick airport, Luton airport, East Midlands airport, and Liverpool airport. Airport operator BAA is hopeful that Gatwick airport will be approved shortly.

Major airports where passengers will be able to carry more than one piece of hand luggage are Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow, Inverness, London City, Manchester, Newcastle, Prestwick, Southampton and Stansted.

A number of smaller UK airports have also been approved by the DfT: Benbecula, Cambridge, Islay, Kirkwall, Plymouth, Southend, Stornoway, Sumburgh and Wick.

But not all airlines flying from these airports will be allowing their passengers to take more than one item of cabin baggage onboard. The DfT advises: “Before departing we strongly suggest you check with your airline on the cabin baggage arrangements for your particular journey”.

Several airlines have recently declared their policy on hand luggage. Where airports permit, bmi, British Airways and Flybe will be allowing some or all of their passengers to take more than one bag onboard. But easyJet and Ryanair are sticking to the one bag rule.

“There is massive scope for customer confusion in an environment where UK airports are adopting different policies. The only way to maintain a simple and standard policy is to maintain our one bag policy,” says easyJet chief executive, Andy Harrison.

Written by: Nick Purdom