Canada bans most carry-on bags on US-bound flights

Canada has banned most carry-on baggage for United Stats-bound passengers in the wake of the attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit in the United States.

Transport Canada, the Canadian government’s department that is responsible for regulations and policies related to transportation in Canada, has issued a list of 13 items that are exempted from the new ban.

Airline passengers are allowed to carry only small purses, cameras, medical devices, bags containing ‘life-sustaining items,’ canes, walkers, diaper-bags, musical instruments, and laptop computers.

Technically, if an item is not on the “exempted” list, it is not allowed to be carried aboard, Patrick Charette, spokesman for Transport Canada, said. However security personnel can exercise their “discretion” at the airport gate.

The new rules would mean that all rolling suitcases and backpacks must be checked. Books, magazines and children’s toys also will be checked.

Even those items exempted will be limited – meaning that a single passenger will not be permitted a coat, a purse, a laptop, and a diaper-bag.

Small electronic devices like portable DVD players and iPods will be allowed on board, and passengers are free to buy books, magazines, snacks, and water once they pass through the security check.

Air passengers bound for the United States have been allowed to carry only one bag since December 26, 2009.

In a statement, Transport Canada said it is doing its best to ease the backlog at security checkpoints after passengers complained of disorder and long lines at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

At 4 of the biggest airports in Canada – Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton (in Alberta) – the police are helping with security following Transport Canada’s request. Police are conducting a secondary search of passengers at after the passengers pass the main security checkpoint at these 4 airports.

About 40 officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are conducting the searches at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

Patrick Charette, spokesman for Transport Canada, said the additional security measures are likely to stay for many days.

At the at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, every passenger bound for the United States is being subjected to a pat-down and every piece of luggage is inspected by hand. These extra checks, which sometimes took as much as about 3 hours, were cited as reasons for delays or cancellations of several flights.

Air Canada, the flag-carrier airline of Canada and the country’s biggest airline, and Jazz, Air Canada’s affiliate, had to cancel a number of short-haul flights to the United States owing to security-related delays.

Duncan Dee, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Air Canada, said in a statement that the airline “consolidated” flights and operated bigger aircraft on certain routes, especially from Toronto to destinations in the north-eastern United States.

Air Canada, he explained, is doing everything it can to adhere to the schedule, notwithstanding the delays caused by additional security screening, which are outside the airline’s control. The airline’s number one priority is the safety and security of its customers and employees, Duncan Dee added.