Rules for Carry-on Luggage

It's a sad reality that in today's world, travel is a target of terrorists. And every time an attempt is made to attack an airplane-- even when the attempt is foiled-- security procedures change for everyone.

How to keep track of rules for carry-on luggage?

News sources -- whether on newsprint, online, or on tv or radio -- are of course an important source of information.

But to have the always-latest info at your fingertips, travelers checking in for flights at airports in the US are best to go straight to the TSA web site. TSA stands for Transportation Security Administration: all those security staff you encounter at the airports work for the TSA.

• check the latest rules for carry-on luggage at the TSA web site.

You can find other helpful advice at this site as well, such as the latest procedures for passing through security gates ( --whether you'll need to have footwear passed through X-ray screening, etc.)

Travelers in Canada: Carry-on Luggage Rules
The welcome page at the Canada Transport site is a starting point to find the latest rules for carry-on luggage; in times of crisis, this page will have headlines about the latest procedures. Also try websites for individual airlines, such as aircanada.com.

Travelers to the UK
Check for latest restrictions at baa.com.

Protect your checked luggage

When restrictions on carry-on luggage increase, we need to pack more things as checked luggage. But what about damage to fragile items, and the risk of theft? These become real concerns when laptops, digital cameras, digital media, and other fragile and/ or expensive items end up in checked luggage.

Regarding theft: simply locking up your luggage is not a good strategy, as TSA security staff are entitled to break your locks in order to inspect the contents of your luggage. The solution, in the US, is to buy special locks that can be opened by TSA staff, and then reclosed.

• shop online at PriceGrabber* for TSA-approved locks

Read product descriptions carefully and look for a red "torch" symbol on the product, to be sure that TSA can open and close the lock without damaging it. About's Guide for Student Travel has more info about TSA luggage locks and how they work (-both keyed locks and combination locks.)

Meanwhile, for worries about damage to fragile items: About's Guide for Europe for Visitors has a collection of Hard Cases for Cameras and Laptops, to protect these important belongings if they need to get to your destination as checked luggage.

* PriceGrabber is an affiliate of About.com.