TRA VEL
Carrying On
for Carry ons
Hand luggage comes in almost every size and shape these days. So do
the excuses students use to try to sneak more of it aboard planes-but 4
now the airlines are getting tougher about restrictions
hen it comes to
airplane trips,
Softies: Tina some people just
Lundberg of UVM can't get a grip on
with L.L. Bean traveling light.
bags, Ciao! (top) Take the guy in San Diego who
packed his squawking parrot
in a Nike bag. Or Texas Tech
senior Kim Trainor, who tried
to slip a giant stuffed vulture on
the plane (her boyfriend had
won it at an amusement park),
only to have to buy it a seat. In
recent years, flight attendants
have been waging the battle of
the bulging baggage as passen-
gers have been carrying on-
and on. Here's a partial list
of excessives that Juliette
Lenoir, vice president of the As- 4
sociation of Flight Attend-
ants, has compiled: a four-foot
fig tree, a BMW drive shaft, a
car door, seven projectors
lugged by a college football
team and a large model of the
Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.
To get a handle on the situa-
tion, which was dangerous as
well as annoying to other pas-
sengers, the Federal Aviation 4
Administration put new regu-
lations into effect last January
limiting the number and size
of carry-on items. Each airline
can set its own guidelines, but
generally, most are permitting
only two pieces of luggage-
which must fit under the seat,
in the overhead compartment
or in the garment-bag closet.
Standards vary. TWA, for ex-
ample, allows just one bag on
board but does not consider a
briefcase as carry-on luggage.
American, on the other hand,
does. On all carriers, a purse
32 NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS
MAY 1988