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Because of the new restrictions on carry on baggage, many passengers were expected travel to be even more of a hassle than it was already. This however, is not quite reality. One of the unexpected benefits of having severely restricted carry on baggage is that there isn't as much carry on baggage to deal with. Passengers are boarding flights with considerably less detritus weighing them down and it is reducing stress in airports across America. The new restrictions have made boarding much faster as the old tradition of jockeying for overhead bin space has been antiquated by the new measures. There have also been reports that leaving the plane is getting faster as well as passengers have less luggage to collect.

Some of these time make-ups have transferred passenger gridlock elsewhere. For instance the time that is now saved in boarding and deplaning is now spent in baggage claim checking and re-claiming the very bags that would ordinarily be stuffed into overhead compartments. Originally the ban that is affecting these carry on bags was on all liquid substances, including drinks. Now, many weeks later, the ban has been relaxed somewhat and they are allowing beverages that were purchased after security check in the airport as well as small liquid containers for lip gloss, lotion etc. This still is not filling the overhead bin.

The big time saver used to be for business men and weekend travelers to fit all of their items into one suitcase that was small enough to fit into the overhead bin. This eliminated the need for these passengers to check any bags and allowed them to leave the airport directly after deplaning and security. The negative aspect to this was that the overhead bins filled up relatively quickly as many folks got the idea and caught onto it like a trend. The major downside of this new ban is that although passengers are 20% more likely to check their baggage, the amount of baggage getting lost hasn't necessarily decreased. If passengers can not have necessary items for their trip available to them conveniently in their carry on, a piece of lost luggage takes on brand new significance as it easily has every single thing that the passenger might need on their trip. They are unable to plan for lost luggage by filling their carry on piece with those items they would absolutly need 'just in case.'