Travelling: Guidelines for visitors to USA

To begin, a warning, or advisory in American parlance. No matter how ridiculous this story seems, everything in it is true.

Several years ago, your editor's best friend's husband (no reading between the lines, please) was late for a shuttle flight internally in the UK. He caught the plane but his overnight bag caught the next plane an hour later. He waited in the airport for it and was handed a case that had been - not to put too fine a point on it - blown up. His mobile phone had triggered an alarm and embarrassed security men handed him scorched shirts and - er - hot pants as well as the remnants of his telephone.

Secondly, having been invited by the Mayor of Dublin to explain to bankers in the International Financial Services Centre the commercial and systemic risk posed by money laundering, your editor was featured in many newspapers and on prime time news bulletins. For three days in 1998, he got more column inches than the Spice Girls. On the flight back from Dublin, his bags were opened and the power cord of his laptop stolen. UK customs said it was a police issue as the fact that one of the locks was opened and the combination had been left at open was discovered a few feet outside the customs check area.

Now, the USA Department of Transportation has just issued guidelines for visitors to the USA.

James M Loy of the Department has urged travellers not to lock their suitcases. "The guidelines include leaving checked baggage unlocked to avoid it being potentially forced open for inspection," he says. Instead of locks, bags should be secured with cable or zip ties, apparently. "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is moving toward providing travelers with free, tamper-evident seals screeners can open if a detection machine alarm or other security concern requires a bag to be physically inspected," the Department says.

Loy is asking passengers not to pack food or beverages, which tend to set off alarms, not to overpack, and to put footwear on top of other contents.

Personal items should be placed in clear plastic bags, and books should be spread out inside bags rather than stacked, according to the release.

"Photographic film should be carried in carry-on bags because detection machines will damage it," they say

In the spirit of Christmas, "Gifts should be left unwrapped." "Some items that passengers may be able to carry on an airplane in other countries, such as scissors and other sharp objects, are not allowed in carry-on bags in the U.S.," said Adm. Loy. "Consequently, items brought into the country or purchased here by foreign visitors may not be taken home if they are not stowed in checked baggage."

One big difference foreign visitors will notice is that many U.S. airports have their large, explosives detection machines set up in terminal lobbies, contributing to crowding. In many countries, those machines are out of sight, built into the baggage conveyor system.

All bags are subject to search. Bags that set off alarms or otherwise raise security concerns will have to be opened for inspection. The TSA is moving toward providing travelers with free, tamper-evident seals that screeners can snip open if a search is necessary. But for now, air travelers are advised to secure their luggage with cable or zip ties as an alternative to using baggage locks.

If a checked bag is searched, a "Notification of Baggage Inspection," which says the TSA is not liable for damage, will be put inside the bag. Screeners will then reseal the bag for the rest of the trip.

Loy has given federal security directors the flexibility they need to respond to issues that arise from the screening process. Strange, but true. Full details of the guidelines are at: www.tsatraveltips.us.