Friday roundup

• LA Times luggage wars overview:

American Airlines earlier this month said it was enforcing its 40-pound weight limit for a carry-on bag. And when I was at LAX recently, I saw staff turn back customers who tried to bring aboard more than one bag and one personal item, requiring them to check an item.

Enforcement seemed spotty. Some fliers got through with three items. But one man, blocked because he had a bag, a tote and a book that looked too big to pack, shouted, “You pay me $15, buddy!” and bolted up the stairs toward security checkpoints.

•  TSA asking for security-friendly laptop bags to speed screening:

Life could get easier for the quarter of all air travelers who now carry laptop computers through security screening if government officials approve new “checkpoint friendly” bags later this year.

The Transportation Security Administration is testing prototype bags at airports in Ontario, Calif., Austin, Texas, and Chantilly, Va., that would mean some passengers would no longer have to remove laptops from their carry-on bags at security checkpoints.

TSA asked luggage makers to come up with prototype designs that will make it easier to view a laptop in the X-ray machines, basically by building in a place to store the laptop in a back or front compartment where there are no straps, pockets, zippers etc. Cables and chargers would have to be stored in side pouches. - Seattle Times

• And more from the UK about luggage that will never fit in the overhead but could be used to tow the plane.