Just calm down

Both the National Post and Quill & Quire have blogged about Transport Canada regulations that supposedly ban books and periodicals as carry-on items on aircraft, period.

Neither of these esteemed news outlets have taken note, apparently, of the wording of the Transport Canada press release (with my italics):

As a result of a terrorist incident on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, 2009, additional security measures were put in place at Canada’s airports for flights to the United States.

On December 28, Transport Canada put in place enhanced security measures for passengers on flights bound for the United States. Effective immediately, US bound passengers are not allowed to bring carry on bags into the cabin of the aircraft….

That’s three (3) explicit clarifications in just two (2) paragraphs, that this applies only to flights to the United States and to passengers thereon. (And that’s one more set of italics, for Canadian bloggers who still don’t get it.)

Domestic flights are unaffected.

Having flown to Montréal and back just yesterday, I can tell you that for domestic flights, nothing has changed. I just thought I’d squeeze this in before flying off to Edmonton this afternoon … with a bag full of books.