The airlines must have lobbied for Airport security to tighten down. When I went to travel last week, through the airport, with my wife and 2 children, we realized that traveling without checking bags is now much more difficult. When we were going there it seemed to take us 10 minutes to get through security because your liquids can no longer be packed away and your shoes can't go in a bin. Why does this matter? (Note: Kids are 5 and 7). Can you imagine keeping track of a laptop, 2 Nintendo DS', 8 shoes, belts, liquids (in their own container), etc all singularly as you move through security. The easier solution is to just pay the 15 dollars and check ONE bag. We did this on the way back and it was much easier.