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Beware Of Taking Liquids In Hand Luggage!!!

Just a little story that hopefully will be helpful to others...
You know how the restrictions at the airports re: liquids in your hand luggage - if you wish to take any liquids in your hand luggage you are supposed to depense them into small containers of 100ml & put them in a re-sealable bag no larger than 20cm x 20cm. Well, that is exactly what I did. I bought special plastic bottles from Boots, some 100ml & 50ml bottles (costing £1-£2.50 each, I bought 6-8). I also bought lots of new products to put in them - shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, face cream, etc. FANTASTIC, I WAS READY TO GO! We were on our way to Italy from Gatwick, went through customs security with NO problems at all with my little bottles...away we went. On our way back from Italy I went through customs security & they took out ALL of my special bottles from my hand luggage & started to grill me on what was inside the bottles. I told them what the liquids were & Italian security just threw them in the garbage. The long & the short of it was, they said they had no way of knowing what the liquid inside the bottles were because there were no labels on the bottles (they were clear plastic). All in all, I caused a fuss & tried to get my bottles back. They couldn't retrieve them from the garbage so I could put them in my main luggage & I ended watching over £15 of new bottles & product go in the garbage. What they said was, they didn't want to take a chance that I was a terriorist with liquid explosives or something to that effect. I told them, if I was a terriorist I surely wouldn't put my explosives in unmarked bottles would I, I would want to disquise them somehow & maybe put them in a Chanel bottle or something like that. Anyway, there is a lot more to this story, but I will finish with saying one thing - DON'T TAKE ANY LIQUIDS IN YOUR HAND LUGGAGE UNLESS IT IS A LABELLED MANUFACTURERS BOTTLE!!! Dispensing into 100 ml bottles may work going through airport customs in the UK, BUT you don't know how other European countries will react to them (especially if they are clear plastic like mine were) or how they happen to interpret the rules on this issue. Basically, IT'S EASIER JUST TO PUT ALL LIQUIDS IN YOUR MAIN LUGGAGE...THAT'S MY ADVICE & THAT'S WHAT I DO NOW!!! HAPPY / SAFE TRAVELLING...LIQUID FREE!!! ~ BLUroma
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Comments

  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,470 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    They are mis interpreting the rules or just being unreasonably strict, but an interesting experience.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • rjm2k1
    rjm2k1 Posts: 651 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Why do you need shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in your hand luggage? Never been able to work that one out! Anyway, at least we now know that if you want to take explosives onto a plane, you just need to make sure they are in a bottle with a label on it.
  • M4RKM
    M4RKM Posts: 5,132 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    rjm2k1 wrote: »
    Why do you need shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in your hand luggage? Never been able to work that one out! Anyway, at least we now know that if you want to take explosives onto a plane, you just need to make sure they are in a bottle with a label on it.

    everything like that goes in hold luggage anyway.. no need to spend £15 in plastic bottles...
  • suzy_g
    suzy_g Posts: 734 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    I don't know why people insist on taking liquid in hand luggage at the moment. :confused: i think they brought the 100ml rule in case people had a legitimate reason for needing fluid on board with them.
  • Vampgirl
    Vampgirl Posts: 622 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    Interesting story, but I also don't understand why anyone would want to take shampoo/condition/etc...in their handluggage??? I always put these type of things into my suitcase - the only liquids I carry in handluggage are handcream, lipbalm and perhaps moisturiser if its a long-haul flight.
  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,470 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you are doing a 2 night weekend trip and taking hand luggage only, you may need to put a bit of liquid in your hand luggage.

    I feel the 'no liquid in hand luggage at all' rule is not far off.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • celyn90
    celyn90 Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    That's really bad luck OP. I fly alot with work and because OHs parents live abroad (at least two journeys a month) and I only ever travel with hand luggage so the liquids have to go in there. I've just found collecting small samples works okay or buying branded mini bottles then refilling them with something different works ok. I have horribly sensitive skin, so can't really buy products when I'm away.
    :staradmin:starmod: beware of geeks bearing .gifs...:starmod::staradmin
    :starmod: Whoever said "nothing is impossible" obviously never tried to nail jelly to a tree :starmod:
  • taxi97w
    taxi97w Posts: 1,526 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Photogenic
    Some types of lids on bottles will leak if placed in the pressurised cargo bay of the plane.
    This is why I carry certain bottles in the hand luggage instead.
    more dollar$ than sense
  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    taxi97w wrote: »
    Some types of lids on bottles will leak if placed in the pressurised cargo bay of the plane.
    This is why I carry certain bottles in the hand luggage instead.

    The baggage hold is pressurized to the same level as the passenger cabin, if it's going to leak in the hold, it will leak in the cabin. I would rather it leaked over my socks and underwear than over my passport !
  • rjm2k1
    rjm2k1 Posts: 651 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Yes, I was going to ask where that bit of info had come from, they might leak when your suitcase is dropped and then thrown from one side of the runway to the other by the baggage handlers tho!
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