Warning! Connecting flights at a European airport? Your duty free may be confiscated.

If you're flying outside the EU and have a stopover on the way back you need to be aware that any duty free liquids over 100ml will be confiscated! Remember the following to protect your cash…

Why is this allowed?

Although we are clearly told at check-in that liquids greater than 100ml are not allowed in hand baggage it’s not so clear that this also applies to items purchased after you have been through check-in, including duty-free alcohol and perfume.

This is not a problem if you are flying direct but if you need to transfer flights in a European airport the additional security checks means you'll have anything purchased outside of the EU (excluding Singapore since Jan 08) that is over 100ml in size confiscated at the connecting airport.

What is and isn’t included?

Liquid duty-free items can only pass the European security check if they are in an approved tamper-evident bag. Yet, as these bags are only issued in European countries or Singapore, everything purchased elsewhere does not comply and hence can't get through. It’s hoped other destinations will follow Singapore and have their security verified, although it’s unlikely this will ever apply across the board.

Who is responsible?

Whilst there is obviously no problem with the security regulations, the problem is that duty-free retailers are still selling to passengers needing to transfer in Europe without warning them about this, and airline check-in staff don't mention it either. This suggests that no-one is taking responsibility leading to £1000s being wasted and tons of duty-free being binned every week.

What to do about it

Unfortunately this is a case of forewarned is forearmed as there does not seem to be anyone to complain to after the event as you will see from my personal story later on.

If you need to transfer flights within the EU the best thing to do is not to buy duty-free liquids unless they come in a tamper-proof bag, and even then make sure it's approved for EU travel.

You might not be making a big saving anyway; It’s often just as cheap to buy perfume online, avoiding any confiscation problems, and the free weekly MoneySaving email often includes good booze deals such as the 40% Thresher voucher, Free Budweiser and £5 Woolies Champagne.

Now a little personal note....

I asked Martin if I could do a note on this, as it happened to me earlier this year when I flew back from Cario via Amsterdam with KLM airlines.

As a MoneySaver I thought I’d be saving money when I bought a couple of bottles of booze and a 200ml bottle of aftershave for around £60 but it was all taken off me in Amsterdam

I didn't know that i'd have to go through an additional security check at Amsterdam having already done this in Cario, I didn't know that liquids had to be in a tamper proof bag, and no one told me until it was too late.

When I got home I wrote to complain to KLM. I had paid it for a service and felt let down that the check in staff knew I would be transferring planes but failed to warn me of any issues. KLM wrote back denying responsibility and actually said I should complain to security in Amsterdam, who were in no position to warn me before I bought anything and were actually just trying to keep me safe.

KLM also said that the rules about hand luggage were freely available and its website was kept updated with information about the regulations but could not point me to where, in fact i have found little information anywhere about the problem during my research.

I've been left with the conclusion that no one wants to help and will try and pass the buck, as KLM did, so if my warning can save MoneySavers having the same problem that would make my £60 loss a bit easier to bear.

I'd be interested to know what MoneySavers think about this. Did you know about it and if so how? Have you had goods confiscated? Did you complain? Who to? What was the response?

Thanks everyone,

Wendy

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