Most people use their common sense when flying and don’t pack sharp or dangerous items in their carry on luggage. But even seasoned travellers get caught out by the relatively recent carry on liquids rule. Thousands of bottles of perfume and toiletries, aerosols, and other such items are confiscated at airports worldwide every month. Since 2006, all liquids, gels and aerosols brought aboard in carry on luggage are subject to the following restrictions:
- individual items must contain no more than 100ml/100gr (that’s 3 oz)
- total per passenger limited to 1000ml (1 quart)
- all such items should be placed in a resealable clear plastic bag and presented separately at airport security, and only one such bag is allowed per passenger.
Which means if you’re going to travel away for a few days, any personal toiletries you bring aboard will need to meet these criteria. For most people, this is going to take a small bit of extra planning. Of course, you could just put them all in your hold baggage. Which is fine, if you’re checking bags in. And even then it’s worth having a backup plan in case your bag goes missing. You don’t want to face the trouble of trying to find a local pharmacy at your destination, possibly facing a language barrier if abroad.
Buy travel toiletries in advance
The toiletries you use regularly at home are unlikely to be in units small enough to meet the regulations, so you’ll need to find alternatives. Many pharmacies offer a range of travel size toiletries suitable for inclusion in your cabin baggage. These are usually available across a range of recognised brands. So you should try your local supermarket or pharmacy to see if they have them in stock.
Give yourself a bit of advance time though, as not all shops will carry many (or indeed any) travel toiletries and you may need to shop around a bit to find exactly what you want. Worst case, if you can’t find anything you’ll have to buy whatever you need in the airport after security screening, but that means you’ll pay more than you need to and take up extra space in your carry on baggage.
So plan ahead and save yourself some money!
