Ensure a stress free start to your holiday by being clear on hand luggage restrictions. Read our guide on what to pack and to leave behind.
Packing can be an absolute nightmare, especially if you are restricting yourself to hand luggage only. Trying to organise the essentials in conjunction with the ever changing restrictions is more often than not a stressful experience that most people dread.
However, Economy Car Hire is here to help. We’ve come up with an up-to-date list of what you can and can’t pack in your hand luggage.
Liquids
Liquids include: All drinks, liquid or semi-liquid food, creams, cosmetics and toiletries, aerosols, gels, toothpaste and all solutions such as contact lens solution.
It is advisable to pack the bare minimum. Consider if shower gel or shampoo will be available at your hotel to save precious space.
The restrictions: Containers must be a maximum of 100ml. All containers must comfortably fit into a transparent 20cm x 20cm re-sealable bag. You must be able to seal the transparent bag, so you cannot overfill it.
Exemptions: medicinal purposes, special dietary requirements, baby food and milk, products bought in duty free.
N.B. Enough baby food and milk for your journey is permitted in your hand luggage regardless of quantities. However, airport staff may need to open the containers to screen the liquids. Check out our flying guide for babies on board!
Medicines and dietary foodstuffs
Items include: Tablets and capsules, liquid medicines, hypodermic syringes, inhalers, gel packs, electronic devices.
The restrictions: All essential medicines and equipment must be accompanied by a doctor’s note or other medical documentation that states your condition.
Exemptions: If you require oxygen cylinders please contact your airline when making your booking to ensure they can accommodate the necessary space required.
Electrical devices
Items include: Mobile phones, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, heated hair styling devices, cameras, travel iron, electric shaver.
The restrictions: Please ensure all your re-chargeable devices are fully charged before you travel. If your device does not switch on when requested you will not be allowed to take it on board the aircraft.
Personal Items
Personal items include: Sharp objects, sports equipment, musical instruments, and flammable objects.
The restrictions: No sharp objects are permitted in your hand luggage. Sports equipment and musical instruments must be cleared by your airline when you make your booking as these items may require a seat of their own. Flammable objects such as common lighters must be sealed in a plastic bag and kept on your person at all times to avoid accidental ignition.
Exemptions:Certain grooming items such as tweezers, nail clippers, nail files, disposable razors and small scissors with blades no longer than 6cm are allowed in your hand luggage.
Refer back to this handy list next time you are jetting off. Or, take a look at our other tips for avoiding hand luggage surprises!
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Arriving at Verona airport on 16/09/2014 flying back to Gatwick,my wife and I went straight to the checkin desk. After showing our passports and answering the formal questions (did you pack your own bags etc.)I was informed by the check in person that my two suitcases were not on the manifest and therefore she could not allow them on board the airplane.After a heated discussion, it was decided that I would have to pay 80 Euros for my luggage to be allowed on board.
Fortunately I was able to pay this charge and am now in dispute with the travel company.
Let this be a warning to future travellers.
In reply to Chris Reynolds …. Certainly do not agree that info iis nonsensical as he states , we travel regularly and my Hubbie requires insulin pens and all the paraphernalia , also has a medication pump for another illness which requires cassettes full of the medication have been asked for the letter numerous times , certainly did not read advice as relating to tablet form of medication ??? In that applies to needles etc .
We’ve just returned from Faro to Stansted with RyanAir and must say that it was the least ‘jobsworth’ trip we’ve ever had.
The only ‘glitch’ was when my wife left a bottle of perfume in hand luggage instead of in the plastic bag. Bag was rejected, and had to opened. They told her she had perfume before looking……. Took it out, put in plastic bag (which it went in easily) and sent the whole thing back for re-scanning….no problem!
It’s a bit off topic but my biggest gripe with air travel is the weight allowance. We had one bag checked in the hold with a 15kg limit. My wife and I have a combined weight of no more than 140kgs on a bad day…… We have seen individual passengers who weigh more than us and our luggage together yet we still have to pay a surcharge if our luggage is 0.1kg over the limit….. If allowances were made for passenger weight as well as luggage, we could bring loads of ‘duty free’ back and enjoy getting as fat as everyone else!
RE: “The restrictions: All essential medicines and equipment must be accompanied by a doctor’s note or other medical documentation that states your condition…..”
I carry a number of labeled prescription medications in my carry on, as they would be hard to replace when away from home or out of the country. I have never been asked for a “Doctor’s note”. If the doctor identified on the label didn’t want me to have it, it would not have been prescribed. Further information on my condition or medical need is nobody else’s business.
Sorry, but I think your guidance wrong and is nonsensical.
I must add I have some sympathy for the views expressed by Howard. Taking a bag of the maximum permitted size will generally not fit under the seat in front on an economy aircraft. Taking only 1 bag as strictly enforced by some airlines means that if there is no space in the immediate vicinity (and no chance if the bag is placed in the hold) then the passenger has no access to any personal items they may wish to use on the flight(ipods ipads etc..)
The main problem is caused by passengers taking hand luggage that is above the maximum height causing it to be put in the overhead lockers sideways on rather than end on thus taking up 2 spaces. This was my experience on my recent flight.
Well said, Howard, I am 74 and not as fit as I used to be, so when I get stuck with the “greedy” young back packers etc. I smile sweetly and insist/plead they help put my carry on the rack for me as I can not possible move theirs around to make room for mine. So far it has worked 100%! Sometimes a bit of emotional blackmail works wonders with even the most “roughie tuffie” back packer hogger! However, I am surprised that cabin staff don’t exercise more discipline on this as it is most certainly in their company’s interest.
I totally agree with Howard, Jet2 in particular seem to allow anything on board, their luggage dimensions and weight for cabin luggage seem precise enough, but people drag huge rucksacks, cases etc., and take up all available room. As soon as the plane is taxying on landing they ignore the cabin crews instructions to remain seated and start rushing up and down the cabin to retrieve their cases banging them into anyone who has followed instructions and remained seated, and proceed to line up to exit, it’s the British must be first on and first off syndrome. Respect for others is a long forgotten way of life.
Does make me laugh though when they’re all queued up facing the wrong exit door!
Ah the joy of travel.
To slightly, but necessarily, misquote Jessica’s opening paragraph:
“Storing personal baggage in aircraft overhead lockers can be an absolute nightmare for travellers having to contend with penny-pinching fellow passengers who think nothing of stuffing into their carry-ons almost the same amount that they’d otherwise pack into hold baggage.”
It’s now beyond a joke that gigantic bulky ruck sacks and massively over-sized hand bags are being brought aboard aircraft by people who couldn’t care less if the locker room they’re taking up is so disproportionate that other passengers boarding after them cannot get their own baggage into the allocated space.
The sooner that airlines really do crack down on such blatant selfishness, the better, and enforce stringent dimension regulations. Of course: it would be even better if no such crack-down was necessary and people behaved with a modicum of respect for others — but that’s obviously asking too much.
Thanks for your comments Howard, it seems this topic has struck a chord with you.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a stressful experience when trying to store your luggage. Most airlines are usually fairly strict regarding the size restrictions of carry on items. However, I believe it is common for overhead locker space to be limited, especially on economy aircraft. This means that on busy flights there is not enough room for every passenger to store a carry on bag, despite everyone obeying the hand luggage regulations. Locker space is therefore available on a first-come, first-serve basis rather than allocating a set space per seat.
If you do find yourself without room for your bag and it matches the cabin baggage size dimensions set by the airline you are usually allowed to store it underneath the seat in front of you. If this is not an option, the airline will store your luggage in the hold ensuring that your belongings will always travel with you.
I hope this has provided some clarification when travelling with hand luggage in the future.