Carry-on and checked baggage rules

The items most often confiscated at airport security, with whether each one may travel in the cabin or the hold.

This is not just a list of links: each page carries the actual rule and the practical preparation for it. Read only the ones you need.

There are only four classes of rule

You do not need to memorise this item by item. Knowing which of the four classes something falls into is enough to decide.

Most incidents happen in the allowed with conditions class. Capacity and shape decide whether the same object passes, which is why "it was fine last time" is not evidence.

3 items that may travel neither in the cabin nor in the hold

Of the 16 items allowed with conditions, 3 cannot be brought into line with any condition. There is no capacity to reduce and no quantity to adjust: no airline accepts these in the cabin or in the hold. Packed in a suitcase they get the suitcase opened at screening; carried to the checkpoint they are surrendered on the spot.

These are the only items nothing can be done about at the airport. Everything else passes once it meets the limit, so these are the 3 to settle before the bag is packed.

The one reliable way to avoid losing an item

Take out anything that may only travel in the cabin before you hand the suitcase over at check-in. After that the suitcase stays shut until arrival, and what security takes at the checkpoint is mostly not given back.

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