Ryuk82

Are you allowed to pack things that are liquid but more than the 3 oz carry on limit in your checked baggage? I think I remember a security checker at Heathrow telling me that I could have put my bottle of sweet chili sauce that was too big for carry on in my checked luggage but I want to make sure I can take regular things like lotions and shampoo and body wash that are in bigger bottles if I need to. Also, like I said, I'm moviing to the UK for a while and I wanted to know if I could use my prescription for contact lenses there as I have the doctors RX slip. Does anyone know if I can use this or if I will have to have another examination. Thanks

d_claude_bear

Fifteen months ago I put an unopened 16 ounce bottle of prescription dental rinse in a checked bag to Paris (carefully enclosed in a zip=lock bag to prevent spills)--no one questioned it. I plan to do that again when we fly to Milan next Spring. I believe it is "legal."

doug_stallings

Yes, you can pack liquids in larger bottles into your checked luggage. But they sell lotion, shampoo, and body wash in the UK, so I'm not sure why you'd have to take that kind of stuff with you.

Can't help with contact lenses. I don't know how that works in the UK.

flanneruk

There's no legal or pseudo-ethical (aka "unnecessary rule invented by trade association trying to drum up business for itself and pretending it's in the customer's interest") barrier to using a foreign prescription for contact lenses in the UK.

Whether the optician concerned will honour it is entirely up to them. When I was in the business, we generally did, if we could understand it.

PatrickLondon

When you say prescription for contact lenses, do you mean some special sort of lenses needed for medical reasons or just the usual sort? If the latter, I don't see why you couldn't take your current lenses and your doctor's prescription to any high street optician in the UK, but they might want to re-test you just to cover themselves - I doubt if it would cost that much if you're going to buy your lenses from them.

Seamus

Restrictions on liquids apply only to carry on bags. In your checked bag you can put any size container of a liquid/gel that is not a prohibited substance (like some flammables.) If you do, best to be sure they are in a secure ziplock bag in case of spillage.

hetismij

Lithium batteries must be in your carry on not in the hold. And they must be in separate bags so they can't short. If you are bringing a camera then check which battery type it uses.

justretired

I pack liquids and gels all the time, and have never had a problem. The likelihood of a liquid or gel leaking is pretty much directly proportional to the amount of air in the container, since that's what builds up pressure at flight altitude (relative to the lower pressure in the airplane). If a container is full (except for a tiny air space), there's not much risk of significant leakage. You can squeeze most of the air out of a plastic container and cap it, if the cap makes a good seal. Tubes are the best for getting out the air. Then put it in a baggie with most of the air squeezed out, and there's little risk. My wife thinks I'm obsessive about my packing, but we've never had a leak.

I don't pack flammable liquids like alcohol, and I suspect that they are not allowed (but I don't have any actual knowledge of this). This could apply to things like after-shave lotions. I also would never pack nail-polish remover, which is <i>highly</i> volatile if it were to leak (and which would also do quite a job on everything else in the luggage). Even non-liquid nail-polish remover in the form of pads or gels could fill the hold with highly explosive acetone fumes if the container leaked or cracked.

I always remove ordinary alkaline batteries from things like electric toothbrushes and small flashlights before packing them in my luggage (wrapped in plastic wrap). I don't want any chance that anything I'll pack could start a fire in the hold. My Lithium batteries (which are a much greater fire hazard than ordinary alkaline batteries) are all in valuable things like cameras and computers which are in my carry-on anyway.

suze

Yes you can bring full size bottles of shampoo, etc. in your checked luggage. There is no restriction on that.

Ryuk82

thank you all very much

Scheck

What about foods like coffee, granola bars, etc that i need as a diabetic? can those foodstuffs be in checked luggage or will customs at heathrow have u throw them out?

annhig

What about foods like coffee, granola bars, etc that I need as a diabetic? can those foodstuffs be in checked luggage or will customs at heathrow have u throw them out?>>

why would they? it is liquids in your hand luggage that they are concerned about as they can be added to each other to make inflammable or combustible substances. I don't think that anyone has made a bomb out of a granola bar yet. you can also bring fruit [this isn't the US and we don't have a citrus industry to protect], sandwiches, baked goods, etc etc. I did have yoghurt removed from me once which I thought was a bit daft.

not sure what you mean by coffee - obviously you can't carry a cup of coffee onto the plane - but ground / powdered instant coffee would be fine. Why you would want to though is another question - they usually have coffee on board planes, IME and we do have it here in the UK.

if you need extra supplies, anything you can buy airside you can take on board, except bottled water when boarding a flight to Australia in HK - don't ask why because I have no idea.

GreenDragon

Foods in your carryon are fine, unless there are worries about importing fruits and veg to a foreign country. Instant/coffee beans are fine. Liquid coffee, only if you buy it once you're past TSA. I always bring snacks on the plane, as the service is spotty and I like to keep my metabolism level with frequent snacking.

NewbE

<obviously you can't carry a cup of coffee onto the plane>
Sure you can, if, as GreenDragon says, you buy it after going through screening.

But the point is, ewt and dry foodstuffs are fine in checked luggage.

Mimar

Waiting in Seattle for a flight, I asked the Alaska Airlines gate minder if I could bring my just-bought cup of coffee onboard. She gestered around the gate and said if it was not allowed, half the passengers would refuse to board.

As for bringing fruit into the US, some fruits carry plant diseases they're trying to contain the spread of.

I double-bag any liquids I pack in my checked baggage. About contacts: arriving in the UK, I went to a pharmacy/chemist to buy my special contacts cleaner. They directed me to an optician instead. Fortunately it was still Saturday morning. The optician closed for the weekend at noon. Beware of any holidays also.

NeoPatrick

I have to laugh at our little Trenton NJ airport. As you stand in the very short and quick line for TSA, there are a couple of vending machines, including one for bottled water. I can't tell you many times I see people buy a bottle of water there only to be told 10 seconds later they can't take it through screening. It seems like the most organized airport vending scam ever devised.

annhig

As for bringing fruit into the US, some fruits carry plant diseases they're trying to contain the spread of. >>

I said that it is ok to bring them into the UK which is where the OP is going. there are no restrictions on them going that way as we have no citrus industry to protect as I already said. [that does not apply to potatoes from outside the EU but I don't imagine the OP is planning to bring in any spuds].

So far as I'm aware you can't bring hot drinks onto the plane in the UK - and I'm surprised that you can do it elsewhere, given the risk averse nature of most insurers' lawyers.

GreenDragon

Interesting. I've brought hot drinks on with me to a plane before. Just did in Iceland, coming back on WOW airlines.

flpab

If you have a script for contacts now get it filled before you leave. I buy enough for the year and then some before the year us up.I buy monthly contacts. You can even do it on line.

annhig

GD - you used to be able to take them onto some uk flights e.g. ones I have got from LGW to Newquay. but the last time I did it I saw that it wasn't allowed and I can remember seeing notices to that effect more recently elsewhere.

with all the hand-luggage going onto flights, people fighting over locker space when they get onto the plane, finding their seats, not finding their seats, and all the rest of it, I can't see that carrying hot liquids in that situation is in any way safe.