8 essential tips on how to pack your bags right for a flight!

At the airport I encountered everyday inquires about how to pack certain items for the flight. Some questions showed up everyday and most of them were about hand luggage. I want to make your life easier and tell you the things that occured to me most often.

Question 1. “I have liquids in the hand luggage! How do I know what’s even liquid?”

And now you are laughing there, thinking you know what liquid means. But how about a lipstick, is that a liquid item? The answer is yes it is counted as liquid in the air traffic. At the airport we used to say that everything you can spread over your bread are considered as liquid items. The follow-up questions are, how to pack them right and how big can the package size be? Package size for liquid items is a maximum of 100 ml and you may take as many as you can fit in a 1 liter plastic bag.

Question 2. “What do I do with my medicine? I have to have this cough medicine that is liquid, may I take it onboard?”

According to the regulations you may take the amount of medicine you think you need during your trip onboard but you must be prepared to show the prescription. You should pack your medicine to a separate plastic bag and you have to be able to separate it from your other belongings at the security control.

Question 3. “What should I do with my iPad and computer when I head to the security control?”

If you have an iPad with you, take it out of your bag and take off the cover. (There is a new regulation that requires you to remove the cover from your tablet device.) If you have a computer take it out from your bag even though the bag would be designed for computers.

Question 4. “Umbrella, should I put it to the check-in baggage or can I carry it as hand luggage?”

It’s okay to have an umbrella in your hand luggage. But if there are any sharp parts in your umbrella think twice whether to put it to the check-in baggage or carry it in hand luggage. The regulation says it’s okay to have an umbrella but if the security officers think it might cause any danger onboard they may collect your umbrella away.

Question 5.“How do I pack my jewellery?”

My own advice is to take most of the jewellery to your hand luggage and if you want you can also wear some of them. You don’t have to remove your earrings for security control. The metal detector might beep for example because of some larger piece of jewellery or accessories like your watch. Then the officers might advise you to take it off but it’s very rare.

Question 6. “How to carry battery onboard?”

There are regulations concerning the size and the type of the battery. Lithium batteries are not allowed to be placed in the cargo hold which means that they cannot be placed in your check-in luggage. Lithium battery can be taken onboard in your hand luggage. Otherwise batteries (such as AA-type) are allowed both in your check-in and in your hand luggage.

Question 7. “Scissors are forbidden to carry in hand luggage, are they?”

Scissors cannot be taken onboard as hand luggage except small ones with blades measuring 6 cm or less, measured from the joint, are permitted in cabin baggage.

Question 8. The biggest question of all is about the baggage allowance.

Baggage allowance differs which airline you are flying with and which ticket type you have chosen. In the regular tickets with one piece of check-in baggage the amount of kilos allowed varies from 20kg to 30kg. Please check from your ticket or from your airline what are the weight, piece and size limits of your ticket. The allowance for hand baggage is usually 8-10 kgs and with many airlines you may take one piece of hand luggage and one personal item with you (like an umbrella or computer case). All of these you should also check from your ticket or from your airline.

Time to get packing!