With just over a month until Christmas, many of us are gearing up for some time away. But if you’re about to jump on a plane, here’s a guide to what you can take on Christmas flights.
Holiday extras company Airport Parking & Hotels (APH) has put together a guide comparing the different airline policies for travelling with Christmas and New Year favourites such as Christmas crackers, gifts and party poppers, ensuring there are no hold-ups at the check-in desk.
The research compares 14 airlines including Delta Air Lines, Monarch and Virgin Atlantic and compares their policies for carrying festive treats such as Christmas crackers, party poppers, sparklers and gifts as both hold and checked luggage.
For those not wanting to miss out on pulling a cracker abroad this Christmas, only two out of the 14 airlines in the study allow passengers to travel with crackers in their hand luggage, including bmi regional and easyJet. Both of these airlines stipulated that the crackers must remain within their original packaging, with bmi regional restricting travellers to one box person whereas easyJet permits two boxes per traveller.
Passengers are more likely to be able to travel with crackers in their checked luggage, with eight of the surveyed airlines permitting crackers to be packed in the hold compartment.
However, many of these airlines impose strict policies, for example Emirates state that permission must be granted by the airline at least three days before travel and easyJet make it compulsory that passengers inform check-in staff if they are carrying crackers. The strictest airlines in the survey include Delta Air Lines, KLM, Ryanair, Aer Lingus and Air France, all of whom do not permit Christmas crackers, sparklers and party poppers to be carried onboard.
When it comes to travelling with presents, Ryanair and British Airways both stipulate that presents must not be wrapped to allow security staff to access the parcels if necessary. Passengers flying with bmi regional must also note that Christmas trees and foliage are not recommended to be carried as checked luggage!
Passengers should also be reminded that strict restrictions apply across all airlines when it comes to carrying liquids in hand luggage, whereby liquids over 100ml are still not permitted. If travellers wish to carry festive favourites such as cranberry sauce or port, bottles over 100ml should be carried as part of checked luggage.
For the full results, see here
