by Fiona Thompson

Created on: March 22, 2007   Last Updated: April 17, 2007

The sudden change to the list of banned or restricted items that can be carried in hand luggage certainly had many people bewildered. It is not least a controversial issue because many of the budget carriers are now making charges for luggage checked in to be flown in the hold. Previously you one might have been relieved to find that the things you couldn't take in your hand luggage could still be taken in your checked-in bag but many budget travelers are loathe to increase the cost of their flight when their luggage could be carried for free in an overhead bin.

Now that everything has settled down it is a good time to recap on just what you can take into the cabin of an aircraft. In the case of liquids I have given both US and UK quantities to avoid confusion and it should be noted that I have taken as my example the regulations that apply to transatlantic flights; if you stick with these you will not be tripped up at some point in the future. I will not give an exhaustive list but merely refer to those items which passengers are likely to be carrying into the cabin.

Airlines give slightly differing guidelines as to the size of your piece of hand baggage but if you use this rule made by British Airways you should generally be OK

- no bigger than 56cm (22 inches) x 45 Cm (17.5 inches) x 25 cm (9.85 inches)
- you really should take note of the size of hand baggage your airline allows because if it is too big you may have to either remove some items or have it checked in as hold baggage which is not only inconvenient for you, but could cause the flight to be delayed

You may take into the cabin electrical items such as digital cameras, mobile phones, video cameras, etc so long as they fit inside your carry on bag. Laptops, digital cameras, etc should be easily accessible for checking by security staff so don't fasten them up so well they can't be easily opened.

Liquids this is where people get confused. Don't forget that for the majority of flights you can buy drinks and toiletry items air-side after you have gone through security so if you really need something you could buy it then. For the purposes of air security liquids when referring to toiletries includes gels, aerosols and conventional liquids.

The rule of thumb for most flights is that you can take toiletries in your hand luggage provided that they are in containers of no more than 100ml (that's 3oz for Americans). You can't half fill a 200ml container the size of the container is the important factor; you

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