Cate

It may be worth pointing out that you and husband will not be able to sit together with two babies, the best you can hope for is to be split by the aisle, this is due to the fact that there are only 4 oxygen masks per three seats so there will not be enough for the four of you and the passenger in the third seat. Best that you know now than be surprised when you get to the airport or onboard the aircraft.

best wishes for your future, my two little girls (Not Twins and now 16 & 13) are the best thing that ever happened to me.

Dave

answer is a few pages back.. YES as long as they are not smothers in mayonnaise or similar

hi cate-taylor.....if your hoping to breast feed your twins succesfully you need to learn to chill out ....boobs were here long before bottles....and so just dont worry about what anyone thinks....your babes come first and there shouldnt be any problems feeding both at same time any where....like some one else says feed in peace and comfort somewhere before you check in.... even if you have to wake them a little early ....

If you feel awkward about feeding in public a poncho works great....you or a freind can easily make a nice light weight cotton one that would be cool to wear and would fold small and not be heavy in your hand luggage.....with a little help from hubby you can position and feed both babies discreatly ....if I was on your plane Id say ahh and be really proud of you.....

I made one many years ago and it worked a treat...though I only had one baby to feed....two would have fitted fine

Wish you all the happinness for your new role as a double mum...and enjoy your trip....tweetie

about the liquid bags .....I bought mine in tesco's....they are called zip seal....sold in a half white , half coloured oblong polythene bag...says on white half 30 small food and freezer bags....they are 18cms x 18cms but they open out to be a little bigger...I get all I need in them ....have used them the last 3 times I have flown with no problems.....the opening of the bag has a plastic zip type closure that can be opened and resealed easily and securely....think thats the important bit for security

I also used 2 I bought from post office which were made for purpose...but they only had 2 left and was 4 of us needing one so bought the tesco ones as well....

hi dazbo....something happened on my way back from holiday that made me feel ill.....I had given everyone a bottle of water for the journey to the airport as it was very hot....I put mine in the side pocket of my hand luggage....it was too big and atleast the neck and bottle top of it was sticking out....Id started to drink another one whilst checking out and waiting for the coach to take us to airport ....it was hot and I get sickly and light headed in the sun unless I drink plenty of water.....so usually I would have drunk both the one in my hand and the one in my bag long before check in....but I still had the one in my hand after I checked in....I finnished the one in my hand and left the bottle before going through security...I also made sure everyone else did the same with theirs....I was feeling hot and sickly and so busy helping my autistic son go through the security as well that I completely forgot about the bottle of water sticking out of the side pocket of my bag....it went through the x-ray machine in the side pocket of my bag .....I bought everyone a few bottles of pop airside to take on the plane....it wasnt untill I was on the plane taking what I needed out of my bag before storing it in the overhead locker that I realised it was still in my bag....my stomach turned over...I didnt know what to do...and didnt want anyone to get into trouble ...so in panic I gave it my son and told him to drink it quick....I was mortified thinking about what could have happened if it had triggered an alert at the screening point....but afterwards I was worried about what could have happened had it not been an innocent mistake by a harrished nervous mum who didnt feel very well....cant believe they missed it...it was in a side pocket that stood out from the bag...was not obscured in any way ...and it stuck out so the flap couldnt be closed.....am also really angry with myself for being so stupid

No need to worry Tweetie Pie. Many people forget that they can't take large bottles through security and quite often this is not spotted. All that would have happened if it had been spotted was that the security pesonnel would have confiscated the bottle, they might have said a few strong words to you but that would have been the end of it. It happens every day.

hi judith....it was the small size bottle...most people carry with them...like the coke ect you buy at the airport.....what keeps haunting me is if I could get through with a bottle of liquid that big and not really hidden....then so could others with more sinister intentions....I really didnt mind having the restriction of 100ml x 10 limit in a see through zip sealed bag...that got inspected....it made me feel safe ....now I will worry knowing despite x-ray I was able to pass through security with a litre of fluid in a plastic bottle....in my case was genuine mistake and just an unopened bottle of water....but they wouldnt have these restrictions if there wasnt a real threat of some one taking something more sinister onboard....for more sinister reasons....if over 100mls was classed as a security risk....such a risk that it is diligently adhered to by airport security....how great a risk would litre be....tweetie

I understand your worry as I believe there have been isolated cases of people still managing to carry knives and scissors through, a friend flew to London from a major german airport and found she still had her small penknife in her handbag when she arrived in the UK. From what I understand there is discussion at the moment (possibly already decided) about relaxing the restrictions and passengers will be able to bring larger amounts through. Until this time hopefully security in various airport will improve.

Judith

Thanks Tweetie Pie. If hubby and I were split by the aisle or one of us in one row and the other behind, it'd be ok. Easyjet have policy of not allowing breastfeeding during take off and landing. Plan is to do mixture of breast feeding and feeding expressed breast milk from a bottle. Feeding in public doesn't bother me, will be getting the nursing tops and bras with drop down bits. I'm actually beginning to think that if breastfeeding works, the easiest option for us will be Rail & Sail. If breastfeeding doesn't work, then I'd probably either ring Boots in departures and ask them to put cartons to side for me or have the water ready in the bottles and powder in the dispenser things.

Hi Chocaholicsanon
i was o.k taking sandwhiches on the plane crisps etc last year . drinks i know are differant not allpwed .Unless you buy once through check in. I even took food from home to eat on plane. Nothing was said .Unless it's changed this year.Have a fab holiday.

I have taken a 500g block of good old English Cheddar cheese on 3 ocassions this year in hand luggage (not the same piece of cheese of course !) to Spain / Tenerife and had no problems.

In March the security 'x-ray' system at Manchester placed a large red ring around it on their monitor automatically, clearly they have some very clever predictive warning software in their hand luggage systems. I was asked to open my hand luggage and was allowed to proceed with the cheese - much to the amusement of the security staff.

In May at East Midlands a similar size lump of cheese was spotted by one of the security staff looking at the monitor (no red ring this time!) and again I was asked to open my hand luggage - no problem again once they had seen what it was.

In June at East Midlands a similar size lump of cheese was not spotted or deemed to be a problem and it went through without me being stopped.

I cant wait until this Wednesday to see how my 4th lump of the year gets on !!

Chris

Just a word of warning for anybody travelling through Gatwick just in case what happened to me wasn't an isolated encounter with a 'jobsworth'! Ever since the restrictions on liquids in hand luggage came in, I've used a zipped clear, transparent toilet bag from Accessorise (I know that others on HT went out and bought identical ones on my recommendation) without any problems. It's exactly the right size ie 20cms by 20cms and I've used it on numerous occassions passing through Gatwick and other airports in the past without any problems. But earlier this month, the women at the entrance to the security checking area where they photgraph you (not the security scanning staff themselves) not only insisted on seeing my bag before letting me past but made me go back and collect one of their bags and use that. She was adamant that my bag was too big though she refused my offer for her to actually measure it. It seemed easier to do as she asked than to argue the point but when I went back through and showed her again after I'd transferred my stuff she then expressed surprise that I'd managed to fit it all in! I couldn't help myself - I just had to point out that of course it all fitted in because the 2 bags were actually exactly the same size!

So just be warned - even if you know that your own bag meets the regulations it might just be easier to use one of theirs from the beginning :-)

SM

we fly to dalaman a week wednesday (5th aug) 4 of us with a baggage allowance of 20 kgs per person,correct me please if i am wrong but am i right in saying that we would be able to have 2 cases at 30 kgs and one at 20 kgs (the max on monarch in one case is 32 kgs).hope not to take that much but you never know how many shoes the wife will pack for herself...

stoniemcfc,

That's correct, Monarch allow you to combine (pool) luggage providing all passengers are under the same booking. No suitcase over 32kg will be allowed to travel.

Darren

cheers dazbo but youve got to laugh as ive just seen on the news that the immigration staff may be on strike for 48 hours from the 5th of august...cant bloody believe it...

have heard that also stoniemcfc..... ....son getting married in rhodes flying out on the 5th....we're worried as they legaly need be in country at least a week before wedding ....and things already booked out there....dont know how things will work out if strike goes ahead...could make it so cant get married ....a lot of money will be wasted ....I for one couldnt pay out again for family to go abroad for wedding...

There is another topic about the 'possible' strike action:
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=137283

David

Sma, the "jobsworth" you refer to would also do security scanning as well as the entrance point , the crew rotate round every 20 mins to different tasks- xray loading , screening , body searches and entrance, so they do know about all the procedures and regulations. At the entrance point they would "prepare" people for security checking as "most" passengers seem unprepared for checking and this causes more holdups which is not only annoying to the other co-operating passengers but to the security staff who ask the right questions but generally get blank responses and even lies, like "are there any liquids in your bag?" and people say no quite adamantly even though the x-ray clearly shows the contents of their bag , some people are even surprised that an x-ray shows up the contents!!! A lot of time is wasted queueing at security and staff are under pressure to get passengers through quickly and accurately , there is also the fact that staff are monitored by DfT inspectors and EU inspectors and they have to get it right , if they fail on any aspect of the process they get served defieciency notices , so it just might be that the day you went through that there was a purge on the liquids bags because despite the rules being around for quite a while now many people still fail to present their liquids separately at screening. I think it was unfortunate that you had to change your bag but the security staff member who made you change your bag was probably just making sure so that you had no problems at the screening point.

could someone tell me if i can take my own sandwiches made at home onto the aircraft..dont want to pay stupid prices at manchester airport..we are flying out 5th August at 0735 with thomas cook