Makes me laugh this , they say its an airport security loophole , it's not a loophole as the goods in an airside store have a " paper trail " and it is scanned/x rayed into the the airside area , and can be traced back to the source .

Can see the idea of keeping your hold luggage light by purchasing after checkin , and some items would be useful to take on holiday that are over 100 mls like suntan cream , but I wouldn't want to lug around a bag of toiletries as hand luggage ,if wanting to take specific items then buy the small empty bottles than most stores sell and decant a small amount , enough for your holiday into these and place into your hold luggage , they won't weigh too much , to be honest I think this is what most people do anyway ??

andy66 wrote:

Makes me laugh this , they say its an airport security loophole , it's not a loophole as the goods in an airside store have a " paper trail " and it is scanned/x rayed into the the airside area , and can be traced back to the source .

Can see the idea of keeping your hold luggage light by purchasing after checkin , and some items would be useful to take on holiday that are over 100 mls like suntan cream , but I wouldn't want to lug around a bag of toiletries as hand luggage ,if wanting to take specific items then buy the small empty bottles than most stores sell and decant a small amount , enough for your holiday into these and place into your hold luggage , they won't weigh too much , to be honest I think this is what most people do anyway ??

OK it might not be a loophole but it is a way around the double bind of security restrictions and luggage allowances. I do it all the time and not just with suntan lotion because the small empty bottles that most stores sell for travel purposes do only hold approx 100mls and that might be enough for many people for their whole holiday but it wouldn't do me for Cuba, for example. In that sort of heat and humidity and given the sort of holiday it is, I probably shower and wash my hair twice a day most days. Less than 5mls per shower is not enough shower gel, shampoo or conditioner for me! I know that I will go through most of a 250 mls bottle of each and by the time you add on at least 2 similar size bottles of sun lotion plus the same of aftersun you're talking about a minimum of 1.5lrs of toiletries! And that's before you add in the heavy duty moisturisers a shall we say 'mature' complexion needs Rather than pay a fortune for a bigger luggage allowance I'll use every ruse in the book, including the suggested one, to make the most of the basic 15kgs allowance on a flight to Holguin.

SM

I normally do similar, except I don't bother pre ordering. There's generally always either a Boots or Superdrug airside & if we are travelling with hand luggage only this is the lightest way to go, especially for suncream etc.

I do still take some 100ml bottles of stuff, like face moisturiser, hair conditioner/shampoo as I find those amounts are sufficient for me.

I expect it's a handy tip for some & definitely worth a mention & considering.

Sometimes they don't stock everything at these shops and what they have might be the smaller volumes so you can order stuff they don't carry if you have room in your hand luggage. Split between a family I expect you could take a fair bit.

In future when I go to Spain I will just buy toiletries there as I couldnt believe how cheap they were in the big supermarkets.

don't think this works if your trip involves changing aircraft.
Your hand luggage may be scanned before boarding second aircraft and all your expensive toiletries could be taken.

It works if you stay airside when in transit and the goods bought airside at the start of your journey are in sealed bags.

SM

but not if you don't stay airside, such as changing terminals?

It still works when changing terminals in some airports because they have arrangements to in effect keep transit passengers in a security quarantine even when changing terminals. But if your journey is wholly within the EU the sealed bag rules still usually apply even if you go landside - they certainly did for me at Heathrow when travelling between Seville and Edinburgh via Madrid and London.

SM

the reason I queried it is because 2 years ago a friend was flying back from Bulgaria to Humberside. he picked up a bottle of Scotch in Bulgaria duty free and put in hand luggae. The aircraft was then loaded with passengers for LBA as well as Humberside and the plane landed there first. Humberside passengers were made to de plane and go landside, on reentering airport for Humberside, minutes later, the bottle was confiscated.

That would be another point that you have to remember though , making sure purchases were sealed in tamper proof bags , it would be easy to forget to make sure this is done and if you're making domestic flights in the UK and using different carriers for connections you might have to go landside and back through security who will then confiscate if they are not in a tamper proof bag , so a loophole you have to remember and be aware off !!
It's always easy to think you are getting round one "loophole" only to get caught by even more strictly enforced rule

On a similar note , on my recent flight back from Abu Dhabi , we went through baggage x ray on entry to the airport , then checkin , then personal security check , onto the lounge in the airside area , we picked up a can of drink in the lounge in case we wanted it on the flight and then at the departure gate there was another full personal security check , and liquids over 100mls were confiscated , now this was an airside "purchase " so no real need for confiscation , there was a bin full of water bottles and cans of drink !! The airport official said this was a BA policy , which is total rubbish , since when did a British airline implement Abu Dhabi airport policy ??
We had not paid for the drinks so didnt matter , but If duty free liquid purchases were not in tamper proof bags would they have been confiscated ? It seems like none were , which made the "made up rule " more confusing , regarding purchases made in the airside departure area , some were ok , but others were not !! but does go to show that sometimes things are not always as clear cut or straight forward as you might think , it's very easy to be be caught out , thinking you know or assuming
You have to be careful to not , ....how shall I say it ....? Penny wise , pound foolish be very sure to know and understand all the rules , as with anything to do with air travel , mistakes can prove expensive !!

Bearing in mind that the OP was not discussing the merits or otherwise of the circumstances or rules governing bringing duty free purchases back into the UK but the purchase of toiletries after security, surely the simple answer is to order/buy immediately before boarding the plane to your final destination, especially when the transit is done here in the UK from being a domestic passenger to being an international one? When flying out to Seville via Madrid the staff in the airside shops at Heathrow were able to tell me whether I would need to go through security again at Madrid etc and packaged my purchases accordingly.

The interesting thing about that transfer in Madrid was that the transcontinental passengers ie those who were making an onward connection to the Iberia flight to Sao Paolo in Brazil never even set foot inside the terminal. They were offloaded onto a bus on the apron through the rear door and taken straight round the outside of the terminal to join their onbound flight. I accept that this was probably not standard practice but was done because our inbound flight to Madrid had been delayed. I was in the next batch of passengers to be offloaded and we did enter the terminal but were not the subject of further security checks but I had been checked straight through from Edinburgh. Why I was travelling to Seville with TWO airport transits has more to do with University finances than convenience! I wouldn't have done it that way by choice!

SM

Sounds like it took all day just getting to Seville !!!

As you rightly say , the simple answer is to order / buy immediately before boarding a plane to your final destination , especially when the transit is done here in the UK from being a domestic passenger to being an international one .

For instance , a passenger leaves EDI or GLA to LGW on easyjet , they then have a flight on easyjet from LGW to a European destination , they have to collect baggage at reclaim and check back in for flight 2 and go back through security at LGW and if they picked up an oversize liquid at EDI/GLA in the departure lounge and it wasn't sealed then it would be confiscated at LGW when going back through security , if it was sealed , it would be ok , people do think because it was bought airside it's ok , but the product has been taken landside and so the " paper trail " had been broken ( it could be swapped with something else landside at LGW ) and that's the reason for confiscation , and the same reason why your friend Del had the bottle of scotch taken .

I realise that SMa perfectly understands the rules and the need for sealed tamper proof bags , and im not trying to explain something you dont already know !! but a lot of people do make this error and sadly lose their purchases , so the original tip is handy if you need to use it , but doesn't cover the scenario if someone is connecting in the UK and doesn't understand the full rules

Good that LHR staff packaged your purchases correctly , for instance it would be easy for staff at EDI/GLA to think you're only flying to LGW , as that's what your boarding pass says , they might not know you are connecting onto another destination from there , so be aware to make sure they know your final destination and packaged it accordingly , and the same with bringing back purchases from abroad if you are connecting in the UK .
Hope this helps and clarifies why