Checked baggage | Hold luggage | Prohibited items in baggage at Heathrow

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Hold baggage

Go to main page: Heathrow security

Items banned from hold baggage

For safety reasons, the following items cannot be taken on to an aircraft. Please do not pack them in any luggage, cabin or hold.

  • Flammable liquids and solids.
  • Oxidisers such as bleaching powders.
  • Organic peroxides.
  • Tear gas devices or any gas cylinders.
  • Infectious substances such as live virus materials.
  • Wet-cell car batteries.
  • Magnetrons.
  • Instruments containing mercury.
  • Instruments containing magnets.
  • Fireworks and pyrotechnics.
  • Non-safety matches.
  • Fire lighters, lighter fuel, paints, thinners.
  • Poisons, arsenic, cyanide, weedkiller.
  • Radioactive materials, acids, corrosives, alkalis, caustic soda.
  • Creosote, quicklime, oiled paper.
  • Vehicle fuel system components which have contained fuel.
  • Explosives, ammunition, detonators and related equipment.
  • Smoke canisters and smoke cartridges.

 

Packing tips

To avoid bags becoming jammed on the conveyor belt, please ensure that:

  • All loose straps are tied up or removed.
  • All flaps are securely fastened.
  • Extendable handles are retracted or secured.
  • Old tags and barcodes are removed.

When deciding what to pack and what to carry as hand baggage, please bear the following in mind:

  • Don’t wrap gifts. Security staff may wish to view them, and so may unwrap them.
  • Consider putting a change of clothes, or at least underwear and a spare shirt, into your hand baggage. It can mean a little extra comfort at the end of a long-haul flight, or if hold baggage is delayed.
  • Never carry anything on to an aircraft for anyone else.

 

See also

Hand baggage rules

Travelling with liquids

Baggage allowances

 

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