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During a recent trip, I bought a snow globe in a typical airside (after security) airport shop. It is a souvenir item, not a duty-free thing at all, therefore is was not placed into the well-known sealed bag.

Later during the trip, I had to change terminals at LHR using the airside shuttle - and go through security again. At this checkpoint they nearly discarded the globe as it is obviously filled with water. I told them it was sold at an airside shop. They asked me to make sure that it is put in a sealed bag next time. During the transfer, the other bag was checked until destination and no baggage claim was available to get access to it anyway.

Is there a way to be sure an item we buy during the trip will make it to the destination? Should I ask the souvenir shop to seal some kind of items?

Another thing coming to mind is also, can we know in advance if a particular airport will require us to go through security again during an airside connection?

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    Voting to close as too broad: there are many different airports out there with different sets of rules, so it's impossible to create a full answer for all of them
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Oct 18, 2016 at 8:28
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    If you can't put it in your hold luggage, asking the shop to seal the item is the only solution I can think of. But I don't think that even that is 100% foolproof. I never had any problem personally but I vaguely recall reading about some airport/destination country combination (I think it was Singapore and Australia but I might be wrong) where that wasn't allowed (i.e. you had to go through security again because of some specific requirement of the destination country and they would not accept things that originated in another airport).
    – Relaxed
    Oct 18, 2016 at 8:46
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    @JonathanReez I disagree that this is too broad. The only answer I can imagine is "Get the shop to seal it but bear in mind that some airports might not accept even this."
    – David Richerby
    Oct 18, 2016 at 8:50
  • Concerning the thought of too broad: I made my best to frame the question and obviously it is not the point here to list all airport combinations! Maybe an online resource already has some frequent combinations and travel experiences about this.
    – DavGin
    Oct 18, 2016 at 23:50

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I had a similar experience from Tokyo -> Chicago -> Philadelphia. At Chicago, I forgot that the snow globe was in my bag. The bag alarmed, the security officer carefully unwrapped it, and told me I needed to check it.

If possible, bring a bag with you that would not matter if it was delayed (don't put keys, medicines, valuables, phones, or passports in it), and when you reach the connecting airport, put the snow globe in it and ask to check the bag to your final destination.

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  • Very good point. The encountered situation is that, at Heatrow, there is no baggage claim area nor re-check counter during the transfer, making it more challenging.
    – DavGin
    Oct 18, 2016 at 23:54
  • @DavidG. the last time I went to Heathrow was about 10 years ago, but I recall having to check baggage (it might have been because I went over the carry on limit). Is there a way you'd be able to go to the ticketing area?
    – Rajiv
    Oct 20, 2016 at 6:31

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