A new study from the UK’s leading discount website revealed the top ten most embarrassing items commonly left in hand luggage by Britons that were later uncovered by staff at the airport security gate, when making their way abroad. Vibrators topped the charts, closely followed by Viagra pills.
LONDON – In a bid to discover more about Britons’ packing habits when going on holiday, the UK’s leading discount website has conducted a study to find out more about the embarrassing moments when security guards have to search hand luggage, and what embarrassing items are most frequently found.
MyVoucherCodes.co.uk polled 1,346 Britons aged 18 and over across the UK who had been abroad in the past 2 years, initially asking them, ‘Have you ever had your hand luggage searched when passing through security at the airport?’ to which the majority, 81%, said ‘yes’.
These respondents were further asked if security guards had ever uncovered something embarrassing in their hand luggage when making their checks, to which two fifths, 39%, said that they had. When asked to state, from multiple possible answers, what these embarrassing items were; the top 10 embarrassing hand luggage items most commonly unveiled by airport security staff were as follows:
- Vibrator- 17%
- Viagra pills- 15%
- Tampons/ Sanitary Towels- 13%
- Condoms- 13%
- Pornographic DVDs/ Magazines- 10%
- Nude photographs- 8%
- Lubricant- 6%
- Incontinence pads- 5%
- Pregnancy test- 3%
- BDSM equipment- 1%
The respondents who were caught with the embarrassing items were then asked to explain why they had decided to keep the items in their hand luggage, rather than their suitcase. The majority of the respondents, 38%, claimed that they ‘forgot’ about the item being in their bag, whilst just over a quarter, 26%, stated that they thought the items wouldn’t ‘get noticed’.
A further 15% admitted having the item in their hand luggage due to ‘last minute packing’ whilst just under a fifth, 17%, admitted the item was ‘authorised in hand luggage anyway’, so they didn’t see a problem.
Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings: “It’s surprising how many things you can find in hand luggage, especially in women’s bags which tend to be bigger. A lot of people tend to overload their hand luggage when going abroad just in case something happens to their suitcase en route to their destination, and as a result it seems that we Brits end up with a whole host of potentially embarrassing products being lugged around with us!”
He continued: “Always make sure you check the airline hand luggage policies before your flight, so you know exactly what you can and can’t take with you. Otherwise, you could end up having your belongings confiscated at the security gate, which is definitely something you want to avoid if you’ve got something embarrassing hidden in there!”
