Pack like a wise man for your festive get-away

Sunday 18 December 2016

You might be all packed for your festive break but have you got it all wrapped up right?

Ports of Jersey say it's going to be a really busy week at the Airport and Harbour, and staff are reminding you how to pack your Christmas presents to take away with you.

They are expecting to see more than 40,000 air and sea passengers through the terminals up to Christmas Eve and are preparing for their busiest days on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ports of Jersey's Alan Donald said: “It’s inevitable that at this time of year passengers will be travelling with a higher than usual number of gifts and we want their journey with us to be as smooth and as comfortable as possible. Although stringent security measurements remain in place, which all airports adhere to, even during the festive period, we hope that by giving our passengers a timely reminder of what they are permitted to carry on board, it will decrease the risk they take of having items denied boarding at central security search.”

You need to check with your airline if you want to take Christmas crackers away but they mustn't be home-made ones and you can't take 'party poppers' or any other types of explosive devises.

Any wrapped presents must be checked-in hold luggage and any presents you've got in your hand baggage needs to be unwrapped for Security.

Mr Donald says ‘liquid’ items, like perfumes, pastes, gels, jams, preserves, dairy products and lotions need to be checked-in too unless it's less  than 100ml which can go in your hand-luggage in a single, clear re-sealable bag.

He said because it's going to be such a busy week, you should allow more time for usual to check-in, the bag drop and for going through security and you should keep an eye on your departure gate closing.

Passenger number are already up more than 57,000 this year and Mr Donald says it looks likely that the number of air passengers for 2016 will exceed the 1.53M mark set last year. Up to the end of November 1,487,277 air passengers have passed through Jersey Airport, an increase of +4%.  

Up to the end of November 2016, sea passenger numbers are down by -14% on the previous year with 636,666 passengers travelling this year compared to 743,982 in 2015.

You can find out what items you can and can't take away with you here.