Thursday, August 27, 2009

How to Avoid Airline Security Embarrassment with your Lingerie!

Have you ever travelled overseas and been required to undertake a full luggage search? You know one of those really embarrassing moments or situations where they ask you to open not just your bag but to actually take every single item out of it and place it on one of those cold hard stainless steel tables. Not that that is an issue or embarrassing, but then guess what happens, bet your imagining it now, all of your underwear and lingerie fall off the table and all over the ground right in front of everyone.

Been there, done that …

It is one of those moments in my travelling career where you really just wish you could just crawl up into a little ball and hide. Well there is a way round these little embarrassments.

The secret to avoid this really embarrassing situation is to employ the services of a lingerie bag. Essentially the role of the lingerie bag is to hide the unmentionables or at the very least, make them less the focus of attention. But what is the right one to use.

When we were first talking about writing an article on this subject, my team and I really researched what was out in the market place and we have some really cool suggestions. Whether you like it or not, security is a big issue when travelling and what we need to do is to make the security staff lives as simple as possible to see that there is no contraband mixed with the underwear or lingerie.

The best type of lingerie bag is one that is made of a mesh structure. There are two reasons for that, one, it makes it easier for any security staff to identify what is in the bag and secondly, most mesh lingerie bags can also be used in the washing machine (Check the label to ensure this is right for your lingerie bag).

I should note that just because your lingerie bags are mesh doesn’t mean they will not be opened by airport security, just it is less likely. In fact I recommend that you carry at least two mesh lingerie bags, the first for your clean underwear and lingerie and the second for your used underwear. The key reason for doing this is that you really don’t want your clean underwear being paraded around in the airport on those benches but more so for health reasons.

I was flying into a Narita in Japan many years ago and when I arrived there was a visitor with very stinky and dirty underwear all over the bench. Then when they were finished the airport security didn’t wipe the benches down and then they wanted me to put my stuff on the same bench. This is very unsanitary and in fact disease can be spread by this way so keeping your lingerie in a lingerie bag will minimise the chance of this occurring. I personally believe this is a big concern for ladies more so then men.

Whether you like it or not, sometimes your underwear can smell and by putting your underwear into the lingerie bags you can also place into them absorbent beads or scented beads to mask the smell. I will warn you though not to use the packets of pot pori when travelling as most countries will not allow any flora based products into their country due to quarantine restrictions. Australia and New Zealand have some of the toughest quarantine regulations and bringing a pot Pori based product into the country, may result in a fine so whatever you do, declare any item like that.

There is a huge range of lingerie bags available on the market and if you look carefully you can choose one with a fancy design but remember if you are travelling regularly consider buying one that the airport security staff can easily view without having to remove your lingerie or underwear.


Chris is the chief purchasing officer for Dreamy.com.au. They have a large range of lingerie available on their website for a range of occasions such as weddings, valentines day, Christmas, birthdays and more.
Purchasing Lingerie can be great experience, but because of this you have to make sure to know what your options are, these articles might help;
Buying Lingerie for the First Time
Should I really Buy Lingerie Online?
What Colour Lingerie suits me best?
Buing from Australian Lingerie Retailers or International Sellers
What to look for in Quality Lingerie
What are fair Lingerie Prices?
What is a good exchange Guarantee?
How do I care for my Lingerie?
What lingerie should I wear to a Lingerie Party?

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