Around 10 million people have had items confiscated by airport security over the past year, with the value of these goods totaling £306 million, new research claims.
The total rises to £645 million when combined with the items passengers voluntarily bin at the security gates.
More than 81,000 items are confiscated every day at airports, affecting around 1,183 passengers an hour in the UK alone.
The findings comes nearly 11 years after passengers were banned from taking bottles of liquid over 100ml on flights.
A quarter (27%) of passengers forgot to take restricted items out of their hand luggage before leaving for the airport.
One in four had items confiscated because they were unaware they had the item in their hand luggage.
A minority (9%) of the 2,003 people polled admitted they had ‘chanced their luck’ thinking they could sneak restricted items through airport security without being noticed.
Passengers who have disposed of or had items confiscated at security, could also be hit with marked-up prices by shops located airside, which often charge a premium for essentials compared to high street prices.
An example of this is a Lynx deodorant spray can, which was found to be 42% more expensive at an airside retailer in Heathrow when compared with the price on the high street, according to the study carried out by Direct Line.
Tom Bishop, head of travel insurance at Direct Line, said: “It is astonishing to see the sheer scale of personal items confiscated by airport security every day and the amount of money Brits are throwing away, not forgetting the time it takes airport security services to search for restricted items.
“With airport security increasing across Europe to ensure the safety of passengers, it is important that flyers are aware of what is in their luggage and remove any restricted items prior to arriving at the airport. This will not only ensure they don’t fall foul of airport security guidelines, but also save time and prevent them from losing their personal items.”