Buyer’s Guide: Travel Bottles
One of the biggest challenges when you think about how to pack light is the best way to pack toiletries. We all have our favourite stuff, but full-size toiletries can be heavy and space-consuming if you’re taking hold luggage. Furthermore, with the packing restrictions for liquids, full-size toiletries are pretty much impossible if you’re just taking cabin or hand luggage.
Packing refillable travel bottles and containers gives you the freedom to take your own toiletries with you. There are tonnes of options available, but not all travel bottles are made equal. Some leak, some are a pain in the a*** to fill, and most claim to be ‘TSA/EU Approved’ for travel when they aren’t - meaning you could lose your liquids (and your s**t) at security.
There are quite a few things to consider when you want to buy travel bottles. In this guide we’ve got it all covered. You’ll be travelling like a genius in no time. We’ll answer:
✈️ 1: What are the travel allowances for liquids?
🤓 2: Which are the best travel bottles?
✈️ 1: What are the travel allowances for liquids?
For starters: there is no limit if you are checking in your luggage - you can carry as many liquids as you’d like when it comes to hold luggage. However, when it comes to hand or cabin luggage, there are two aspects that come into play: (1) the containers, and (2) how the containers are carried/presented.
When it comes to the liquids, the liquid rules for the US, UK and EU state:
Each travel liquid container must hold either 100ml or less
The maximum amount of liquid in total that you can carry is 1 litre (i.e. 10 x 100ml bottles, max)
Larger containers, even if only partly full, are not accepted at security
When it comes to the kind of bag you need to carry liquids in, the liquid rules for the US, UK and EU state:
Your liquids must be in a single, transparent, resealable clear bag, which holds no more than a litre
Your clear resealable bag must be no more than 20cm x 20cm (approx.)
Contents must fit comfortably inside the bag so it can be sealed
The bag must not be knotted or tied at the top
You’re limited to just 1 plastic bag per person
Update 3rd May 2022: Some airports have added some extra ‘guidance’ to their websites, including Manchester Airport who recently added the following: Please note - if you wish to bring your own containers to hold 100ml or less, the container must have printed on it the measurement that the container can hold. Travel sets of containers that do not have measurements on them will not be allowed through security. Handwritten measurements or stickers are also not acceptable. This has now been factored into the following guide.
Check: Latest UK guidelines
🤓 2: Which are the best travel bottles?
Choosing the best refillable travel bottles can be a minefield. There are tonnes of different packs available on Amazon etc, but while they all claim to be ‘TSA Approved’, this is pretty fictional. The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) doesn’t really approve products in this way. It’s up to you to check your travel toiletry bottles comply with travel guidelines. Get it wrong, and you will be delayed at airport security while you choose which of your toiletries you’d like to chuck away.
In this Buyer’s Guide we’ve reviewed five of the most popular travel toiletry packs on Amazon to answer the question: “Which is the best travel bottle pack?” There are many factors that come into play here - size, weight and ease of filling to name a few, but airport compliance has gotta be the most important. We’ve reviewed all these aspects. Each of the travel bottle sets is available on Amazon, priced between £7 - £15.
Pros:
The pouches are squidgy: Fill the 50ml pouches with only as much product as you want, to save space.
100% squeezy: Squeeze every last bit of product out, easily.
Super light: The pouches are at least 10x lighter than silicone travel bottles (whole pack weighs less than 70g).
Environmentally-friendly: At least 60% less plastic than travel bottles.
Flexible: The selection of pouches, pots and spray means they are great for liquids, creams and spritzing.
Label your pouches: matt finish, so you can use a permanent marker to label them.
Pouches are clearly labelled to show that they can hold up to 50ml.
Easy fill & leakproof: Revolutionary syringe filling system supplied. Suck it up and squirt it in! No spillage, no messy funnels, no waste.
Tapered bag: Easy, less bulky shape is good for packing.
TSA & EU approved: This travel set is 100% compliant with airport security guidelines, worldwide. Guaranteed.
Cons:
The pouches are not suitable for products that contain alcohol, so not great for hand sanitiser.
✅ This pack of refillable travel bottles is 100% compliant with TSA/EU guidelines. The bag is 15.0 x 13. 5 x 4.0 cm and the capacity is 0.86 litres.
Pros:
The silicone bottles have a wide neck for easy filling.
The bottles have good leakproof designs and the pots do up tightly.
There is a nice range of sizes in this pack.
Bottles are labelled to show their capacity.
The clear bag feels quite sturdy.
Cons:
The scoopers, funnel and cleaning brush all feel superfluous and a bit wasteful. The funnel is useless unless you are transferring really watery liquids. The scoop is okay for transferring creams into the pots, but that’s all.
No way to label bottles.
This pack is heavy (240g - empty).
The pack will take up a lot of space, even once you have used your products and are returning home.
⚠️ BEWARE!
This pack of travel bottles is NOT compliant with TSA/EU guidelines. The maximum capacity for the clear bag, set by the EU and TSA, is 1 litre; this bag is 1.2 litres. You risk being stopped at security, where they will make you throw away some of your liquids until you can fit all your items into a smaller bag.
Pros:
The silicone bottles have a wide neck for easy filling.
The bottles have good leakproof designs and the pots.
Bottles are labelled to show their capacity.
There is a nice range of sizes in this pack and the bottles can be labelled.
Cons:
The tiny funnel and small squeezable pipette are useless unless you are transferring really watery liquids. The scoop is okay for transferring creams into the pots, but that’s all. These additions are a waste of plastic.
This pack is heavy (250g - empty).
The pack will take up a lot of space, even once you have used your products and are returning home.
⚠️ BEWARE!
This pack of travel bottles is NOT compliant with TSA/EU guidelines. The maximum size is 20cm x 20cm; this bag is 23cm x 23cm. The capacity is over 2 litres (1 litre is the maximum allowance). You risk being stopped at security, where they will make you throw away some of your liquids until you can fit all your items into a smaller bag.
Pros:
The silicone bottles have a wide neck for easy filling.
The bottles have good leakproof designs and the pots.
Bottles are labelled to show their capacity.
There is a nice range of travel bottles in this pack and the bottles can be labelled.
The clear bag feels good quality.
Cons:
The toothbrush cover feels like it’ll break after a few uses and doesn’t seem that useful.
This pack is really heavy (280g - empty).
The pack will take up a lot of space, even once you have used your products and are returning home.
⚠️ BEWARE!
This pack of travel bottles is NOT compliant with TSA/EU guidelines. The capacity of the clear bag is 2 litres (1 litre is the maximum allowance). If flying with hand luggage, you risk being stopped at security, where they will make you throw away some of your liquids until you can fit all your items into a smaller bag. However, if you are packing this in hold luggage, this would be a good choice.
The Bottom Line
If you want to pack light, then reducing the size and weight of your toiletries is a great way to get started. Refillable travel bottles are an environmentally-friendly way to save space and weight in your luggage. While we’re all pretty used to hopping onto Amazon to buy this kind of thing, this Buyer’s Guide is a good reminder that not everything that is said on Amazon is true. The reality is that they don’t check these things. So, when a travel bottle listing says that it is ‘EU/TSA approved’ or ‘EU/TSA compliant’, that’s not always true. In fact, for 4 out of the 5 travel bottles here that make this claim, it’s not true - they failed the test!
Here’s a handy summary:
If you are going on a roadtrip or checking a bag in at the airport, then compliance with the travel rules for liquids won’t matter to you. In which case any of these travel bottle sets are pretty okay, but be sure to read reviews first as some aren’t as leakproof as they claim.
Travel like a genius™
TRAVELINS travel packs and revolutionary refillable pouches comply, 100%, with all the travel guidelines (EU & TSA). They weigh at least 10 times less than silicone travel bottles and have a unique filling system so you can transfer your liquids easily without waste.
Author: 🧜🏻♀️ Helen, Wannabe Mermaid
What do you think is the best refillable travel bottle out there? Please feel free to leave your comments below!