Power Banks and Baggage Rules on Flights in Greece: Security Checkpoints, Liquids and Carry-On Bags

At the security checkpoint, the tray you push toward the scanner holds a phone, a tablet, a charger and the little brick of a power bank. Somewhere behind you a traveler is digging a water bottle out of a daypack. Flying to or from the Greek islands, the questions that come up are the same ones: what stays in the bag, what goes in the tray, and what has to be left behind.

The short answer is that a power bank is treated as one more piece of electronics at the checkpoint, and that liquids are the item most likely to stop you in the line.

What are the rules for power banks on flights in Greece?

A power bank travels through the airport the way your other electronics do: it goes through the security checkpoint with you, in your carry-on, alongside the phone and the laptop it charges. What happens to those devices at the scanner depends on the airport and the equipment it uses.

At some airports, passengers lift electronics out of their bags and lay them in the plastic trays. At others, the scanners are advanced enough to let you leave them packed.

Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, a common stop for travelers heading on to Greece, has used CT scans on all passenger filters since early 2020, which lets passengers keep both liquids and electronics inside their bags. A Greek airport may ask for something different, so the habit to build is simple: keep the power bank and its cable somewhere you can reach quickly.

Packing your chargers for the checkpoint

Most travelers keep a small pouch for all things electric: the power bank, the charging cable, the plug adapter and earbuds. With everything in one pouch, the whole kit comes out of the bag in a single motion and goes back in just as fast. It also keeps loose cables from tangling around a camera or a book at the bottom of the daypack.

Put the pouch on top, under the flap of the bag, rather than buried beneath a sweater and a guidebook. If a screener wants a second look at the bag, the pouch is the first thing they will want to see.

What the trays carry besides your devices

The plastic trays are shared by every passenger in the line. A study at Helsinki-Vantaa airport during the flu season of 2015 and 2016 found that these screening trays are a significant vector for the spread of respiratory viruses. Travelers often respond with a small habit: a pack of tissues or hand sanitizer within reach, and a quick clean of the phone once the trip through the checkpoint is over.

If the airport uses the CT scanners described above, there is less to put in a tray at all, since electronics stay in the bag. That is one more reason to look at the signs at each checkpoint before unpacking anything.

What are the baggage rules?

The one baggage rule that applies at the security checkpoint is the liquids limit: passengers may not pass the checkpoint with liquids, including water, over 100 milliliters (3.4 U.S. fl oz). That covers the water bottle, the large tube of sunscreen, the bottle of olive oil bought on the island and the jar of honey from a village stand.

Liquids, sunscreen and food gifts

A trip to Greece tends to end with a bag of edible souvenirs: olive oil, honey, jars of spoon sweets, bottles of ouzo or tsipouro. Anything liquid in that haul is a problem for the carry-on, because of the limit at the checkpoint. The simple solution is to pack those bottles in a bag that goes into the hold, wrapped in clothing.

Sunscreen and after-sun lotion fall into the same category. Travelers who spend the week at the beach often carry large bottles and then find them at the bottom of the tray at the airport. Small containers in the carry-on, larger ones in the checked bag, keeps the line moving.

Water is the last item. An empty bottle passes through the checkpoint without trouble, and many travelers fill it again once they are through.

Carry-on bags and the connecting flight

Rules for carry-on bags are set by airports and airlines, and they have changed over the years. In the United Kingdom, for example, travellers have been free of a single-piece carry-on limit at most major airports since January 7, 2008. A route to Greece through London can therefore look different from one through another hub, and each leg of the trip has its own checkpoint.

On the American side of the journey, the rule requiring passengers to remove their shoes for screening was lifted in 2025. Some airports there also have premium lines for First or Business Class passengers and for elite members of an airline’s Frequent Flyer program, which were created to ease long security lines.

What should you check?

Check the liquids in your carry-on first, since that is the limit stated at the checkpoint, and then check what each airport on your route does with electronics. Those two things decide how smoothly you get through the line.

A short list before you leave for the airport

• Every liquid in the carry-on is within the 100 milliliter limit, and the larger bottles are in the checked bag.
• The power bank, cable and adapter sit together in one pouch near the top of the bag.
• Souvenir bottles of oil, honey or spirits are wrapped and packed for the hold.
• You know which airports are on your route, because screening is not the same at each of them.

Differences between airports on the way

A trip to Greece often has more than one checkpoint. At a connecting airport with CT scanners, liquids and electronics may stay in the bag, as they do at Schiphol. At another airport, the same items come out and go into trays. The sensible habit is to pack for the strictest checkpoint on the route and then enjoy the easier ones.

In the United States, screening is carried out by the Transportation Security Administration, and federal employees have done all passenger screening since November 19, 2002. Friends or family who come to see you off need a gate pass to enter the secure area of an American airport, and at least 24 hours of notice is generally required for anyone planning a business meeting inside it.

A word on scanners

Travelers sometimes ask about the body scanners at the checkpoint. A single backscatter scan exposes the person to between 0.05 and 0.1 microsievert of radiation, while a standard chest x-ray delivers almost 100 times as much. The type of machine in use differs from airport to airport, and you will see it as you reach the front of the line.

Good to know before you go

Pack the day before, and keep the things you will need at the checkpoint in the same place every time: the pouch of chargers, a clear bag for the small liquids, and your boarding documents. In Greece, the days around a flight are often spent on a ferry or a bus from an island or a mountain village, so the bag you carry on should hold what you need for the journey itself, and the bottles of oil and honey should already be wrapped in the suitcase that goes in the hold.