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I'm flying from UK to Germany with Easyjet (there's next to no weight restriction to hand luggage). I've never had a problem with various edible items before, on any of my EU routes. I don't see how a watermelon would be different from a plastic bag with 10 sandwiches. But still, can I have a whole watermelon in my hand luggage ? What about a half melon ?

Zach Lipton
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Иво Недев
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    It is interesting. But a watermelon has far more water content than 10 sandwiches, maybe exceeding 100ml. – Blaszard Jun 05 '16 at 18:34
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    @Blaszard It does, but surely one can argue it can't be classified as a liquid. – Иво Недев Jun 05 '16 at 18:38
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    I don't think it is not allowed, however I would take a whole watermelon rather than a half. It's easier to tamper with half a watermelon and it might be rejected due to that. – Berwyn Jun 05 '16 at 20:24
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    Sorry but the curiosity is too much - Why do you want to take a whole watermelon on a plane? You won't be able to slice it with the flimsy plastic knives on a plane, and you can buy watermelons in Germany... – user56reinstatemonica8 Jun 05 '16 at 22:51
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    @user568458 I don't know why Иво Недев wants to do it, but if I were doing it it might be an effort to get a large amount of liquid past security so I don't have to spend $10 on water while waiting for the plane. – phoog Jun 06 '16 at 03:48
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    I actually chuckled heartily when I read this question on the homepage. I just imagine OP rushing out of security, opening a briefcase, and slurping a crushed watermelon with great enthusiasm. Thanks for the laugh, OP. @phoog, I've never paid for water (or alcohol) on a flight... – Joel Damien Jun 06 '16 at 09:22
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    @user568458 I'm visiting my parents in Germany, and its quite popular to eat watermelon during the summer where I'm from (Bulgaria) So I want to surprise my parents with a nice melon to enjoy on our short vacation. Apparently the melons they have access to are tasteless, and I know for a fact that that I have access to are really nice. – Иво Недев Jun 06 '16 at 09:27
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    @user568458 By the way, you can take up to a 6cm knife with you on board. I've been able to travel around the EU and the Swiss with one, that is more than enough to cut trough the melon to cut the skin, so if I really really wanted to, technically I could do it. – Иво Недев Jun 06 '16 at 09:31
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    Perhaps if you're Leo Anthony Gallagher, Jr. – Joseph Jun 06 '16 at 11:09
  • @ИвоНедев Water can't be classified as a liquid? – Lightness Races in Orbit Jun 06 '16 at 12:38
  • @user568458 Watermelons sold in Central Europe are generally tasteless when compared to regions like Israel. Not sure what the situation in the UK is. – JonathanReez Jun 06 '16 at 13:28
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    You may also wonder if you can fly with a gold bar, a bulletproof vest, or a deactivated bazooka. – Zenadix Jun 06 '16 at 15:10
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    There doesn't seem to be much of a consensus here. If you decide to try it, please stop back by and let us know how it goes! – FreeMan Jun 06 '16 at 16:18
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    @phoog: if what you want is liquid on the plane, then there’s a much simpler way: take an empty water-bottle through security, and fill it up airside (at drinking-fountains, or at a friendly coffee-shop, or in the worst case from the taps in the washrooms). I’ve done this many times in North America and Europe, and a few times elsewhere, and never had trouble. – PLL Jun 06 '16 at 17:39
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    @ИвоНедев I was once refused a camembert cheese because the custom agent classified it as liquid (but the hard cheese I had too was accepted, of course). What classifies and what does not is decided by the agent. – njzk2 Jun 06 '16 at 17:58
  • @PLL that's what I normally do, but some airports have over-chlorinated water that is not very tasty, and others have an utter lack of fountains. I've never tried the coffee shop approach. – phoog Jun 06 '16 at 18:43
  • Don't take your watermelon to Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP4xS_7wLyM – Caesar Jun 11 '16 at 04:18
  • 6 years later my question is: did you try it and what was your experience? See also @roman-bodnarchuk's answer. – klaus triendl Jun 21 '22 at 10:58

4 Answers4

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There are two potential issues here: Airport security and customs.

For airport security:
In the UK, "Liquids include liquid or semi-liquid foods, eg soup, jam, honey and syrups" and "Liquids in containers larger than 100ml generally can’t go through security even if the container is only part full." Exemptions (e.g. essential medical purposes) don't seem likely to apply here.

Watermelon is less dense than honey, so an agent might use that to classify it more toward the "liquid/container" side than the "solid" side of honey, and honey (>100 mL) is not allowed. It is also less viscous than some honey. Edit to clarify: criteria used in practice for classification is a different question than that of what more scientifically-based criteria agents perhaps should use.

In the US, the TSA lists it as approved for carry-on in their "Can I Bring" app. Although this is the result for the explicit query "watermelon," the response does have a disclaimer that "Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not permitted in carry-on baggage" so if an agent decides that a watermelon is a non-empty container capable of holding 3.4oz of liquid or gel, they might use their wide discretion to tell you it's not allowed.

For customs:
Although generally speaking when entering Germany, "The import of food and animal feed for the consignee’s private use or consumption is permitted in principle," other readers traveling to other countries should consider whether or not they're allowed to transport fruits and seeds across national borders. Rules are much less restrictive for travel within the EU.

WBT
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    "Watermelon is less dense than honey" - if it was about density (instead of viscosity) then a lot of things would be forbidden, including styrofoam and most clothes. A lot of solids are less dense then honey. Although it's worth noting that it's not worth arguing with customs or security personnel over a watermelon. – vsz Jun 06 '16 at 06:14
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    @vsz i once saw someone demand their empty plastic disposable water bottles back from Canadian airport security. People will argue over strange things. – Azor Ahai -him- Jun 06 '16 at 06:45
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    @Azor-Ahai probably they wanted to refill the bottle with water to drink after security? A café or bar in the departure lounge will usually fill a bottle with tap water for you if you ask nicely. – nekomatic Jun 06 '16 at 08:40
  • @vsz I agree density is the wrong criteria, but that's a separate question from what criteria or reasoning the security screeners might try to apply. Also, watermelon is less viscous than the crystallized honey that I have; it will take the shape of the bottom of its container more quickly (and by that point, will be quite unappetizing). – WBT Jun 06 '16 at 15:25
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    @WBT : If I were a security or customs agent, I would be concerned about how easily someone could smuggle contraband in a watermelon, and my suspicion would be strengthened by the fact that watermelons are probably very cheaply available at the destination, so why would someone pay 10 or 20 times the price of a watermelon as a baggage charge, just to bring an existing one with them? An extra hand luggage is quite expensive, and even if a free hand luggage is available, the passenger cannot bring anything else if a watermelon takes up all the space. – vsz Jun 06 '16 at 16:04
  • @vsz see comments on the question about how while tasteless watermelons may be available in the destination, good ones may not be. It might be kind of like asking why someone would pay to carry maple syrup out of Canada when there is [maple-flavored corn] syrup available at the destination. Also, there might not be any marginal cost difference, especially if the passenger already had to check a bag (for size/other reasons) and thus doesn't need to carry much in the carry-on (but might be afraid of it breaking & making a mess in the cargo hold). Larger carry-on bags would have plenty of room. – WBT Jun 06 '16 at 18:31
  • @vsz So what you write might still be an issue, per my "what the right criteria is is a separate question from what criteria or reasoning the security screeners might try to apply," there are valid answers to those questions and it's not a foregone conclusion that those questions will block one from carrying the melon on. It depends heavily on the particular security agent who does the screening. – WBT Jun 06 '16 at 18:32
  • @nekomatic Well sure, but this is after the whole bottle got thrown out for being full of more than 3 oz of liquid and going "Well, it's just water! Why can't we keep it?" – Azor Ahai -him- Jun 06 '16 at 19:52
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While I am unaware of any liquid list containing a watermelon, here's the biggest list of liquids I am aware of, from Debrecen airport:

All drinks (including beverages, water, soup, syrups), chocolate creams, creams, oil, cheese spread, liver cream, pastas, peanut butter, yogurts, cottage cheese, butter, margarine, frozen food, tins, liver wurst, sausage, jelly, mousse, hair colorants, mascara, fluid lipsticks, fluid masks, lotions, spray and roll-on deodorants, perfumes, nail polish removers, and all items made of similar substances.

Of course, there's nothing to guarantee the UK will use the same list but knowing how the UK is batshit crazy about airport security I bet their list is even worse. If liver wurst and sausage is a no-go then you can bet a watermelon won't pass either.

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    There is a difference, possibly important, between liverwurst and sausages on the one hand, and watermelons on the other. The former are, like all food items on the list, processed into a more or less homogenous state. The latter is an unprocessed fruit. – phoog Jun 05 '16 at 20:43
  • Plus, the UK shouldn't care about stuff going OUT of the UK, but into the UK. Also: do the restrictions on meats apply to flights coming from the EU? If I brought my UK friends some French cheese, would I have to throw it away? – la femme cosmique Jun 05 '16 at 20:52
  • I think that a person with a melon in a bag as a carry-on would be amusing, but not against the rules. I don't know for sure. But I want to create a comic strip about it. – la femme cosmique Jun 05 '16 at 20:52
  • @lafemmecosmique See answers here. – WBT Jun 05 '16 at 22:13
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    @lafemmecosmique If someone, say, drained a whole watermelon and filled it with liquid explosives then blew up a plane departing the UK, then yes, the UK authorities would care about that particular watermelon that left the UK, because they'd be responsible for having let it on the plane! – user56reinstatemonica8 Jun 05 '16 at 22:55
  • @user568458 it'd be unlikely they'd figure out it was that particular watermelon, though; see e.g. EgyptAir Flight 804 or Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 for recent examples of difficult investigation results. It'd be more consistent with existing philosophies of airport security to ban them altogether because of this possibility. – WBT Jun 06 '16 at 00:48
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    @lafemmecosmique you seem to be thinking of customs restrictions on agricultural and food products, generally imposed for reasons of agricultural safety or of politics, while the question is asking about whether a watermelon counts as a container of liquid for the purpose of carry-on luggage security restrictions, generally imposed to prevent people from blowing up airplanes. – phoog Jun 06 '16 at 03:32
  • Pastas? Really? – mattdm Jun 06 '16 at 06:23
  • I presume cooked. Surely in their dried state they are not liquid! –  Jun 06 '16 at 07:11
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    Maybe they mean pasta sauce? Because even cooked pasta would have to be cooked quite badly to be described as "liquid", I think! – mattdm Jun 06 '16 at 08:13
  • @lafemmecosmique If you make a strip, please do share a link in here, thanks! – Иво Недев Jun 06 '16 at 08:51
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Watermelons can easily be loaded up with other liquids including potently explosive liquids and as such would likely be prohibited as carry on items. Perhaps folks in the UK would not be familiar with this aspect, but in parts of the USA the process of spiking watermelons with a bottle or two of whiskey is commonly done to get alcohol into venues like outdoor concerts, sporting events, where alcohol is otherwise banned.

But one has to ask, are the watermelons that good in the UK?

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    I think vodka is a better taste. Anyways the melons are import from Turkey. – Иво Недев Jun 06 '16 at 06:11
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    Turkish grocery shops, which of course stock all sorts of food imported from Turkey including watermelons are ubiquitous in Germany, cities with an international airport should have hundreds of them. – followed Monica to Codidact Jun 06 '16 at 14:32
  • I have seen a video of a spiked watermelon being set on fire. I do not know how much extra work it may have taken to make the watermelon flammable. – arp Dec 05 '23 at 00:02
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Sharing my personal experience on the flight from Venice to Gdansk with three legs and thus three security checks (Ryanair uses cheap small airports where you can't transfer) in Treviso (Italy), Beauvais (France) and Modlin (Poland). I have got a small watermelon (15cm in diameter) in my backpack, which I took as a cabin baggage. During baggage scans in Italy and France I was asked to open my backpack and security officers checked it manually. Once they found the big berry, they smiled, started joking with their colleagues and let me proceed. I was asked no questions and had no additional checks in Poland.

P.S. I like watermelons :)

Roman Bodnarchuk
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