My husband and I are attending a wedding in the USA, and we have chosen a pair of George III silver serving spoons as a gift. I plan to take them in my hand luggage, but it has been suggested to me that they could be confiscated as a "dangerous weapon", as with scissors. Is this correct? Jill Downs, Bath

Sunday Times travel expert, Richard Green, responds: You definitely can't take ice skates, fire extinguishers, or spray paint into an aircraft's cabin, or any knife with a blade over 6cm in length, but forks and spoons are fine, according to an extensive list issued by the Department for Transport.

However, the list ends with the following catchall, that "any other article which, in the reasonable contemplation of the aerodrome manager or aircraft operator, might be used or adapted for causing injury or incapacitation of a person", can also be banned from cabin baggage.

Frustratingly, this means that what is and isn't allowed in cabin baggage varies from airport to airport. In the case of cutlery, the BAA, which operates seven UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Glasgow, says that while teaspoons are ok, tablespoons, and knives and forks are not. For Manchester airport both table and teaspoons are ok, while Birmingham International says that all sorts of spoons are fine, and even allows butter knives with a cutting edge less than 6cm and rounded blunt ends, and forks with tines less than 3cm with both rounded handles and tines.

Amidst such confusion, the only way to be absolutely sure is to contact the airport that you are flying from and the airline that you are flying on.

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