From another thread I just learned a few interesting things that look suspicious on the x-ray and will most likely trigger a manual search of your checked luggage.

The examples were:

- Piles of books
- large quantities of chocolate
- canned fruits
- peanut butter or jam jars
- anything the x-ray cannot easily see through
- boxes with metal objects and many cables

What other things throw the red flag?

I now know why recently my bag was searched. I had packed a 1lb glass container of homemade jam inside a double-walled steel tea pot. This was cradled in a boxy arrangement of books I had packed in this particular way to protect the tea pot's spout. And I thought that was smart.

So if we know what looks suspicious we can avoid this or pack it differently.

Till