Interesting. I came through LAS on Tuesday. A couple ahead of me had to 'surrender' their LGAs because both of them had their items in regular ziploc bags - but the gallon size, not the quart size. The TSO explained that the problem wasn't the size or quantity of the LGAs, it was the size of the baggie.
FWIW, they were enforcing this at CZM last weekend also. (Yep, I know that's Mexico but I also know they're under a lot of pressure to comply with US screening procedures - and are probably even receiving US financial aid to implement them.)
Luckily I had an extra Kippie on hand to deliver to a fellow pax, who was being told she had to discard something clearly under 3.4 mL due to its lack of bag.
They are trying to eliminate judgment as much as possible from the equation. So, they make the rule as straightforward as possible - 1 quart or 1 litre zip-top (not Zip-Loc, which is a brand) bag, 3 oz or 100ml of liquid, gel, etc. per container in the bag, no exceptions. I think this is in recognition of the capacity of some of their employees. If you give them the responsibility to apply judgment, they are bound to use it improperly.
I'm not piling on whomever posted this (forgot to copy the username and my browser is wonky this morning, so can't go back), but it's things like this that make me CRAZY. Seriously? Staff are not permitted to OK a couple of items that would clearly fit into a quart bag b/c of the size of the bag?
If this is going to be the mentality, I'm going to continue to do whatever I can to ensure that we have common-sense security in this country, rather than the current adherence to head-in-the-sand, blatantly ridiculous, rules for the sake of rules.
If common sense is taken out of the equation, all is lost.