You can still carry as much of a 79% nitrogen/21% oxygen mixture as you want through any checkpoint and onto any flight.

I agree, that was outright theft.

Ridiculous. Would they have also confiscated a bottle of water bought at a store? They're not supposed to be confiscating liquids at the gate.

What scares me most is that this doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

Mike

I did exactly that, at SYD, after the screener refused to allow me to drink the water, or to empty the bottle into the confiscation bin. I had only about 2 ounces of water in the bottle. FWIW, this was a flight AKL>SYD>DXB, and I had already been screened at AKL and would be getting back on the same plane in less than an hour. We had to get off the plane and go directly through re-screening, without passing any bathrooms on the way, where I could have emptied the bottle.

ME: I'll drink the water.
SCREENER; Oh no, Madam, you can't do that.
ME: I want to keep the bottle. Can I empty it into the bin?
SCREENER: Oh no, Madam, you can't do that.
ME: Do you have any plants I can empty it into? (Yes, they did, very close to the screening point.)
SCREENER: Oh no, Madam, you can't do that.

So, I emptied the water onto the floor. Much shouting and confusion, calling for a supervisor etc. I thought I wasn't going to fly any further that day but, eventually, they let me through, after giving me a long lecture about the danger of someone possibly slipping on the water.

Memo to self: Next time, drink the d*** water on the plane, or drink it at the check point, even if told I am not allowed to do so.

Too late now, but I would have taken the cap (I always do). There's no way a bottle cap is a prohibited item and I don't have to justify why I want the cap, even if I have to surrender the bottle.

If the TSO is truly discarding the bottle (and not retrieving it later), he/she won't care if it has a cap or not.

If the TSO is planning on appropriating the bottle for personal use, it will be worthless without the cap.

Certainly not. Excessive amounts of it are prohibited. You're not allowed pressure vessels beyond limited personal care products and there's no other way to carry large quantities of it.

Carry on size limits.

No matter how you do it you'll quickly bump into limits on what you can carry on an airplane.

I did that myself the last time I flew. I had a 750ml Brita bottle that was about 3/4 full and I had forgotten to make a side trip to the bathroom to empty it out before getting into the line. Naturally, I didn't realize there was still water in it till I got 20 minutes into the line, and I didn't want to have to stand in another 20 minute line to get through security, so I chugged it all right there.

A TSO must have seen me do it, because when I got to the split point where I was directed to a specific station, the TSO directing traffic asked me, "Is that bottle empty?" I said yes, and that was the end of it. How nice that she took me at my word...

At some airports it is not easy to find a water fountain. Looks like they've been deliberately removed or made not so visible in order to make people buy something which should be free.

Those stores selling water must be loving the liquids ban. They make huge money from passengers needing drinking water. Not everyone can go a few hours without water.

No issues taking empty water bottle through LIS, YYZ, BRU so far.

Just a reminder -
 

this is the practical issues forum, so please keep posts to practical advice, real life experiences etc without the sarcasm. Thanks

squeakr

co Mod TS/S

Saw a cool thing at ORD last week. They have a sink/disposal unit sitting next to the trash can at the checkpoints. They have signs advising you to empty your water bottles before the checkpoint, save them, and refill them later. Several of the water fountains at ORD are also designated "bottle fill stations" and have faucets that are specifically designed to make it easy to refill a bottle with water.

It's stupid they had to do that, but it is an incredible convenience, assuming the liquids policy is here to stay.

Buy this http://www.waterbottle.bz/

That IS pretty cool.

Leaving aside the 3-1-1 rule, lots of people today carry water bottles with them everywhere and fill them from drinking fountains, but typical drinking fountains simply weren't designed to fill tall sports bottles. Heck, even the water cooler I have in my office is designed with mug-size vessels in mind, and we have to angle our sports bottles when filling them. Adding a bottle-friendly drinking fountain or spigot of some kind to a public space is a great innovation that I'd love to see in all sorts of public buildings, not just airports.

ORD seems to have gone the extra mile by placing sinks near the c/p to empty bottles.

I've always wondered which of these is greater:

1- The increase in sales of bottled water, Coke, and other drinks that passengers are no longer allowed to bring from home.

2- The decrease in overall sales of airside vendors now that airside is only for ticketed passengers--and even ticketed passengers, upon arrival, are likely to make a beeline for the airside exit to meet their family, skipping any vendors.

(Question: Are there any airports in the world today where you can still go airside with no boarding pass and meet people at the gate? Better yet...are there any airports with zero security theater?)

Whenever I fly, I bring an empty plastic bicycle-cage-mount water bottle with me; it holds something like 24 oz. It's been on its fair share of trail bike rides, so it's pretty ratty and scratched up, but it works. Translation: no TS"O" will ever want to appropriate it for personal use. And yeah...if a TS"O" ever wanted by reusable water bottle, I'd insist on keeping the lid.

Yes, there are many airports around the world where you can go airside with no boarding pass. A lot of the world (well except for the UK who are insane) don't have the security theatre that the US has. Walk through the WTMD with your shoes on, bags through the X-Ray. That's pretty much standard.

Can you list some of them? Because I've been to 60+ countries and not met an airport like that for at least 10 years.