i can't even do that flying out of auckland, and the last time i made an international to international transfer in brisbane i had to give up the unopened bottle of water i got after security in auckland. well, i gave up the bottle, but the contents came with me, damn it.

tsa do an amazing job uniting passengers in a shared miserable experience.

edited to add: i don't want to tar all of tsa with the same brush. flying through lax last year i was subjected to being gate searched with the agent (is that what you call them?) quite happily going through all of my stuff right in front of the queue of people boarding the flight. hardly a proud moment given up until that point i'd flown from auckland to melbourne to los angeles with barely time i take a breath. i've never had to use so much self-control in my life to not get smart and ask if he even knew what he was looking for.

on the other hand, i was randomly pulled from the queue waiting to board a flight in memphis to be patted down and swabbed for explosives, and both agents were charming and great to deal with, and even had the decency to bump me up to the head of the line to get on board, so i gained places instead of losing one.

Sadly on other FT forums and even on TS&S there are posters complaining about the evil security measures they encountered whilst on their way home to America. What they don't seem to realise is that those 'extra' measures on US bound flights on US carriers are not courtesy of us....

I honestly believed that senseeker's response was tongue in cheek mimicking one of his/her more xenophobic colleagues who has posted some rather memorable comments about furriners. Those thoughts are certainly not unique if one reads online travel forums, especially US based leisure forums.

Now I am not so certain.

We had our worse TSA experience in MEM. Yelled at my wife & I because they do things different then at other stations. Screamed at me for putting shoes in the "bin" where in LAX, ORD, & many other stations that is OK. Didn't notice their sign "shoes on belt" until I had everything on the belt. Pax behind me was allowed to put his shoes in the bin. TSA had the nerve to say "we answer to nobody" when I asked for a supervisor. Guy refused to get one. Took away wife's keychain attachment (fingernail file, etc) that previously travelled over 150K air miles (6-7 countries, a number of USA states & Canada--most intl trips were award tickets in biz ). Wife does not want to fly to MEM again. Only reason we flew there was a $118 RT airfare LAX-MEM on AA, my airline of choice.

I contrast this to Australia & Europe. Very professional & polite. (in my view, much more effective than TSA). In Tasmania, I accidently had some fruit in my bag. This was an Ag requirement--no fruit out of Taz. They were very nice, allowed me to consume some of my fruit before entering their station. The Melbourne security last year were very polite & no "shoe carnival". ^

Bottom line: All of the European & Australia security folks I (we) dealt with were very polite and very patient if I (we) don't know all the rules. With TSA, who knows what rule apply at what station? Rules change depending on the mood of the agent & what station one is at. Why can't TSA follow their SOP consistantly like I have to do at my govt job?

I make an obvious joke, and you take it personally. Sheesh.

On Australian domestic (and, I believe) NZ domestic flights, there are no liquid restrictions. I've bought a bottle of wine in Adelaide and taken it home in my carry-on.

International flights out of Australia and NZ still have the silly US-initiated rules, not just for flights to the US but for all international flights.

That said, the implementation at SYD (at least) is polite and errs on the side of the passenger. I was once behind a woman who had a single tube of liquid makeup in her handbag; the screener had her take it out of the bag, looked at it, said something quiet, brief and politely about how it probably should have been in a baggie, and let her put it back in her bag and go. Another time, I was behind two women who, between them, had ordinary makeup zipper bags full of cosmetics, a half-consumed small (but not airplane mini) bottle of Jack Daniels, and a silver hip flask. The agent patiently had them remove the zipper bags from their carry-ons and ran them separately, confiscated the JD, and emptied the silver flask into a sink before returning it. As they were repacking their stuff, I heard them complaining to each other, and I quietly told them that they'd gotten off lightly, and it would have been much worse for them in the US.

I have NEVER, at an Australian or NZ airport, seen liquids confiscated just because they weren't in a baggie or seen a screener simply grab an item and toss it in the trash.

As I have posted elsewhere, the family just came back from a wonderful vacation in Queensland, where the only downside was the crashing (ten percent over the course of our visit) American Dollar.

We flew domestic (BNE-CNS-BNE) and we took our water and kept our shoes on. One segment I had to take out the laptop but not another.

But BNE-LAX at the first security was full TSA kippie bag 100ml "security" with Australian congeniality and friendliness. After that was a very random check at the gate and a pack of Australian Federal Police dogs. But we were at least able to carry on the water we purchased after security.