Flying LAS-RNO today on WN. I use a Tom Bihn 3D Clear 1-Quart Organizer Cube for my liquids, http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/ACC/TB0917, which is great and doesn't frequently wear out like Zip-Loc bags. This is similar to the bag that WN sent out to customers a few years ago, only Tom Bihn makes a much better product and it is made in the US. At the check-point, a TSA supervisor tells me that liquids can only be in a 1-Quart Zip-Loc or Zip-Loc-type bag and nothing else, due to a heightened level of security at LAS. When I asked for more details, including how there was an increased risk in using a Tom Bihn CLEAR cube for liquids versus a Zip-Loc, he could only reply with "This is a new rule from the Federal Security Director at LAS." The logic escapes me as to how the two bags differ from a security/safety standpoint. Has anyone else experienced this at a check-point?

"Rules" made up on the spot for no apparent reason, nor measurable increase in security on the whim of heightened security just instituted that day?

Yeah, it happens at every checkpoint, at every airport, every day.

Remember, you have NO IDEA what they see, and only they can protect America from the next bomb.

I'd like to think here they were asking for zip-top style freezer/storage bags. But hey, next thing you know they'll only be allowing ZipLoc� branded bags through.

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.

The only LGAs I happened to have on me were eye drops and a chapstick. I often have them in a snack-sized baggie, but fortunately this time I had them in a quart-size baggie (ran out of the small size) or I might have had to surrender my LGAs too.

I wish the local news would cover things like this. Make an attempt to contact the LAS FSD. Explain on the evening news that there have been reports from the field of 'heightened' attention to baggie size and style at the LAS airport. Provide a few anecdotal examples, then ask the FSD for a comment (none will be given, of course). Close with a comment wondering about what dastardly sort of potential threat has just been narrowly averted by the LAS FSD's timely directive.

I once was given the pprtunity to vluntarily surrender my eyedrops because, as the only liquid I had on me, they weren't in a quart-sized zip-top bag and they couldn't tell if I was under the limit or not.

Srsly?

This is why they can't find true threats, because they're so easily distracted by nonsense. I've learned if I just leave my eyedrops in my backpack, separate from my LGA bag that doesn't come out of my rollaboard, they don't even seen them.

Some airports have nice tsa people, they have a supply of ziploc bags to give to pax who don't have them.

Well, it doesn't surprised that some uniformed prick tried to flex his authority on some passenger who poses no threat whatsoever to anyone, but I am puzzled as to how the TSO found the baggie in the first place. OP, are you still placing your baggies in that filthy grey tray? It is my understanding that the TSA does not require those to be removed from carry ons any more - it's been ages since I took my baggies out of my carry-ons.

Huh. Didn't one of the TSOs here tell us many months ago that policy had been changed to permit bags larger than 1 litre/quart and that gallon size bags would be permitted so long as the contents fit into a quart size bag?

Then again, LAS is 'on my list' similar to EWR. It is where I had a TSO try and humiliate me for wearing a medical device, where I saw a group of Japanese tourists being shouted at like animals, and where it took over 15 minutes and several tries to obtain a comment form.

That might be true at his airport when he is at the checkpoint watching the baggies. I don't believe the website was ever changed. Certainly none of the signs/videos that I have seen have been updated.

Also, OP indicated it is some kind of special LAS FSD directive - elevated threat level, no doubt.

While I don't support the liquids rule at all, as I think the premise is flawed, I can understand (to some extent) why the rule is written (and enforced the way it is).

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.

Unfortunately, much of the traveling public, (and believe it or not, even some of the TSA staff) who can exercise judgment, see the ludicrous results this sometimes generates. Some our willing to exercise judgment even though the powers-that-be would prefer they didn't - others don't.

I thought it was the quantity of liquid they wanted to control since someone decided it was less than is necessary for one of those homemade bombs such as were used in the London underground. What the BAG has to do with it is totally opaque to me.

Several years ago the FAA instituted an order prohibiting air traffic controllers from wearing Dickies brand clothing in the workplace. The Dickies company was notified of this stupid governmental policy and apparently contacted the appropriate officials. The FFA order was rescinded within days

I would let the folks at Tom Binh know that there is a policy prohibiting use of their product at LAS.

Too late; S.C. Johnson got in first, that's why the TSA insists on Ziploc.

ZipLock bags have been proven to prevent explosions.

I have a particular problem with the baggies. Zip top bags of this exact size are simply not available in my part of the world. There are zip top bags, sold by the size of their sides (not volume), none of them are square, and obviously they look different and therefore dangerous to the astute TSO at the frontline.

I�ve tried all sorts of compensation tactics, and been scolded for:

1. Using a 23 x 17 cm baggie (wrong size, not square).
2. Using a torn baggie (old one I got in the US and reused until in tatters).
3. Using a durable non-disposable baggie which holds 960 mLs (I measured!), is transparent and has a real zipper on top. (not zip top baggie = bad).
4. Using a sandwich baggie (no zip top, but exactly 1 L volume, square size, like a US ZipLock).

My problems only decreased after SSSS disappeared and I stopped taking the baggie out.

My Kippie bag has remained in by carry on for over a year with 3-4 RT's every month. Not a word has been said. Zilch, zero, nada. That may change on my next flight. I will apologize for forgetting, and run it through. Until then, it stays in my bag.