Hey -- The bottle is empty now -- I ask that it be placed back in the laptop bag.

By my way of thinking, if everyone holds up the security line just 10 extra seconds -- TSA will have to stop boasting of how well they move the sheep through the security lines.

BTW, they have not found my toothpaste tube yet.

Prior to 8/10, TSO routinely delayed pax when water bottles and other liquid contraband was NOT a concern. Believe me, if it wasn't water, it'd be something else, and you wouldn't get to your destination any more quickly.

Look at it this way: this type of "absentmindedness" allows pax to score a moral victory against a stupid rule while allowing TSO to feel good about the fact that they're doing their jobs by seizing "contraband".

OMG ! There have been 1822 attempts to blow up planes since 9/11 ?

Really? Indeed! People trying to blow up airplanes with us in them every day?

If that was the case, I dare say multiple airplanes would be hurtling out of the sky in pieces every day because of the proven ineffectiveness of airport security under the watchful eye (and fattening pocketbook) of the TSA.

No one is trying to blow up airplanes every day. Given the lack of cargo screening, if someone wanted to do so, they would have a very easy time of it.

The water ban is nonsense...pure and simple. If someone wants to do something, they will do it. Eventually. Even if we fly bagless in our underwear. End of story.

Of course, when it reaches that point, it will be interesting to play "spot the FAM".

I think I'll start the water protest as well. I have several others I do about every time:

1, I always put my shoes on at the exact spot they come out of the cage on the belt after the X-Ray. None of this hopping around barefoot while trying to lug my bags, notebook in bin, etc. If they want my shoes off, my shoes go off last, just before I walk through the metal detector, and they go on as soon as I'm through the detector. If I hold up the line putting my shoes on or putting my notebook back in my bag, that's my reason for doing so.

2, on the 8 flights I've been on since the liquid ban, as soon as I get through the plane door I hit up the flight attendents for a cup of water so I can take my "pill" - which is usually an M&M. I've sat through too many 1-2 hour delays at the gate, then slow beverage service once airborne, to not have something to drink at my seat.

3, while waiting for my checked bags (first checked bags on domestic flights since 1997) I call the United 1K desk and chat with them - the last time was about a half hour. My reason? If my time is being wasted by DHS idiocy, I'll waste a little airline time as well.

So what is the point in doing all of this? Civil disobediance is one, but the real point is, if the tourists stuck behind me as I put my shoes on or repack my computer start to feel their time is being wasted, and if the airlines start to see time and money going down the drain, and if TSA continues to spend more time looking for bottles of water and lubricated condoms instead of looking for actual dangerous stuff, maybe they'll start to complain a little bit. Then, maybe, eventually, one of the nazis at DHS will start to get the point and realize that the government works on behalf of the people, not against the people. We all want security, but we shouldn't have to put up with wasteful rules and regulations that not only don't help security, but actually hurt it.

Could have been a used one, half refilled with tap water.

Then here's a tip that I've learned in my TSA-induced-chug-a-lugging: you
may be able to swig more, faster, of a slightly sweetened beverage such
as apple juice. BUT, you may also get heartburn if you do 600-1000mL at
a time.

--LG

welll i have not changed my shoes at all i still wear the same thing, but man there are some people that are machines at getting undressed and redressed with security.

I have a bottle of Purel that has lasted 10 segments and 5 passes through a checkpoint since 8/19 and it hasn't been discovered yet..

Can you give us a hint about how that has worked?

--LG

Must be hiding it in the last place anyone would look - his pockets.

My toothpaste tube and mini shampoo bottles made it through 3 checkpoints before being discovered and removed at the 4th. The other mini shampoo bottle still hasn't been found.

Personally, I enjoy all this kabuki security and look at it as something of a game ("find-the-shampoo"). The new regs actually give me an excuse why I reasonably brought a "prohibited" item through security, and can face no real penalty beyond loss of the item (which I would accept anyway or wouldn't be trying this). It does give one pause when realizing just how bad the TSA is at finding "prohibited" items.

The only thing I'd like to see more would be a reporter having the gall to do this regularly and then write a story about how the TSA has a 2/15 (or whatever) detection rate of his "contraband". I can imagine a firestorm from the TSA in response. Anyone want a quick way onto the no-fly list??

OK, so I'm weird...

Quality? Not QUANTITY?

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why drink all you can before you through security?? Can't you buy water or whatever once you get through security?? You sound like you won't have anything to drink till you get to your destination. It all sounds a little childish to me.