Airport security confiscated an empty water bottle

[Forg]

So empty plastic bottles being confiscated. With the push to eliminate single use plastics, a lot of people carry reusable bottles now, both plastic and metal. Is my empty 1L Yeti going to be let through but the disposable water bottle confiscated? Strange rules

I'm told Frank Green water bottles are relatively expensive ... nobody's going to spend all that money on something which they expect to plummet out of the sky with them!

 

[sky21]

Does anyone know what are exactly the rules and purpose of this checks? Only liquids? Food as well?

 

[Himeno]

Does anyone know what are exactly the rules and purpose of this checks? Only liquids? Food as well?

rules - whatever the staff at the checkpoint decide on the day
purpose - none, just the appearance of "doing something"

 

[Beano]

It's to prevent someone carrying a liquid explosive on a plane. 10 x 100 ml is OK. Pastes a well, but baby food seems exempt. Food OK as long as it is solid.

 

[Stopsie]

I almost always carry a bottle of water with me when I travel. When clearing international airport security, I know you can't have more than 100mL of liquids so I usually just drink or empty the bottle before going through security, then fill it up with drinking water after security, if possible. I know many other people do the same and many airports even provide drinking water taps after security for this purpose. I never had a problem... until yesterday.

I was boarding LA801 at SCL and, as is common on long-haul flights bound for Australia, there was an additional bag check in the aerobridge as we boarded the plane. The security official immediately noticed my empty plastic water bottle and confiscated it. She claimed it wasn't allowed. I'm not quite sure why - it was an empty, transparent 500mL bottle.

Anyone experienced this before? It seemed pretty ridiculous to me, but did the security officer have a point?

Yes same happened to me before flight to Australia in November 2024, I questioned it but he said it was the rules and for safety . Once on the plane full plastic water bottles were given out!

 

[Rayesfeg]

Do this at your own risk, but if the security checks are a manual check (a person inspecting bags), just put the water bottle at the bottom of your bag and take it on board with you.
Doesn't work if the at gate security uses an X-ray machines.

 

[albatross710]

Manila pre-boarding took my empty water bottle. Of course I protested but the guy was pointing to the bin of other water bottles they had confiscated. In any case there was nowhere to refill the empty bottle anyway.