I believe I’m made exactly one airline trip in the last 15 years, so pardon my confusion re: the new TSA rules. Please bear with me for a few newbie questions:
TSA website says 3.4 oz for “liquids, gels, aerosols”. Does this limit passengers from taking something as simple as a water bottle aboard? This seems like a common question, and that they would’ve had a statement like: “This prohibition includes common items like sodas, and water bottles.”
The website also mentions some sort of special case for laptops. Can I use my old leather case for mine? Or alternatively, can I just put it in my checked bag? (I can probably pad it in such a way that the baggage handlers won’t hurt it. I don’t need it on the flight). The laptop I’m taking actually has a mostly dead battery; It’ll be plugged in at my destination. If I bring it in carryon, is there a chance that I’ll be asked to boot it up? (and then run into trouble when it won’t?) It won’t charge, and I don’t really need it to operate away from house current, and I frankly don’t want to buy a new battery for it.
Some advice, please. I’m flying nonstop to the cold hinterlands, where I’ll need some decent boots just to navigate the destination parking lot. Current plan is to wear them and just go thru the hassle (one time) of removing them for x-ray. I assume I can find a place out of the line to don and re-lace them. If it were you (experienced airline traveler), would you make do with slipons, and fish the boots out of your luggage at your destination?
Thanks to the experienced folk for dealing with my newbie questions. I haven’t been on a business trip in several years, and that time the company provided a charter flight for us. (no security)
On question 1, the limit does apply to water bottles. However, you can carry empty water bottles through the checkpoints, and fill them with water on the far side.
For question 2, here’s the TSA page on checkpoint-friendly laptop bags. I doubt that your old leather case would work, so you’ll probably have to remove the computer from the case and put it by itself in one of the bins.
The special cases only mean that you don’t have to take the laptop all the way out of the case as it is being x-rayed. If you want to take your laptop with you, all you will have to do is remove it from your luggage and any case it may be in, and set it in its own bin for the x-ray machine. ETA: But if you aren’t going to use it while flying, because of the dead battery, why bother to lug it around? Checking it would be fine, too.
I wouldn’t worry too much about having to turn it on. It is possible, but it isn’t that common, and all you’d have to do is say the battery is dead and you need to plug it in. There’s no requirement to have fully charged batteries while going through security.
I’d wear the boots. After you take them off and have them x-rayed, there will be benches or chairs just past the x-ray machine so you can sit and lace them up. Besides, my feet are often cold on airplanes.
I would caution against putting your laptop in checked luggage. The cargo hold can get quite cold and I’ve had a laptop that arrived with a fogged up screen (fogged on the inside). It eventually cleared, but I don’t think it’s good for them.
Such a statement might improve clarity for some, but the way it’s worded is complete and simple. No liquid in a container larger than 3.4 oz. is allowed. Water is a liquid, the water bottle is (presumably) larger than 3.4 oz. capacity, therefore it is not allowed. No exceptions for something being “simple” or “common” are mentioned, and bringing up that aspect just complicates the matter.
This is a matter of personal preference. Aspects to consider are how troublesome is it to get the boots on and off, how long is the flight and how comfortable would it be to wear the boots while sitting for that duration, how is the airport’s security configured in terms of the likelihood you’d have to remove the boots more than once, and how troublesome is it to retrieve them from your luggage and put them on after you’ve arrived.
I fly too much. I seriously have had airport bar staff recognize me.
Yes. When you get to the checkpoint, you will see a giant bin of stuff they’ve confiscated. Water bottles are common in the pile.
You can carry it in whatever case you want, or check it. I’d be afraid of it getting knocked around too much, and would want to carry it on, but enough about my personal opinion. If you do carry it on, they will make you remove it from your bag, and put it in a separate tray for screening. Sometimes they wipe it down with a swab thing to check for explosives. You won’t be asked to boot it up.
There’s no place to de-lace. Most people take their shoes off in line, as they’re approaching the metal detectors, or when they’re putting their items into the trays. Depending on who the TSA agent is, they might even make you take off sandals. I’ve had it happen to me, so just wear whatever shoes you feel like, and take them off at the gate.
No liquids of any kind above the limits you quote are permitted through the security gate, except for prescription medications (there may be other exceptions for OTC medication with a doctor’s note or something, and maybe baby formula). Last time I traveled, someone in front of me had a bottle of water and the TSA agent told him it wasn’t allowed. The passenger said, “I can’t even take water?” and the agent turned around and yelled to another TSA agent, or maybe a supervisor, in a very sarcastic tone, “Hey, is water a liquid?” and the other agent or supervisor yelled back, “Water is a liquid!!”
“No, you can’t take water.”
Liquids purchased after clearing security can be taken on the plane.
I don’t know about carry-on cases for laptops. But you can check it. Do be aware that TSA screens checked baggage and can open bags that fail screening. The criteria they use for screening is a little mysterious–my 80-year-old mother-in-law has had her suitcase opened by TSA twice in a row in the last two years, and we have no idea why. They leave a form letter inside the bag telling you they opened it. I mention this because if your bag is locked and it is not a TSA-approved lock that they can open, they will break it open.
Now that’s an interesting thought. Can I partially empty a water bottle and freeze the water. Just as I get into line I’ll pour out any liquid that’s melted. Then I will have a 20 oz bottle with no (or just a tiny bit of) water in it. Surely that will pass through with no objection.
I offer this idea freely anyone to be the one to argue to the TSA agent about its legality.
Yeah, cracking wise with the TSA might seem like a riverting intellectual exercise now, but it’ll be less amusing when some cranky TSA guy lands your ass on the No Fly list.
I’d say don’t fly with the boots. I’ve never seen a security checkpoint with an area set aside for de-shoeing, and while some airports have benches immediately past the checkpoint, some don’t, which can be enough of a hassle with regular shoes, let alone boots.
If you do bring a water bottle and forget to dump the water out in advance (and they catch it), they’ll give you the option of letting them confiscate it, or you can go out, dump it, and do the whole process again. From experience I can tell you that pointing out that there’s clearly three ounces or less in the bottle will not be effective, nor will they accept your offer to drink the remainder of the liquid right there.
Modern airport security 101: As you approach the checkpoint be sure to have your ID and boarding pass out, because they check those first. Once the guy at the podium has scribbled on your boarding pass, keep them tucked in your pants pocket or something, because you probably won’t need them again but might. Pick a lane (or go where they tell you, varies by airport). Once you get up to the table/stack of bins, put your carryon down. Take off your shoes and jacket, put those in one bin. Take your little baggie of 3oz liquids, if applicable, and put that in the bin as well. Take out your laptop. Put that in a second bin. Do not put anything on top of your laptop, because they get pissy about that. Double-check that your keys/phone/money clip/machete/whatever are no longer on your person. Wait until the agent waves you through before walking through the metal detector. Keep an eye on your items if the x-ray scanner is going faster than the metal detector. Once through, I personally find it most efficient to just pull on my shoes and jacket, and carry my other stuff out of the bottleneck in order to put my bag back together.
I would add: regarding keys/phone/money clip/belt with buckle, in other words - anything metal that might trigger the walk-thru metal detector - take a moment to put all that in your coat pockets (the coat that is going through the machine in a bin) or in the outside pocket of your carry-on bag. You can pull it all back out later when you’ve cleared the security area - rather than spending the time pulling each piece individually out of a bin and replacing it where it came from.
I do this; wallet, keys, belt, etc go in the outside pocket of my computer/carryon bag. But it always makes me nervous not to have my wallet and keys not on me, even for the few minutes it takes to get through the checkpoint.
Good to know that “liquids” means exactly that. I’ll make sure to abandon any forbidden water bottles before the checkpoint.
Are you actually required to empty your pockets, or merely supposed to remove anything that will set off the metal detector? If the latter, why is everyone taking their wallet out? The other end of the conveyor belt certainly seems like a good place for theives to station themselves. Seems like they could spirit away passports, wallets or other small items in the confusion before they were missed. Do many of you stash some of your cash/credit-cards in your pockets before relinquishing your wallet? Or am I overestimating the danger here?
Only metal has to come out. Personally, I have coins in my wallet.
Usually, the sequence of events works out such that you push your bin into the machine and walk through the detector before the agent at the screen has finished looking at your bag. So, there isn’t usually any period when your bin is outside the xray machine and accessible to others at either end without you being there. Plus there’s typically a lot of security standing around, and everything’s on video, so it would be a really low-percentage target for a thief.
I don’t like to have my man bag xrayed. Fertility concerns, you know.
There are typically a significant number of TSA agents around that area. While it is possible for someone to cop one’s wallet if they pass through security ahead of you, and then deftly swipe something while they are collecting their belongings, there’s really no place to “station” one’s self without drawing a lot of attention.
Notwithstanding, I usually put my wallet in one of my shoes. And more often than not, you will make it through the metal detector and be waiting for your things to get through the x-ray, rather than having your belongings beat you through the metal detector.
Former checkpoint screener here. I haven’t worked on the checkpoint in over 3 years, but in my experience ice has generally not been allowed through. This includes icepacks, unless they are being used to cool medication or some other excepted liquid. I have heard some rumor that ice may be allowed if it is completely frozen (ie no liquid water at all), but I have no idea if that’s taken effect yet.