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Seeing another question about taking water bottles onto planes reminded me of an interesting incident I ran into once. During a layover in Hong Kong in late May of 2013, as we were boarding a flight to Los Angeles, there were security personnel actually in the jetway searching through everyone's carry-on luggage and confiscating water bottles that still had water in them. Since only empty bottles were allowed to get through security or transfer security to even get to the gate, this means that all of the water being confiscated was either purchased or obtained from a water fountain in the airside concourse. As such, I was confused as to why it was being confiscated. Also, this was not done on a different departure I had from Hong Kong only a couple of weeks before that or on any other flight I've ever been on anywhere.

So, my question is, does anyone know why they would confiscate water that was obtained in the secure departures area of the airport in the jetway as passengers were boarding a flight?

The only even remotely reasonable explanation I could think of is that it could have something to do with taking extra precaution to prevent the spread of avian flu, since there was an outbreak in China at the time, though I didn't hear any kind of announcement of this not being allowed until we were already actually in the jetway past the boarding gate.

Less likely, this was during the time that Edward Snowden was in Hong Kong, so perhaps this was a pretense to search luggage of U.S.-bound flights for some reason related to that, but this seems very unlikely, especially since this was between the time he arrived in Hong Kong and when he went public with the information.

JonathanReez
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reirab
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3 Answers3

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Update: Since 2017 we have not encountered the gate check, although in that time our only flights to the US have been from Shanghai/Pudong. (PVG)

The TSA is insane. They require gate checks for liquids on US-bound flights. I've encountered the same nonsense at the gate on every flight from Shanghai since they put the rule in place.

Of course, without an x-ray it's not very effective.

Here's a link from Cathay Pacific confirming this requirement to flights to the U.S. from Hong Kong.

Loren Pechtel
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    It apparently doesn't apply to all U.S.-bound flights because it didn't happen on my recent ICN->SFO flight. Searching further, though, it does appear to apply to all U.S.-bound flights from HKG. Interesting. Source – reirab Sep 16 '14 at 19:54
  • This didn't happen on my recent ICN->DTW flight, either, though I have seen posts elsewhere before saying people have had it happen at ICN. – reirab Jun 06 '15 at 14:50
  • @reirab US-based carriers are required to sign up for this; and indeed perhaps it has been extended elsewhere in some cases. But if you fly on a non-US airline to the US, you often don't have this problem. – Calchas Jun 06 '15 at 17:25
  • @Calchas Interesting. The only time I've personally had it happen was on a non-U.S. carrier (Cathay at HKG.) It didn't happen when I flew Delta or KAL out of Incheon. – reirab Jun 06 '15 at 19:49
  • @reirab It doesn't happen every time but it is very common in Europe. – Calchas Jun 06 '15 at 21:25
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    @pnuts I have no info on when this practice started, but I, too, was surprised when this happened to me flying HKG->JFK in May 2009, so presumably it's been a while. – Tim Parenti Aug 21 '15 at 20:58
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    @Calchas I've flown multiple times from Europe (AMS, LHR, MAN) to the US on both US (American, Delta, United) and European (BA, KLM) airlines and never had any at-gate checks for liquids. – David Richerby May 18 '16 at 14:50
  • @Calchas OK -- my sample is only about 15 flights. But I wouldn't call something that happens only about 5% of the time "very common." – David Richerby May 18 '16 at 19:15
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    It was happening to us 100% of the time on PVG->US, but on our latest trip the station was there but they weren't looking at much of anything. – Loren Pechtel Jun 15 '17 at 19:03
  • @LorenPechtel Yeah, from what I gathered previously from Cathay's website, it was 100% of the time from HKG, too. Good to know about PVG, as I'll be flying PVG to the U.S. in a few weeks. – reirab Jun 15 '17 at 20:31
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Flying Hong Kong to Brisbane 23 June 2016 - same scenario, same temporary set up in jetway, but on a QANTAS flight. Very upset travellers, many of whom insisted on uncapping their bottles and then handing them to the staff at the table. Unhappy as we have never had this happen anywhere in the world. We dispose of or drink before going through security. If the uncapped bottles are handed in, they can then be used to restock shops :-(

Heather
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    Although this has happened to me on a HKG > PER Qantas flight, it was apparently at the direction of Australian Authorities. The confiscated liquids and bottles are NOT used to "restock shops" as for some reason you believe, but are instead incinerated as per local and international regulations. – The Wandering Coder Jul 28 '16 at 01:19
  • I think un-capping is a good idea, regardless of the regs. – Astor Florida Jul 28 '16 at 04:37
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Similar thing happened to me on numerous occasions flying from Johannesburg to Sydney in Australia on Qantas. All liquids were confiscated just prior to boarding. This has been going on for quite a number of years now - my earliest experience was in 2012. I definitely believe it is an additional requirement by the Australian Authorities.

Trevor Charles Miller
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    Correct. Australia, like the US, has this requirement for flights TO their countries. – Doc Dec 02 '19 at 03:21