Why water restrictions?

The official version is: The liquid inside your bottle could be a transparent explosive that just looks like water. Or any other chemical fluid that when combined with other fluids that are e.g. hidden in shampoo bottles convert into an explosive. OR... they're afraid of people threatening to soak a flight attendant if the pilot doesn't do as they say ;-)... "Crash this plane into that skyscraper or else I'll soak Betty!" ;-)

It IS permissible to carry an empty bottle through security and fill it (free!!!) after you get through security and before you get on the plane.

This relates to a real terrorist attempt at Heathrow that was thankfully thwarted.

Obviously I'm not going to post details, that would be stupid and probably illegal.

On a lighter note: nobody has ever actually died from lack of water between landside and aircraft boarding.

On a more serious note - yes the shops selling water have shamelessly ramped up the price of a bottle of water since this situation came into play. If there was any justice they'd be flogged at dawn.

As a matter of interest, all tap water in the UK has to meet the highest purity laws and as such can be used to refill empty water bottles. This applies to taps in the airside restrooms as much as anywhere else. There are a few occasions where the tap water falls below these standards, but in those few cases the taps are clearly labeled 'Not For Drinking Purposes'.

Al is right. The plot was uncovered by the British. Since then, water bottles can only be carried through security if they are empty, then filled at a water fountain afterwards.

It's not normally in the news but security at airports is regularly being tested by terrorists. Occasionally you'll see a light story about a doctor stopped carrying an assortment of wierd items like paper clips and plastic cement, in a bodily cavity. The story really isn't funny. It's an intelligence effort to find out how to get different items on to the plane that can be combined into a weapon.

Expect restrictions at airports to keep evolving based on what the bad guys are trying. Believe it or not, there really were and still are bad guys. IMO it's better to suffer some inconvenience in order to reach my destination safely.

You can always buy a water bottle with a built in filter. This way, you take it through security empty and fill it just before your flight at a water fountain. The built in filter will keep out anything you're not sure about in case you don't trust water from the fountain.

http://www.katadyn.ca/

How long before we are forced to hold our breaths bcuz the security area will be devoid of oxygen, which could be used to start a fire?

It may be true that nobody has actually died of thirst on a flight, but the air on planes is notoriously dry. If someone is racing for their flight (especially between flights where you have to go through security again) they don't have time to fill up their water bottle. Dehydration leads to many seemingly insignificant things, but one thing it leads to is a slightly compromised immune system. So your body is more susceptible to disease when you are dehydrated. So you catch a disease in one place and carry it to another place. The disease spreads more quickly than it would were it not for air travel. People who are at high risk for disease are in contact with more disease. They catch the disease. It puts them in the hospital. This drives up health care costs. Our already bankrupt health care system becomes even more dysfunctional. And all because someone can't get a drink of water.

If you think I'm being ridiculous, this is how the flu spreads and quickly.

Many of the rules are ridiculous and some are just for show.

For awhile, you couldn't bring a disposable razor through security but once past security you could buy one in a shop and take it on board.

For awhile, mothers carrying breast milk on board in containers had to drink some to prove what it was.

Yet recently, when investigators attempted to get through U.S. airport security with a fake bomb, each and every one succeeded.

I'm waiting for the day when you arrive at the airport and you to change into a pair of overalls because your clothes have been confiscated since it's been proven terrorists wear clothes. You won't be able to take anything on to the plane and once onboard will have to remain in your seat because it's been proven terrorists sometimes get up. You won't be able to talk to anyone because terrorists have been known to talk. If you need to get up, you'll have to raise your hand and then be escorted to the toilet by an armed guard.

Jeff....that doesn't always work. I was separated from my empty water bottle last year in Barcelona. Security pointed out the regulations say you can't carry liquids in containers more than 100 millilitres. I couldn't convince them it was the LIQUIDS that were the threat, not the CONTAINERS!:)

Let's blame the Bush administration for people catching the flu. In fact the only reason people caught the flu before the Bush administration is the virus knew Bush would later be elected.

The administration is going to change. Isn't it time to let go of irrational hatred?

"I believe in the future we will all be placed into a medically induced coma and then stacked like cord wood in order to fly."

Considering some flights I've been on and the horror stories I've read, that actually sounds appealing...

I concur with Norm, sort of. It's the CONTAINER they're concerned about. Why else is a 3/4 empty 6 oz tube of toothpaste confiscated? Are they kidding? Have you ever tried to put ANYTHING back in a toothpaste tube?!?

I believe in the future we will all be placed into a medically induced coma and then stacked like cord wood in order to fly.

The security restrictions are in place to make sheeple FEEL safer, not to actually make things safer.

I would wager that the supposed liquid explosive threat in 2006 was in no way credible, despite what they are trying to convince people of, and someone just finally got around to reading the file on the 1995 Bojinka plot (which, btw did not result in any kind of liquids ban).

If you've read the TSA blog at all, you'll know that the TSA's own chemists in a highly controlled lab settings couldn't produce viable liquid explosives. Now, I'm not a chemist but I would then wager that terrorists with an hour in an airplane washroom (though, 10-20 minutes is usually when the flight attendants knock on the door and ask if you're ok) couldn't do it either.

If we are not careful, we will all find ourselves flying in the nude with no carryons and no food or water. :)