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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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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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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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