Holidaymakers are resorting to desperate and sometimes bizarre measures to beat the ban on carrying fluids on flights. Frustrated travellers have frozen bottles of water, emptied soup into a plastic bag and even carried out a "dirty protest" against security regulations imposed in November.
The rules - introduced after an alleged transatlantic terror plot involving US-bound aircraft - limit passengers to 100ml quantities of fluids, gels and pastes which must be carried in transparent sealable plastic wallets.
The wallet must not exceed one litre capacity per passenger - half the size of a sheet of A4 paper - and it can contain two or more items of less than 100mls each. But the wallet must not be cluttered as security officers need to check contents.
Security staff at Manchester airport, which revealed the extreme examples of behaviour, say they are still having to confiscate thousands of litres of liquids every week despite repeated reminders of the restrictions.
The airport's director of security and customer service, Mike Fazackerley, said people were confused or unwilling to accept the rules.
"Some of the lengths that people go to are incredible and amusing up to a point, but the legislation is in place for very good reason and it is in the interests of everyone travelling to make sure they fly by the rules. We do remind people of the rules as they check in, and there are posters throughout the airport. But still some people are taking no notice."
One passenger was so angry at having his deodorant confiscated that he publicly urinated into a plastic bag, while another traveller claimed that his four bottles of frozen water were solids and therefore exempt from the rules.
Airport staff also cited the case of a woman who decanted soup into a plastic wallet so she could have her lunch on the plane and of a male traveller who downed a 750ml bottle of vodka in front of security staff because he could not take it with him. The man was later removed from the flight for being drunk.
From February 19 Manchester airport will stop supplying free plastic wallets to passengers.
A spokesman said: "We've gone through millions and millions of bags since November and we can only babysit passengers for so long. It's their responsibility to make sure they know the restrictions when they arrive and follow them."
Heathrow airport said it had no examples of people trying to smuggle oversized liquids through security.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
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