Airport security confiscated an empty water bottle

Were you flying directly to Australia from SGN, HAN and HKG on those occasions?
From and to Australia. MEL, AKL, and HKG biosecurity have never given me issues.

HAN transit bio security is shared with departures—they seemed more interested in a bottle of duty free wine I purchased in MEL. Scanned it three times.

SGN was with transit biosecurity which could have been more lax. Perhaps they screen for plastic conventionally shaped water bottles in which case I will be more cautious in the future.

I’ve also taken my water bottles through Chinese domestic and international security with no fuss. This was at CAN and TAO. Same at ICN, TPE, HND. Travel in the last 2 years.

I will be extensively touring domestic China as well as more “strict” Asian airports such as SIN/KTI/SAI/KUL, happy to share more datapoints. But yes never had an issue with my metal water bottles.

For reference I have a 1080ml slim metal Memobottle.

EDIT: I recall your original post mentioned extra screening at the gate for specific flights. KUL has that, will be interesting to see what happens then.
 
Last edited:
From and to Australia. MEL, AKL, and HKG biosecurity have never given me issues.

HAN transit bio security is shared with departures—they seemed more interested in a bottle of duty free wine I purchased in MEL. Scanned it three times.

SGN was with transit biosecurity which could have been more lax. Perhaps they screen for plastic conventionally shaped water bottles in which case I will be more cautious in the future.

I’ve also taken my water bottles through Chinese domestic and international security with no fuss. This was at CAN and TAO. Same at ICN, TPE, HND. Travel in the last 2 years.

I will be extensively touring domestic China as well as more “strict” Asian airports such as SIN/KTI/SAI/KUL, happy to share more datapoints. But yes never had an issue with my metal water bottles.

For reference I have a 1080ml slim metal Memobottle.

EDIT: I recall your original post mentioned extra screening at the gate for specific flights. KUL has that, will be interesting to see what happens then.

The reason I ask is that the particular LAGs checks being discussed in this thread are secondary checks at the boarding gate which are specific to inbound international flights to Australia (these are required by the Australian government, except when departing from certain exempt countries like New Zealand).

This is different to the general airport security checks, where I’ve also never had issues with an empty bottle of water.
 
Elevate your business spending to first-class rewards! Sign up today with code AFF10 and process over $10,000 in business expenses within your first 30 days to unlock 10,000 Bonus PayRewards Points.
Join 30,000+ savvy business owners who:

✅ Pay suppliers who don’t accept Amex
✅ Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
✅ Earn & transfer PayRewards Points to 10+ airline & hotel partners

Start earning today!
- Pay suppliers who don’t take Amex
- Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
- Earn & Transfer PayRewards Points to 8+ top airline & hotel partners

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.

Currently Active Users

Back
Top