When are U.S.-bound flights required to confiscate liquids at the gate?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 28 Jul, 2023
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Just flew back from Hong Kong direct to Chicago on United and there was NO liquids check at the gate – I’m not sure if this was a mistake or have the rules changed (Nov 5th 2018).
You are correct that the secondary screening for liquids only occurs at certain airports, including Hong Kong (which does the check for flights bound for the U.S. and Australia). I’ve seen it in Tokyo Narita but only sometimes and usually only a few people. The U.K. and Australia do strict liquid checks for all international flights. The U.S. does liquid checks for all flights (domestic and international).
Note that in HKG, for some gates the check is done as one boards the plane (after the boarding pass scan), while for other gates, the gate area is roped off, and the check is done as one enters the roped-off gate area. Likewise for SYD, which has a special gate area often used for US-bound flights where screening is done before entering the gate area.
Similar checks are done in MAD for flights to TLV.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘