mrkindallas

If you are anywhere near a REI, they have a decent selection of different types and sizes of nalgene travel bottles and containers that have the capacity marked on the bottom. My understanding is that the bottles must be marked with the capacity and I imagine that they don't intend for someone to use a permanent marker to write it on themselves. I'm sure that all agents are not being quite that strict though, so it's dependent on your luck as to whether you are able to get through with unmarked containers and bottles. I would think that if the container is obviously less than 3 oz, then you can probably get through with unmarked items. But if the agent isn't sure that the size is less than 3oz by appearance, it would probably get taken away. So, in my uneducated guess, I would say that the much smaller unmarked bottles probably have a better chance of getting through than unmarked 3oz containers.

janisj

loisco: &quot;<i>I am assuming I can take things like hand cream if it is 3oz or less?...I hate to have to buy bottles. </i>&quot;

If you are asking if can you take a 5 or 6 oz tube of handcream that is only 1/2 full - no. The containers must be less than 3oz.

BTW, all this talk of 3 oz containers. 3 oz is the absolute maximum and is a fairly good sized bottle for most products. If one has several 3 oz containers the ziplok fills up pretty fast. Most everything I take are in 1 oz, 2 oz, even 1/2 oz containers. So don't fixate on everything having to be 3 oz . . .

cruiseluv

Again, if it is an unlabeled bottle, even if it is 3 oz, they might confiscate it. It just happened to me , he said it was because it was unlabeled ( a generic clear 3 oz bottle filled with shampoo and conditioner).

sandi_travelnut

that's odd, I never labeled any of my bottles of shampp or lotion or hair conditioner. No one ever mentioned that.

GranthamMommy

http://www.minimus.biz/?gclid=CPKvju...FSgRGgodPwRyHg

This website sells just about everything you might need in travel sizes. I saw them on a weekend news show right after the new &quot;baggie&quot; rule went into affect.

mrkindallas

From my own interpretation of TSA rules, the only marking that needs to be on the bottles is the capacity. So, you can use generic unlabeled bottles and containers that are 3oz or less, but they should be factory marked with the volume capacity (i.e., 1/2 oz, 1 oz, etc.) Cruiseluv, did your generic bottles have the capacity on the containers somewhere (usually on the bottom)?

TravMimi

I was traveling with 3 oz liquid/gel bottles long before the TSA told me to. I travel light to say the least. I bring enough for a day or 2. Unless I'm doing a boat trip down the Amazon, I know I can pick up shampoo when I arrive. I've never seen generic bottles factory marked, but perhaps some smart company quickly retooled and now sells them.

queener

I was just looking for bottles in Target the other day - and there were clear &quot;generic&quot; bottles that had a sticker attached with the barcode for ringing up the item no the cash register -- this label (the only label on the bottle) had &quot;3 oz bottle&quot; typed below the bar code as the item desription. Glad they did because there were also &quot;4 oz bottles&quot; that I steered clear of! I also saw similar bottles at Walgreens Drug Store.

cruiseluv

mrkindallas,

I don't know since they took them away before I could check that! Maybe that was the problem although the agent didn't explain it very well.

fnarf999

So an unlabeled bottle of shampoo gets confiscated and tossed, while a bottle of battery acid labeled &quot;shampoo&quot; is OK? Because there's no way to change the contents of a small bottle, is there? Like everthing the TSA does, that's senseless.

TravMimi

bottles don't have to be labeled.

katya1

I was just recently in Bed,Bath &amp; Beyond and along the front, between the check-out counters (where most of the impulse buying items are!), there were bags of travel bottles/containers for sale. There looked to be maybe 10 or so in each bag, and I'm sorry I can't tell you the price but I didn't really look that closely!

CarolA

The TSA is run by idiots. Keep that in mind at all times.

Now at least SOME of the idiots have their OWN rules. These rules include the fact that the bottles must be LABLED and say what's in them. However, they have NO way of knowing what is REALLY in the bottles. So what I do is take the &quot;el cheapo&quot; brand from Target or my local drug store, rinse it out and refill it with whatever. So the bottle says &quot;Johnson's Baby Shampoo&quot; but contains L'occitane Body lotion.

How the above makes YOU or I any safer is not at all clear, but it keeps the TAS happy! (And that's what this has become, it has practially nothing to with your saftey, but the TSA wants to APPEAR to be doing something even if it's completly useless!) I would not waste my money on costly bottles. I have seen the idiots routinely take them away because &quot;we can't tell what's in them&quot; Also, even if the bottle appear to you and I to be CLEARLY less then one oz if they can't read that someplace....

On the other hand, I can't recall the last time I saw a TSA agent even do a rudimentary look at my baggie. As long as I have one they seem happy!

TravMimi

I've never seen anything on the tsa website that says bottles have to be labeled.

Fidel

But several people are clearly telling us that their unmarked bottles were confiscated and tossed. Good info, thank you.

TravMimi

Fidel - maybe they were 3.5 oz. TSA website 3-1-1 says nothing about labels. And I never got any tossed.

elnap29

The REI bottles are perfect and don't leak.

jt7dreamz

yeah i travel once a wk for business. have some labeled some not. have never had things taken away.

ssvw27

was looking for contact lens solution in small bottles, they are now making it in 4 oz. bottles, not 3 oz!!

fishee

You need to buy the contact lens solution in a &quot;kit&quot; -- sold in a box with a lens case, small 2-3 oz bottle of solution, and a tiny dropper of re-wetting solution. (Your eye doctor often gives these out for free when getting your annual eye exams and lenses). There is usually at least one kit being sold alongside all the huge bottles of contact lens solutions -- just look closely.

You can pop off the tip of these small bottles and re-fill with solution -- it snaps right back into place. Make sure your hands are scrubbed clean and don't touch the tip with your fingers to try to maintain sterility.