Just to chime in here...I think BA has some pretty good food as well. I've never understood why people complain about airline food. I guess I'm in the minority that has no problem with it. One thing that BA use to do years ago was to give you a menu and let you know what your choices were. They don't do that anymore. Also, the mention of wine and corkscrews brings up something I've noticed lately - bottle with screw on/off caps. Does anyone find this to be a bit out of place?

Just to set the record straight: the Federal Aviation Regulations proscribe the consumption of alcohol <i>unless it has been served by an airline employee</i>. The reason for this prohibition is so the cabin crew can control the dosage.

I have never had a FA refuse pouring a drink for me out of my own bottle. Sometimes handing them a card with the FAR printed on it is necessary:
<b>
Sec. 121.575 Alcoholic beverages.
(a) No person may drink any alcoholic beverage aboard an aircraft unless the certificate holder operating the aircraft has served that beverage to him.</b>

CarolA: Why so vindictive and ready to assume the worst of another's bad travelling experience????

Has anyone *bothered* to check the TSA website at all??? Geesz!

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...ted-items.shtm

wherein:

&quot;All liquids, gels and aerosols must be in three-ounce or smaller containers. Larger containers that are half-full or toothpaste tubes rolled up are not allowed. Each container must be three ounces or smaller.&quot;

Further, an open bottle of wine, *if* it should pass through security screening, at a quiet gate in the concourse.... ummm.... be considered &quot;open container&quot; and one could be ticketed, fined and/or arrested for same? I know, I know -- different states/municipalities/etc.

Basically, is wine liquid? Is the bottle larger than 3 oz.? Is it packed into your luggage and not in a carry on?

Right.


Food is a bit of a more grey area. Check the chart and it appears most factory sealed are permitted, granted it is 3 oz or less.

My advice to mcguire: eat a lovely dinner at your fav Italian resto the evening before, or if time permits, before your flight. Also research your connecting flight airport for what food and beverage establishments are in the terminal and/or concourse. Many airports offer various venues to eat a meal -- outside and better than a mere McDonalds. There are airport bars, right? Have a glass of wine or martini there and toast the vacation.

Also, international fights, on most carriers, tend to offer better options in meals, snacks and liquor selections. Check with your air carrier and there may even be a menu selection you can make in advance (a kosher or vegetarian option). Suffer it out with the blah food, as it is only for a few hours, and eat your heart out all over Italy. Good luck!

Side note: I've travelled my entire life on various domestic and international airlines. There is nothing worse than sitting next to another that has packed aboard their own stinky food. Even what another would consider as inoffensive as a Frito or Dorito while muching down at home, on the couch, watching the Big Game, stinks to high heaven in a contained/air recyled/crowded tube of humanity at X thousand feet.

Dukey, they aren't serving food on domestic flights these days unless you put out big bucks for the dreck they pack.
I think it's fine.
But the wine won't be happening.
And yes, you can take an empty bottle with you but for heavens' sake, don't fill it from anywhere but the airline bottled water--not the bathroom!!.
And yes, you can take the food--friends just did it this week.
And we have carried on many a salad from the airport restaurants.

Badcatbeans,
And WHERE was the restriction on the EMPTY bottle that contained no liquid? Did you see it on the TSA website? I can't find it.

The TSA agent told the poster that they couldn't bring it because it could be used to mix things? I guess the TSA figures that those bottles they allow to be sold at the gate area can't be used to mix things? I stand by my posting IDIOTS! (These are the same folks that in airports where they have the new &quot;puffer machines&quot; and the old technology let the passenger pick. So if you were a terrorist playing with explosives which would YOU pick.....)

That is unimagineably stupid. Did the screener forget that you could take a full bottle of something aboard and empty it out &quot;to mix things?&quot;

Incredible.

not sure about flights from the US, but we frequently take food on flights out of UK to Europe and back - it's a lot better that what's on offer on the plane. To comply with the regs, we don't take any liquids - we buy what we want either on the plane or airside before we board.

Not had any problems yet. Why not e-mail the carrier?

annhig, isn't the UK part of Europe?

In September I flew from Boston to Switzerland and had my water bottle taken away from me at the security check. Which I kind of expected and didn't think much of the giant trash bucket full of bottles of liquids. Then I get inside security to the Gates and besides all the drinks you can buy at McDonalds, Sbarro Pizza, etc., you could actually buy bottles of Coke and Dasani water at Hudson News. So they took my bottle away outside the gate but inside the gate the Coca Cola Company is allowed to sell liquids which can be carried on board?

SO whats the problem, it has all to do with where the liquid comes from and its known source. I suppose they offered water on the plane?, so no difference, they knew where it came from.

Beaupeep, that is the norm for the moment, at least at US airports. You can't bring liquids through the security checkpoint. There is no ban on bringing liquids on the plane that were purchased after going through security.

What disturbs me is hearing that at European airports there will be a rule forbidding bringing liquids on the plane, no matter where they were purchased. This restriction will be very unpleasant.

Hi, loveitaly -

yes of course the UK is technically part of europe, but, us Brits still think of it as a place apart [which geographically, it is!]

anyway, i live in cornwall so i need a passport to cross the Tamar!

No food should be allowed! Eat the airline food with the rest of us! Can't stand someone sitting next to me and breaking out their favorite sandwich (whatever, smell et al)

&quot;What disturbs me is hearing that at European airports there will be a rule forbidding bringing liquids on the plane, no matter where they were purchased&quot;

Where did you hear that?

Doesn't the airline food have a smell also?

Meanwhile, many US domestic flights do not serve food. On some you can purchase food, including boxes of commercial snack food just like the stuff people bring on. I just don't get the difference.

When I flew from Denver to Boston, the gate agent announced that there was no meal served and that people should buy sandwiches. There was a sandwich shop next to the gate, and just about everyone one the flight got something there and brought it along.

Flanner, I thought I read it here. I hope I am wrong. I thought I had read reports that this was already the case at Heathrow and that the other EU airports would be following suit. Please tell me this is not correct.

It's not correct.

All Western European airports have the same two rules:
- you can't get on a plane, wherever you've come from, without going through security in the airport you're getting a plane from
- you can't bring liquids through security, except in 100 ml minibottles in a 1 litre plastic pouch.

These two rules mean you can't bring liquids onto a plane in Europe you've bought somewhere else (including on an earlier flight or at a previous airport's duty free). But you can buy pretty well as much as you like from shops after security.

Which, in Heathrow's case, amounts to a rather wider choice of waters, whiskies and wines than the average US shopping mall.

But those wide choices will have a much higher price than in a typical US mall also....

OMG i cant belive anyone worries about safty

OMG - so you don't live in New York or London then? Or are you joking about not worrying about 'safty'?