3.4 Ounces

As a public service I would like to share this little travel tidbit with everyone. Remember last year when the airlines had banned liquids in carry on bags? The few times I've traveled since then I'd been placing all liquids in my checked baggage. Until last week when on a short trip I decided to fit everything into my carry on bags. Keeping in mind the "3 ounce maximum liquid rule" I took along my 90% used up toothpaste tube with me. There couldn't have been more then a single ounce left in the almost empty, flattened, tube.

So, imagine my surprise when my bag was flagged by the screener at the baggage check. They opened it up and said my toothpaste was not allowed because it was in too large of a container. Huh? There was less then an inch of toothpaste left, well under the 3 oz. rule. At which point the security guy informed me that 3.4 oz were allowed and that the weight of the original product was what mattered, not what was left. Since my toothpaste tube said 8 oz, it was well over the limit, even though it was almost empty.

Go figure.

He also informed me in the future to place all of my liquids, in their 3.4 oz containers, into 1 small Zip Loc bag and place them in one of the plastic bins seperated from the rest of my belongings.

I'm not really complaining. I'm all for keeping the skies safe for all travelers. I just wanted to warn others to make sure your liquid belonging are in containers with a capacity of not more then 3.4 oz. Otherwise you'll be saying goodbye to your toothpaste like I did. Next time I'm flying with no checked bags I'll pick up those teeny, super cute, little travel sized containers of everything I could possibly need.