While it is good to hydrate, an airplane overhead bin is not the place for a water bottle…unless it is empty.
Recently, I rose after takeoff to grab my bag and noticed it was wet. My heart sank…I immediately assumed that my shaving cream or skin cream had leaked all over the bottom of my bag, which is the only “liquid” I travel with. The bottom of my computer bag was very damp. Thankfully, my computer was not damaged.
But my creams were safely in my ziplock bag, which was sealed.
A flight attendant walked by and I told her that the overhead bin was wet.
She took a look in the bin and found a backpack with a water bottle whose lid was not fully sealed. The culprit was found. A woman a couple of rows back stood up and grabbed the bag, taking place it under her seat. No apology…but it was just water.
Then I saw a popular flight attendant on TikTok recently posted a video arguing that placing any liquid in the overhead bin is “the most heinous evil diabolic thing you can do on a plane.”
@cherdallas Raise your hand if youve been personally victimized by a waterbottle in the overhead bin #flightattendantlife #falife✈️ #stewardess #travel #traveltiktok #aviationdaily #aviationlovers #travellover #flightreacts #flights #falifestyle✈️ #stewardess #flightattendant #flightattendants #fa
Wow…that’s a bit much, but it certainly was a timely post. Had this been wine instead of water we really would have had a had problem.
So considering Cher’s remarks and that what she warned about happened to me (and has probably happened to you at one point), let’s be considerate of one another and if we are traveling with a water bottle or other beverage, keep it with us instead of placing it in the overhead bin.
Finally, let me put in a plug for you to bring a water bottle along when you travel (so long as you keep it at your seat). Water is an essential ingredient to renew and sustain our bodies and something that many Americans neglect…including me sometimes.
The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that the average man should consume 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of water per day while women should consume 11.5 cups (2.7 liters). That’s a worthy goal that will improve your skin and well-being, as long as it is not dripping from an overhead locker…
I was once on a flight and noticed some movement at the back of the plane with FAs and passengers moving around. When we landed and were loaded on a bus, I noticed several passengers with their hair wet and gluey. I asked one of them what happened and they shared that a passenger had a pot of honey in the overhead bin and that leaked down and got into their hair. Ouch!!!! Never store liquids on overhead bins.
“Honey, that’s just conditioner in your hair, dear.” — then come the ants, flies and bears looking to have some hairy fun.
I have to admit to having placed my share and then some of water bottles in the overhead bins, but I tend to be very careful so that they are unlikely to leak and have never had my own leak yet whether inside my bag or in side pockets. That said, I prefer to have my overhead luggage in pretty water resistant ballistic nylon bags or hard-side cases with latches. Regardless of what kind of luggage I use in the overhead bins or under the seat, I tend to keep my electronics and passports in one or more sealed plastic bags to try to minimize the chance of water damage to the more valuable items with me on the planes.
The biggest issue I have with water bottles in the overhead bin is that nowadays they tend to be the thing that falls down or out most when the overhead bins are opened. I have been a culprit in that and probably deserve my comeuppance for that too. More often than leaking water bottles, what I have seen be an issue more is things like shaving cream cans leaking or airline or hotel liquid/gel toiletries making a more limited mess than water or other beverage spills/leaks in the overhead bins.
It’s worse to put a gigantic metal water in the back seat pocket, therefore stabbing the person sitting in front of you in the back. Seats are crazy thin now.
Not should an empty water bottle be stowed in the overhead either. It can roll out when the compartment is opened and fall out and hit someone.
In 2016, I was starting a several month work trip to HKG, the lady opposite the aisle stored a plastic bag in the bin above me. Drips appeared above me midway through the flight and told the FA. She looked terrified since the plane was quite new, investigated and found the bin entirely flooded. The other passenger finally took notice and stood up in confusion and concern for her bag. My work laptop was fully kaput as well as my carryon being fully soaked by, of all things, very watery salad dressing. The woman had gone to Yankee Pier at SFO and requested a giant styrofoam container with the cheap fitting plastic lid of thousand island (“I just adore their dressing!”). They had placed the container in a trash bag filled with ice to last the entire trip.
The lady’s companion later came up and said “oh United will reimburse you since it’s their fault…” United actually offered, but Apple surprisingly reimbursed me on their own. I still have the photos somewhere of her holding her nasty trash bag at the baggage claim.
Even worse is metal water bottles in the side pounch that fly out when someone yanks on their bag… could cause a serious injury
Very true. And I think that distorts the taste of the water…I like glass or plastic only…
https://copperwater.com/ I recommend.
I am not sure what it is about steel bottles that have me finding the “taste” of the same source water not being as much to my liking as water bottles in glass or plastic, but I am the same in preferring to avoid steel bottles. I have gone to carrying small glass Panna bottles that I get for free from some hotels. Haven’t had an issue with any glass breaking yet, and washing glass bottles for repeat use works better than washing plastic bottles for repeat use.
The best bottle I have come across is the dark blue plastic one from Solán De Cabras spanish mineral water, it is super sturdy but without the weight of glass or funny taste of metallic bottles.
Tell that to TSA. Those plastic bottles of water you but at Costco for $0.10 each are soooo dangerous. BTW, they are not dangerous in Europe as most airports there allow you to bring your own full bottle of water through security.
I have never come across an airport security checkpoint confiscating empty bottles. You can always refill airside, in fact I often do that in lounges [as a lot of them have done away with plastics].
I am at European airports 10+ times a month most months of the year, and this year is no different. Most EU/Schengen airports still have a ban on taking through bottles of liquids/gels/aerosols through the security screening checkpoint if the bottles with L/G/As don’t comply with the European equivalent of the TSA’s 3-1-1 rule. It’s only at the airport screening checkpoints with newer scanner machines where the 3-1-1 rule is a relic, but even at some such airports, some screening checkpoints still don’t have the new scanner types and thus the enforcement of the 3-1-1 rule depends upon which screening checkpoint or checkpoint lane at the airport is being used.
Same, don’t like the metal bottle taste. Odd that I was OK with soda out of a can even sparkling water, but every reusable metal bottle has been bitter to me.
“the most heinous evil diabolic thing you can do on a plane.”
Here I thought hijacking it and flying it into buildings was, but hey, that was almost 23 years ago and few still remember. Especially today’s youth who are protesting to show their support for the exact same type people.
I was at the WTC on September 10, 2001. I would have been there or very close by on the morning of September 11th if I weren’t too cheap to change a later UA flight ticket out of JFK on the 11th. Only several months earlier I had refused to take up work at a WTC building or I would have probably been there myself too or on my way there on the morning of the 11th. By around September 18th, I was flying back from overseas into JFK and will never forget later seeing from the planes the smoldering site and knowing the remains of too many would be there but as ashes. It was a changed country because of that and I a changed person because of that horrendous attack. But what shouldn’t change is our values. I am proud of the peaceful youth in NYC who have the character and values to protest against war crimes and other human rights violations and not let tragedy destroy character and erode the values worth defending.
Nice to see some still remember that horrible day and providing your personal experiences.
That said, you being proud of these poorly informed individuals is beyond disgusting. The “war crimes” and human rights violations were committed by Hamas and their supporters who allowed them free rein in their country. These idiots in NYC have no clue what they are even protesting. No different than if they were supporting Bin Laden and protesting our attempts to find him in the years after 9/11. You start a war with a terrorist attack, you and your people suffer the consequences. Period.
No one cares.
What do I most like in your posts?
Your quite suggestive pics/illustrations 🙂
I reached in to get my roller bag on A United flight and found that someone had put their cup full of coffee up there and flooded the bin… ALso the backpack should have been under the seat in from of them…I am so tired of people throwing their little bags and backpacks up there when that is all they board with…
Can we take a moment to admire the model in the water bottle photo…..
Which one? The first one posing with it or the 2nd looking happy to get it in her mouth?
Some number of years ago, I was a newspaper reporter going to Iraq by way of Kuwait. One of my two bags didn’t make the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Kuwait City. I won’t bore you with the nightmarish complications involved in delaying my trip to the war zone. The missing bag arrived 36 hours later, with literally minutes to spare before my Air Force flight to Baghdad departed. I dug into the bag and found that every one of the dozen small hand sanitizer bottles I’d packed had been opened by TSA in Chicago or security in Frankfurt and returned to the bag unopened. I’ll wait while you imagine the goody mess. I made it to Iraq, did my job and made it home fine. One more thing: Lufthansa was very sorry about the bag delay and promised me first class travel home when my “fun” in Iraq ended. You guessed it. They turned their back on me at the Kuwait airport and I flew home coach. Some water in the overhead? Yeah, stuff happens.
I once had someone place a bag full of fish over my backpack on a minibus in Mauritania. After four hours soaking in the sun, I determined my bag needed to be thrown out.
I’ve opened kids water bottles before without unscrewing them onboard. Mid flight the pressure can cause the spray to reach the ceiling lolll
This.
You are a drama queen.
The correct thing to do is to make sure the bottle is tightly capped.
I’ve been called worse.