I’m sharing in real-time style about my SAS EuroBonus SkyTeam Million Mile challenge this week. Click here for background and route information.
They made it through Jakarta, Xiamen, Tapei, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, and Jakarta again, but security screeners did not like our KLM Delft Blue Houses in Shanghai.
My KLM Delft Blue Houses Meet Chinese Airport Security Screeners
After checking in for our Korean Air flight and stamping out of Mainland China, we faced a security checkpoint…we’ve seen many of these on this trip.
I removed my laptop and put the bags through, as usual, but my bag was pulled aside.
A security screener pulled up the x-ray and then made a drinking motion with his hands. He then said, “Drink! Drink!”
Well, it’s five o’clock somewhere but I was not in the mood…
I jest.
I knew what he meant. I opened up my bag and pulled out two lumpy socks. Reaching inside, I pulled a KLM Delft Blue House from each one.
The agent grabbed them and made the not allowed sign with his hands.
What?
I said, “Small. Less than 100 mL.”
He said, “Must dump out.”
I said, “But it’s a small size.”
He repeated, “Must dump out.”
Once more, I made the small sign with my index finger and thumb.
But he said, “Must dump out.”
And before I could say 谢谢, he pulled out a pick hammer and busted open the first house, smashing the wax encasement and forcing the cork down into the house. He then took it, turned it upside down, and dumped the contents (gin) in the trash can.
(Not that I would have drunk it, but I was not even given the chance!)
I made the slow-down sign with my two hands and then tried to mime carefully chipping away the wax of the second house.
SMASH.
Thankfully, the top came off in one piece…
The gin from the second bottle was dumped, and the empty house was handed back to me with a nod.
My bag was about two ounces lighter…
* * *
I suppose you’re wondering how I got these since we flew economy class on our KLM flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta. Whenever a KLM intercontinental (or Fith Freedom) flight lands, check the business class cabin…people strangely tend to leave houses behind.
Does anyone know how to re-seal these? Candle wax, perhaps?
Do they put minis in the houses? If so, why didn’t you just put the bottles in your liquids bag? Seems like that’s the obvious thing to do…
Now, if the houses themselves are filled with gin, then I’d have just drank it or dumped it, since there’s no way the houses would fit in the 1L bag.
The houses do fit in the 1L bag…but I don’t think it would have made a difference and I had them wrapped in socks so that they got home in one piece.
The alcohol is poured directly into the houses.
@Tennen … The only drinkable gin is Beefeater’s . Best gin and tonic in the Tropics .
I would have simply dumped out the KLM gin upon receiving it , and given the empty house to any traveler who wanted it .
( The only drinkable vodka is Grey Goose l’Orange .)
I don’t mind Beefeaters, but you should try Citadelle, a very nice French gin.
@Matthew … Thank you . I will see if I can order it .
I have no comments. This liquid rule is the most stupid and outdated I ever seen. Also, it is not even a rule because each stupid airport agent interprets the way they want. In your case, less than 100ml but they still dumped it.
@Santastico … Hey , it is Their airport , no ? If they forbid coconuts , it is still Their airport , no ?
It is their airport and their airport is stupid. What does possession have to do with absurdity?
And you guys complain about TSA….
OK, to me the key thing here is that the guy had a hammer at the ready, unusual in my security experiences. I wonder if it is standard issue or just something he brings to deal with liquids more efficiently. Depending on some passengers, I imagine a hammer might be useful. 🙂
Matthew, your fellow vlogger Noel Philips had the same thing happen to him on his quest for the SAS miles, and in China, except he was allowed to drink the contents. He did seem happier afterward…
Interesting! I don’t follow him, but will have to check it out.
His videos are good with British sarcasm.
But he did to the whole SAS challenge in Business class!
Must be nice! 😉
It looks like they’re seeing a lot of people doing the SAS SkyTeam Challenge who take a KL flight in J before passing through Mainland China. Noel Philips posted a video where he had the same issue at PKX, and rather than dump it out, he drank the whole thing right in front of them and then put the house back into his bag.
Hard to know when your flights actually happened as I assumed you arrived home before thanksgiving but did you get hit with the snow issues in seoul?
No snow. I’ve fallen behind on this “real-time” report, which is now almost two weeks late. I’ll try to finish it tomorrow or Wednesday…
Lucky! My brother in law got seriously delayed there. Heaviest November snowfall on record.
@ Matthew — These houses do not contain gin, but genever. While similar in some ways, gin and genever are two different things.
So what does KLM tell their passengers in Business Class who are arriving or transiting in China? Do they not hand out the houses, or do they just warn passengers that something like this could possibly happen to them as well?
Matthew was lucky that both houses were not seized. They can do that instead of emptying it. They may have thought that they were nice to not seize both bottles/houses.
Be careful about writing stories that may appear to be negative towards Communist controlled sections of the Republic of China.
China is a sovereign nation and can control its borders and security checkpoints as it wishes.
I am quite thankful to the PRC for allowing visa-free transits, unlike the USA.
That sounds very left wing, making it sound like America is worse than the People’s Republic of China (Communist controlled sections of the Republic of China)
I love my country and think the gulf in civil liberties between the USA and PRC is like night and day…but in terms of immigration/passport control for tourists, China does it far better.
That’s nice to hear! I would not be happy if I found out that Matthew hates America.
The immigration system in America is a huge mess and bureaucracy. Perhaps one reason that there is not convenient sterile transit areas is the fear that mobs of people will arrive in the transit area then claim asylum. Each one would then start a long and expensive legal process.
Had something similar happen to us going back to Germany through Beijing. Had a long layover, so we entered the country, going back through security, we had a small jar of kiwi jam we bought in the New Zealand duty free. It was still in the duty free bag and everything. Wasn’t even close to 100ml. The security guards pulled our bag aside, said no. I argued it’s not in a liquid form, it’s a solid, no joy. I might have let out a few “you’ve got to be @#$^% kiddings” in my haste. We got pulled aside and scolded “You no say #$%^, you no say $hit” Pretty sure the police were going to take me away. My wife made me apologize, and we eventually got our passports back, photographed. Have not had the courage to go back since lol.
@Shultz
Ah yes, the argumentative, smug and belligerent attitude that you’re used to throwing around in the States and Europe finally caught up to you in a country that won’t tolerate your bs. Too bad you didn’t get jammed up for the night to drive the point in a bit further.
Nah. It’s a third world country (China) posing as if it was an advanced one. They don’t understand the rules that all of the world has agreed to (the 100 ML rule) and they have a completely unfounded superiority complex (which in itself stems out of the Century of Humiliation, a thing that the West should repeat to keep them in their place – and yes, it is possible to repeat it still). which makes them act as if the rules they DO understand do not apply to them. Any reasonable person should avoid giving those fascist leaning communists a penny, although, unfortunately, sometimes it is not possible.
And to sum up – Hong Kong or Macau are NOT China, Taiwan is the REAL China, Tibet is an occupied territory and China commits the biggest genocide of our times (leaving aside the ones they committed before, the Great Leap Forward and countless other atrocities which make their allies of N*zi Germany – remember that Hjalmar Schacht lent a lot of money to the Chinese and a lot of Chinese troops was trained in Germany – look like innocent babies), the Xinjiang genocide.
You are correct. Taiwan is the real China, real Republic of China. The People’s Republic of China keeps yelling that separatists are in Taiwan but it is the People’s Republic of China who are the illegal separatist. The Republic of China was already around for a few decades when rebel separatist forces took over Beijing. The peace loving Republic of China does not threaten the People’s Republic of China but the reverse is not true. Every day, the PRC sends planes to buzz the Taiwan Strait.
This is why I dare not enter the PRC even though the risk of arrest is less than 1%. If unlucky, they will jail you and there is nothing that the President of the United States can effectively do to save you.
I’m willing to admit I probably over-reacted a bit over some jam. I don’t think I was going to get “jammed up” for the night like you so eloquently put it.
Hopefully amusing rant you may enjoy:
This calls for a moment of reflection about how terrorism works by making people’s lives miserable rather than scary. In the under-appreciated dystopian classic, Brazil, the world lives in constant terror of bureaucrats. In this case, an overzealous security guard smashes up property in order to comply with “safety” regulations that are pure security theater. Splitting up 500ml of liquids into 5 100ml containers somehow makes it “safe”.
I can understand the zealousness of the underpaid security officer in that if they don’t enforce the rules and someone complains later, THEY get into trouble.
We take it for granted that air travel has a fascist nature to it, don’t we? We have to be terrified of using the B or T word during the travel process even in a perfectly rational sentence such as “This is not a B”. The Pilot is treated like a deity and the FA’s can either be pleasant servants bringing you libations OR evil Karens throwing you off (or worse) for looking at them the wrong way.
Airports are largely places we are happy to leave made tolerable only by status (hence this wonderful blog!) where you enjoy a respite in a lounge or a particular class on the aircraft but the rest of the time it’s mostly a hell of overpriced, and usually inferior, shopping experiences as a captive consumer.
It’s strange that I actually look FORWARD to flying in that getting into the wondrous aircraft make the whole Kafkaesque (sp?) experience worth it making me wonder if this is the future of humanity as AI and other technology slowly chip away at normal freedoms.
It seems they are looking specifically for these KLM houses at PVG Terminal 1 on international side. I had the same situation twice already. Arriving with KLM, spend a few days in China with having multiple domestic flights; flying out domestic of PVG T1 and three other Chinese airports. The KLM house was always in my transparent liquids’ bag and it was never an issue.
Only when leaving China again at PVG T1 after having the passport stamped, the security flagged the KLM house. Not right away, but I was rather already packing everything back to my bag when a security supervisor appeared and asked me to empty the KLM house.
Same happend on a similiar itinerary a few weeks later.
While it was never an issue in the past, since a few months it now is.
Very odd. Thank you for this data point. I do not understand what the problem is with these houses.
Count your blessings.
He could of smashed the bottle instead.