Flyers are about to go cuckoo for coconuts. Here’s why you should bring a coconut in your carry-on during your next flight — and yes, it’s legal
A traveler is touting a unique way to circumvent TSA’s fluid restriction — schlepping a whole coconut aboard and drinking the sucker in-flight.
A flyer detailed this Flintstones-esque hydration hack in an X post currently taking off online.
“Flying ProTip: You cannot travel with full water bottles, but you can travel with a full unopened coconut,” the savvy traveler, named @solbrah, wrote in the post. “Arrive at your destination fully hydrated.”
Commenters were aghast over the unconventional thirst-quencher.
“A true pioneer,” gushed one awestruck viewer, while another deemed his primeval canteen a “matrix hack.”
“Was not prepared for this sort of genius today,” fawned a third.
However, others wondered how one would open a coconut in-flight without causing problems.
“You do need a knife or sharp object to open it, though,” observed one commenter.
But are whole coconuts truly a legal liquid loophole in the friendly skies, where everything from water bottles to pocket knives are banned? The short answer: Yes.
“Coconuts and other solid food items can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags within the continental United States,” a TSA spokesperson told the Post.
Best of all, the average coconut holds between 7 to 34 ounces of fluid, well above the 3.4-ounce carry-on limit imposed by the TSA.
In fact, nutrition specialist Dr. Paul Saldino explained in an X video last year that he swears by the tropical fruit and even took ten of them in his suitcase during a flight, Food & Wine magazine reported.
“Coconut water is a great source of magnesium, manganese, all kinds of good stuff,” gushed the doc, adding that he doesn’t like to drink from plastic bottles.
And you don’t need to tote a machete to crack this organic camelback — the TSA allows blade-less corkscrews in passengers’ carry-on.
Saladino advised: “For those who are curious, on top of coconuts are 3 ‘eyes,’ one is soft. I also bring a metal straw (TSA allowed), which can be used to drink the water from the coconut through the soft eye.”
Not to mention that if one does crash-land on a desert island, the coconut is the ultimate all-in-one survival tool, offering water, meat (filled with magnesium, potassium and other nutrients), and bowls while the husks provide great kindling.
Of course, there are a few caveats to this coco-loco travel hack.
The TSA rep noted that “passengers flying from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland cannot take most fresh fruits and vegetables due to the risk of spreading invasive plant pests.”
So coconut-toting travelers may want to allot additional screening time while going through security.
Meanwhile, Copra, the technical name for the white meaty part of a coconut, is said to be an explosive risk.
When dry, the “flammable solid liable to spontaneous combustion” which can “emit flammable gases when in contact with water,” the Independent reported.
In accordance, the International Air Transport Association has categorized it as a Class 4 good on their Dangerous Goods Register, akin to sulfur or matches.
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