Drinking lots of water is a great way to protect against dehydration during travel. I often bring a water bottle to the airport and 
then fill up once I’m through security. While at home, I love the Contigo Addison water bottles—they are leak proof and shatter resistant, plus they have a straw so I drink more. A while back I posted about how I found a great deal on them at Costco (3 for $20!) but some readers cautioned against them during flights. Evidently, the pressure changes in the cabin can lead to issues with water spraying out of the top. I appreciated the warning, but had traveled with it several times and had never had an issue. All of that changed last week.
I was on a full flight to Chicago. Per usual, I had filled up my water bottle before my flight and stuck it in my bag. About thirty minutes in I realized I was thirsty and grabbed my bottle. I popped the button for the straw, the straw popped up, and water sprayed everywhere. Every. Where. It sprayed the ceiling, my shirt, the seat in front of me, the poor guy next to me…. I tried to contain it but water just kept flowing. After what seemed like several minutes but was actually about two seconds I managed to get the bottle closed. At that point I was drenched. Luckily I hadn’t gotten my iPad out yet. But still! So embarrassing! I felt terrible about my seatmate but he was a good sport and super nice about it.
The moral of this story is to never, ever pop open a water bottle with a straw mid-flight without relieving the pressure first. The following flights I simply unscrewed the lid and then put it back on before drinking, and had no problems. Do I still love my Contigo Addison? Yes! But I will be more careful in the future, that’s for sure.
Readers, ever have any issues with your water bottle?
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I’ve had this issue with my Camelbak – not an explosion, but a slow leak whenever I was on an airplane as it bled out the straw. I wrote to Camelbak and they sent me a new top, and now I don’t have that issue.
Haha, this happened with a water bottle of mine that has the flip-up straw. We got them on a work retreat and all had the same experience on a plane! Good call on unscrewing the lid first, I was just leaving it at home!
That has happened with my kid’s sippy cups. We have some that have flip up straws and my son ended up with water all over him on a flight. Luckily we just had water in it and not milk or juice.
Same thing happened with my kids’ camel bak water bottles!
Same issue with sealed salad dressing cups. Always relieve the pressure before consuming.
I travel with an empty smart water bottle. I normally drink the water in the bottle on the way to the airport. Then take it through security empty. I refill it with water at McDonald’s after clearing security.
Leave some space, Dont fill all the way. Helps with exploding, spraying and leaking…..
This happened to me today, about a few hours ago. Very similar situation, same water bottle, fortunately it didn’t hit the woman next to me, but we did have good laugh about it after she observed my “battle” with my water bottle, as she referred it! Lesson learned. Needed some validation to my foolishness. Happy I found this post!
My water bottle like this was only half full and it did the same thing exploded through the straw when i opened it to drink! Luckily there was no one in the seat directly next to me or in front of me but I got drenched. So embarasssing and uncomfortable lol.
It has happened to me on more that one occasion and not just on a flight. It happened to me at a fundraiser this past Sunday. I had filled my water bottle to the 32 oz line and it still squirted water. 🙁 I will try the twist-off option in flight. However, the challenge is when I am not in a pressurized situation and it still squirts randomly.
Lol this happened to me yesterday with a hydro flask that has a flip up straw type lid! Luckily it didn’t get the lady next to me because she didn’t find it funny AT ALL even though I was cracking up!! It was all over the ceiling, the window, and me!! I’m glad you posted, I felt like I was the only one until I saw this post!! lesson learned!