Orb bottles will now be allowed on planes

Do these look like real weapons? The TSA reconsidered its ban.

Photo courtesy of The Walt Disney Co.

No need to get Han and Chewy to smuggle your souvenir Coke bottle home from Disney’s new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.

At first, the Transportation Security Administration banned the bottles on planes, saying they might be mistaken for real grenades. They mimic thermal detonators used as weapons in the movies.

Fans annoyed by the ban asked the TSA whether it would also block spherical Coke bottles decorated like Christmas bulbs or baseballs (or regular Christmas bulbs for that matter).

After many sarcastic tweets from the public, the TSA reconsidered and now allows the bottles. The agency says after a review it instructed officers to treat the drinks like other oversized liquids. Full ones go in checked bags, but empty ones can go in carry-ons.

The orb bottles for Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite have resealable caps and brand names printed on labels that look beat up, using the language featured in the films.

“We wanted to create a package that would appear like it was pulled off a ship or left behind and repurposed as a bottle of your favorite Coca-Cola beverage–all with visual cues that keep you in the Star Wars storyline,” says Matt Cooper, an associate industrial designer at Coke.

For more information, visit www.coca-colacompany.com

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Rose Shilling is a previous managing editor of Food Engineering Magazine. She wrote feature stories on a variety of topics and tracked the food packaging industry. A journalist with an editing background at news services and newspapers, she also has driven editorial projects in health care and higher education.