Chinese women arrested after downing £130 bottle of cognac at airline boarding gate

A Chinese woman who downed an £130 bottle of cognac at an airline departure gate was told she could not board her flight as she was too drunk to fly.

Local media in China reported that the woman surnamed Zhao was taking a connecting flight from the US when check in staff told her she could not take the bottle of Remy Martin XO Excellence (worth around US$200) on the plane.

As in the UK and Europe, passengers in China are prohibited from bringing liquids over 100ml in their hand-baggage for security reasons.

Not wanting to let the cognac go to waste, she downed the entire 700ml bottle before collapsing on the floor, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Chinese language media.

"She was so drunk... she couldn't even stand up herself. We took her to a room in a wheelchair so she could rest," the officer told The Beijing Times.

He said that when police arrived, Zhao was shouting and screaming and rolling around on the floor by the gate at Beijing Capital International Airport.

The newspaper reported that Zhao was collected from the airport by relatives later and had thanked police for taking care of her.