Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate - 4 oz OTC aerosol medication confiscated @ PDX

PDX DEF checkpoint, 6/15, p.m. I've never tried to declare a medical liquid before, and my 1st time, it gets confiscated. I was attempting to carry one 4.5 o.z. spray can of Solarcaine as pain relief for an unfortunate sunburn I picked up on my arms and face.

The 3-striper insisted that my Solarcaine did not count as an allowed medication. He repeatedly stated that I needed a prescription to carry LGA medication over 3.4 oz. He did not acknowledge that the TSA website stated that non-prescription/OTC medication was allowed. I asked him to read the active ingredients list (Lidocaine Hydrochloride 0.5%) and asked him what that was, which he acknowledged as a pain reliever. Then I asked if he would have confiscated liquid Tylenol, and he said he would not because it would have been < 3.4 oz. He hassled me for not buying a smaller container (there was none available at the Fred Meyer where I bought it).

I did not have a printout of the page of the TSA site that says all OTC meds are allowed, because I did not anticipate having to declare medical liquids this trip.

When I pointed out contact solution as an example of OTC meds they allow, he said they confiscate it and went on a tangent on a popular red-tipped contact solution bottle that alarms the ETD and gets confiscated "all the time" at PDX.

The guy knew about (and tried to use as cover for TSA policy) the Bojinka plot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bojinka_plot) and that the test device used contact solution but he believed it had happened post 9/11. After I got my cell phone back I asked google and he seemed quite shocked that it was in the 90s and we didn't ban liquids for 10+ years after.

(I had 30+ minutes to talk to this guy due to alarming the ETD after my opt out and the resolution patdown, which I likely will post about elsewhere.)

I'm now awaiting a delayed redeye out of SFO without the pain relief for my sunburn. It's not the biggest atrocity that TSA has committed, but it still is unacceptable. I have emailed a complaint to TSA @ PDX detailing the incident and demanding an apology and acknowledgement of their error.

This agency is out of control. The only solution is to disband it, fire everyone, return oversight of airport security to FAA, and not re-hire any former TSA employees except 1st level screeners after extensive retraining.

I had the exact same thing happen 6/13 at LAX T1, with Aloe instead of Solarcaine. Got the same crap about it being prescription only, and then stuttering when I brought up contact solution.

I escalated to the FSD and still got nowhere. Sunburns suck, especially when sitting in a middle seat for 5 hours.

Looks like we either have a bunch of clerks in Portland who are practicing medicine without a license. It's time to make an example out of a few of them.

PDX is home to the band of idiots that confiscated my 95-year-old mother's nutritional yogurt. Enough said.

PDX is home to the band of idiots that confiscated my 95-year-old mother's nutritional yogurt. Enough said.

PDX has some of the worst TSA idiots I've ever encountered.

TSA idiots

Redundant.

It's really be helpful if the TSA would address these events, and say whether they have a training issue, their policy is unclear, or the policy means something different than what the policy plainly says.

The policy per the TSA web site is (http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/editorial_1374.shtm#4) : "All medications in any form or type (for instance, pills, injectables, or homeopathic) and associated supplies (syringes, Sharps disposal container, pre-loaded syringes, jet injectors, pens, infusers, etc.) are allowed through the security checkpoint once they have been screened."

What they mean is: "Any medication may be confiscated. Traverse the checkpoint at your own risk."

When I pointed out contact solution as an example of OTC meds they allow, he said they confiscate it and went on a tangent on a popular red-tipped contact solution bottle that alarms the ETD and gets confiscated "all the time" at PDX.

You're lucky if they don't take your contact solution. I had a run for a while where they confiscated three bottles in a row on three different trips (SAN). And they were small bottles - just not under 3 oz.

Never happened anywhere else - just on return trips from SAN. Bizarre.

I'd fire off a snail mail letter to the State of Oregon Medical Board reporting the TSA for practicing medicine without a license.

I have have a lot of issues surrounding medicines, whether OTC or not.
After my latest debacle last year, I got the following info from TSA.

If you declare you have something for "medical needs", they have to treat it as such. They may want to run a test on it, but they should not ask for a doctor's note or anything else.
I have been mostly successful after starting to use the phrase "medical needs", but every once in a while, I run into a "doctor" who wants to challenge my needs.

I had a TSO once try to confiscate pills once, on the ground that I didn't bring a prescription along to prove to him that they were non-narcotic and prescribed to me. I asked for his name and ID number, as I'd need to write those down so my family could charge the right person with second-degree murder if anything happened to me because those pills weren't around. He decided to "let me off with a warning" after telling me several times that he would be well within his rights to confiscate those pills unless I could prove they were mine.

In truth, they were just fish oil capsules...