LuvAirFrance

Sigh. That's what you get when you draw your employees from that huge pool of Americans that can't even find themselves on a map. It is a depressing fact that geography is considered some sort of effete elitist interest in America. People who could recite Britney Spears life story from memory wouldn't have a clue where Washington DC is on a map. Too much garbage in there for anything resembling intelligence to fit.

JennyElf

mevlannen, Bloody hell! (no pun intended). Really just don't understand and can't believe we've let it come to this.

Meanwhile, I made it through my trip this weekend through a combination of careful wardrobe choices and self-directed opt outs. Simple clothing, and line scanning at both airports to find the ones that just had WTMDs. Really not enjoying the anxiety attack that starts coming on as I approach the lines though.

Lara21

I see a female passenger being arrested for assault because the pad leaks during the patdown and blood gets on the TSA agent. Then the official report coming from the TSA is that... The female passenger came through the check point with a dangerous fluid and therefore women should not fly while having their menstral cycle.

mevlannen

Oh, the absurdity grows ever apace!

I pack my 'supplies' in my kippie-bag, since the last thing on earth that I want to see happen is someone pawing through my small collection of pads with filthy gloves (or with filthy hands for that matter).

I cannot obtain 'quart'-sized bags outside the States. I usually use the nice 750-millilitre-sized bags (I measured the capacity of one to be sure) provided by the kindly folks at the Beijing International Airport.

Guess what? On this last trip, the screener went slightly bonkers because my bag was the 'wrong' size. Never mind that it was less than an American quart in capacity, it was still the 'wrong' size. I am sure that the Chinese characters printed on it didn't help matters any.

The upshot was that my carefully-packed small collection of pads ended up dumped from the upended bag, on to that greasy steel table. They were all pawed-through, batted-around in much the same way that my old cat used to knock mice around the kitchen floor. This, incidentally, was done by a male examiner, whose expression was utterly, utterly priceless. You'd think he'd been told that a collection of unused Kotex was ritually unclean. Well, maybe to most men it is, I don't know since I haven't had a husband for years and am not about to call up my ex (nice guy that he is) to ask him.

Fortunately for my personal sense of dignitas, I had two 'emergency' pads stashed in the interior pocket of my computer bag, and for once nobody went rooting around in there.

I'm with the previous poster who (flippantly, I hope?) worries that someday we'll be banned from flying on our period. I daresay that the first time I get 'flooded' without protection (women will comprehend this, at least), the airlines will not be happy with the mess of the seat that I am wedged into at the time.

I still do not have any happy answers in mind, other than to plan that in my retirement years I shall be taking my holiday travels via my own sailboat, cruising in Haida Gwa'ii. A distinct possibility, that! I do promise to wave at the passing aircraft, if any airlines are still in business.

RadioGirl

RadioBloke has heard me complain about the Freedom Baggie/Kip-Zip for years (and knows what the terms mean) but even so... He recently traveled with me on his first int'l flight in the liquids era. When he started packing, I got him a (metric-equivalent) quart bag* for his liquids. And since we'd be able to shower in HKG, we each had a gallon size for a change of clothes.

Return trip, packing in the hotel - "remember to put your liquids in the Freedom baggie*." Claims "no liquids". "What about toothpaste, deodorant?" "But those aren't liquids*." "Yeah, I know, but they have to go in a bag."

First airport on the way home, he's put his toiletries in the gallon baggie. Thank goodness it wasn't the US; he rolled it up and it got through (three airports; three checkpoints).

*Here's the thing - at every step, half of my brain is saying "this isn't that hard, just do it" and the other half is saying "he's right: it really is illogical to have to put these things in a baggie; toothpaste really isn't a liquid; the gallon size is no less secure than the quart size."

TheGolfWidow

I have really have nothing more than a very occasional use for gallon-size or sandwich-size bags, so when my husband asked me to buy the quart-size, I tried to negotiate him down to a little box of the sandwich size instead. He keeps a packed bag in his other desk and only needs a bare minimum of toiletries on the plane. NO, NO WAY, it couldn't be larger, it couldn't be smaller, it had to be a one.quart.baggie.

The lack of common sense about this still astounds me. I'm embarrassed for people who think 300ish people with four 3-ounce toiletries in a quart bag are safer on an airplane than 300ish people with four 100-ml toiletries in a liter bag.

I sort of have a personal thing about putting stuff that is already in a disposable container into another disposable container. I live so far over the edge that I don't even put my produce into a bag at the grocery store. Bananas have their own containers, they don't need bags...that's my thinking.

Trying to reckon with the logic makes me insane...but being forced to buy and use stuff that I consider basically a "box of crap" fries me, too. I am fortunate that we have enough of everything that is important and plenty of stuff that isn't...but I hate waste.

Lara21

mevlannen yes it was said flippantly, but with anything for security and the TSA one can never tell.

Pat89339

I presented at the airport with pad in place. Yet, there was no crotch grab for me this time. I am always sent to the menstrual hut because I leave my shoes on for medical reasons, but both times it was a ETD swab and go.

Loren Pechtel

Of course. Fluids belong in your baggie.

whitearrow

Maybe the bloggers at Broadsheet (at Salon.com) or Jezebel would be interested in this? I mean, for goddsake already...

zepians

Wow, as a female I find this very disturbing. As luck has it, it seems whenever I fly I always am on my menstrual cycle. I fly twice a year and you can bet that I will be menstruating at those times. Just my rotten luck.

Anyways, not to sound like too much TMI but during that time for some reason I am always, ahem, gassy. I can usually hold it, but if I find myself in some more major discomfort I can keep things at bay until I can find a restroom.

HOWEVER, if I am ever subjected to such an invasive pat-down, such as what I have read in those horrifying links, I will not hesitate to just let 'em rip. Because at that point I just will not care. If TSA is going to be so embarrassingly invasive then I will let them have it. Call me crude, but if someone is going to violate me in such a manner then guess what - I will violate them as well. Most likely when they are bent down and feeling up my crotch area. A big ol' juicy period-fart in the confines of the 'menstrual hut'.

I mean, really, what can they do? We've read the stories about the poor passenger who urinated during a pat-down and had to fly with urine-soaked clothes. So what's a fart compared to pee-soaked clothing?

ND Sol

Trotting out that old canard?

LuvAirFrance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Mi...plished_Speech

Moriah

This may be a few days late, but as a dedicated OB user I learned that the Kotex "Click" tampons, when removed from the applicator, are pretty close to an OB. Not sure if the regular Kotex are the same, and it's a *lot* more packaging than is necessary, but it's better than Tampax.

littlesheep

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