Boggie Dog

I believe the statement of yours posted just above is incorrect.

It doesn't matter what I claim the item to be as long as it is not a prohibited item.

TSA has no authority beyond determining that the item is not WEI or prohibited.

star_world

This is like talking to an inanimate object

What if to determine that the item is not WEI or prohibited the TSO needs to open the container holding such "medicine"?

My point is simple - just calling it "medicine" does not make you exempt from having them open the container.

Right... Should I call you Polly?

Boggie Dog

TSA seems to have the ability to swab the outside of an item and determine with some degree of satisfaction that the material inside the container is not WEI.

I agree trying to have a discussion with you is like talking to a wall.

bocastephen

They cannot open the container, nor should anyone allow their medicine to be opened or touched - that is a ludicrous suggestion.

As I wrote upthread, screeners themselves have posted in this forum that handling medication is forbidden - and if a screener attempts to touch your medication beyond x-raying the bottle, you as a patient should forbid them from doing so and summon a manager immediately.

Seriously, are you that much of a TSA fanboy that you would consume medication that a screener has emptied into their gloved hands, breathed on and then put back in the bottle???

exbayern

This thread comes to mind, in particular how pills went missing and were mixed together when returned to the passenger, creating a potentially dangerous situation.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-file-tsa.html

star_world

It really is amusing that any challenge of any native's opinion here gets one branded as a "TSA Fanboy" Couldn't be further from the truth. The reality is that many of you are wildly inaccurate in many of the assumptions and don't like being challenged on them

Back to the point:

From now on, I'm going to get a big sticky label on which will be printed a home made prescription label, and put it on the outside of my large carry-on bag. The bag, by your twisted logic, would then be impervious to the TSA? They could do no more than jab at it with ETD swabs.

Right.

clrankin

No, they do not have the authority to verify whether or not what you're taking through and claiming to be medicine is actually medicine. TSA does however have the authority to verify that the item you're claiming to be medicine is not WEI. That's as far as it goes.

There is a difference. Suppose I'm brining 8 medications through the checkpoint. TSA can X-ray the bottles to make sure there's no WEI hidden in them. They can swab the outside of the bottles to ensure there's no WEI in them. They may even be able to ask that the medication be transferred to another bottle or baggie if a swab for WEI comes up positive on the bottle.

But TSA at no time has the authority to take the medication from me and verify that it actually is medication (i.e. check its formulation, call the pharmacy and verify, etc). For all TSA knows it could be Smarties, blood pressure medication, or little pieces of crack cocaine in the bottles-- but they have no authority (and no business) taking the examination anywhere outside the narrow, limited scope of searching for WEI...

To support otherwise starts bringing us toward the slippery slope of Fourth Amendment violations and illegal government-run dragnet operations.

Tom M.

Again, You need to work on your logic. This is complete nonsense.

Who ever said that ETD was the only way to determine if something is WEI?

The reality is that you are wildly inaccurate in many of the assumptions and don't like being challenged on them

clrankin

Tom,

star_world just asked me the same thing in another thread... I'm guessing "Do you want to be constructive today?" will become the new "Do you want to fly today?"...

Tom M.

I know she did .

Apparently what is good for the gander (other posters) is not good for the goose (star_world).

jbcarioca

THis is really a destructive thread. It should be closed. Shouting at one another solves no problems.

1) TSA has rules they are meant to follow; some of them are laws.
2) Many of us have had experiences with TSA people who either do not know or do not follow those rules.
3) Whether they have a right or not there is a significant probably of missing a flight, at least, by protesting. Such odds rise dramatically if one is attempting to fly while Arab, Black or dressed in distinctive garb.
4) Medications are a common area of interest if passengers are in the categories listed in 3.

Whether they have the right or not is much less of an issue from a practical perspective than whether they will assume that they do. Anybody among us who has ever been targeted for something they did not do is likely to agree with this assertion.

Rights are important, but protecting the rights often is a very high-risk proposition so one needs to be prepared to deal with the consequences when oner demands a supervisor. It is not a step to take casually unless you're not concerned to make your flight.

Global_Hi_Flyer

Best response I ever heard to a screener that was questioning someone about some vitamin pills:

"those are my super-smart knowledge pills. If you take them, it makes you be the smartest and know more than everyone else in the world. You, sir, obviously don't need to take them".

I laughed and later complemented the person who gave that response.

nkedel

There have been a few odd reports here and there of screeners with a power trip giving people issues, but there is no official problem with it, and I've never had any problem bringing medicines through security. (For my allergy nasal spray and inhaler, those do go in the kippie bag.)

Caveat: I've never tried bringing a big bottle of anything. A CostCo-size 500/1000 tab bottle might attract more attention.

Heck, I've never had any problem bringing OTC and prescription medicine through customs - although I've never imported anything scheduled (plenty of personal/emergency-use non-scheduled prescriptions though!), and anything scheduled that goes out and back should have an original prescription bottle or written prescription accompanying and be in a small quantity, and any medicine acquired abroad should be declared.

Mabuk dan gila

Two is fine but the people joking about popping a handful of those are almost certainly destroying their liver if they are serious. The Codeine may be harmless in higher that recommended doses but the Paracetamol can and will completely and irrevocably destroy the liver.

As for security, TSA could care less. US Customs could generally care less in reasonable quantities. Even overseas I have had a full on Colombian Army carryon hand search where they never looked twice at my unlabeled pill bottle filled with miscellaneous pills. The only thing that really makes me paranoid is pills that could be mistaken for Extacy in some countries.

Ari

Actually, they have the authority, to determine that it doesn't contain WEI, not "to determine that it is, in fact, medicine".

If they have to open the container to determine that it doesn't contain WEI, so be it, but they don't have to determine that "it is, in fact, medicine", just that it doesn't contain WEI. @:-)