ABSOLUTELY no liquids or gels, that’s the rule. No, wait. Now you can have gel-filled wheelchair cushions and gel-filled bras. But no toothpaste or other squishy stuff. And no liquids except breast milk and infant formula. Hey, what about my pen, which appears to be filled with either a gel-like substance or a liquid?

[...]

“It seems to be a fluid situation that changes day to day,” said Janice Gorham, a flight attendant for American Airlines. Ms. Gorham did not appear to be making a pun in describing the confusion that even flight attendants have experienced over new carry-on rules.

[...]

The new prohibitions on carry-on liquids and other materials have been especially hard on, and sometimes confusing to, flight attendants.

“They don’t provide meals for flight attendants anymore; we have to bring our own,” Ms. Gorham said. “But you can’t bring any fluids on board going back and forth to London. We used to buy these wonderful Indian frozen curries, but they’re banned because they become liquid when they’re not frozen.”

[...]

Ms. Gorham said a long-haul pilot recently told her, after having his toothpaste confiscated: “You know, I could roll this aircraft over in a minute and nobody could stop me. God forbid I should want to brush my teeth.” Ms. Gorham has a few years left in the air, but she knows the best part is history.


“I love my job. It’s the only job I ever really wanted. I still love going to work,” she said. “But since 9/11, which were otherwise very productive years for me, I got a 25 percent pay and benefit cut, thanks a lot.”

“I had a very fine first 28 years. It’s a different world now and I’m a little mad about that. I used to think this job was very special, and now sometimes I think it mostly consists of walking down aisles with a gray bag picking up trash. So I know it isn’t special anymore, just as I know American isn’t going to give me a gold watch when I retire.”