Traveling with Nitro Pills
Jun 12, 2014, 4:14 am
#46
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
It's interesting to note that nitroglycerin is NOT on the TSA's list of forbiddens:
Explosive Materials Carry-on? Checked?
Blasting Caps NO NO
Dynamite NO NO
Fireworks NO NO
Flares (in any form) NO NO
Hand Grenades NO NO
Plastic Explosives NO NO
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-informat...ibited-items#9
Explosive Materials Carry-on? Checked?
Blasting Caps NO NO
Dynamite NO NO
Fireworks NO NO
Flares (in any form) NO NO
Hand Grenades NO NO
Plastic Explosives NO NO
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-informat...ibited-items#9
Jun 12, 2014, 4:42 am
#47
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Nashville, TN
Programs: WN Nothing and spending the half million points from too many flights, Hilton Diamond
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Though your explanation is excellent, I tend to keep things a little more simple: Escalation fails because the supervisors and checkpoint workers are colleagues who probably eat lunch, have coffee, and go to parties together. Their loyalties lie with each other -- not with the rules -- and certainly not with you.
Jun 25, 2014, 8:37 am
#48
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
An update - FWIW when dealing with TSA
A friend queried TSA on the subject of nitro pills. The first response received was:
My friend push for information regarding nitro pills and this is the second response:
Not that calling for a Supervisor or TSM did Chollie any good, but it is interesting that this response did not state that a screener can deny any item at any time for any reason.
Thank you for contacting TSA with your inquiry about medical nitroglycerin. TSA does allow passengers to bring medications through the security checkpoint in unlimited amounts, as long as they are screened. For more information, please visit this link:
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-informat...eds-medication
Additionally, if a passenger encounters a situation where they are not allowed to bring medication through the security checkpoint, they should ask to speak to a Supervisory officer or a Transportation Security Manager while at the checkpoint. Lastly, if a passenger’s medication is not allowed through the security checkpoint, the passenger can make a complaint to the TSA Contact Center:
Email: [email protected]
The complaint, if complete, will be investigated by TSA’s Disability Branch and the applicable airport. In order for a complaint to be complete, federal regulations require that it include the following information:
1. A signed, written explanation of the facts that led you to believe discrimination occurred with enough detail for the Disability Branch to understand what occurred;
2. Your first and last name;
3. Your mailing address, e-mail address (if available) and telephone number, if you are the one that the discrimination allegedly occurred to, or the third party legally allowed to file a complaint on behalf of the complainant;
4. A disability related basis for the complaint;
5. The location (e.g., airport), date and time of the alleged discriminatory action by TSA.
We hope this information is helpful.
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-informat...eds-medication
Additionally, if a passenger encounters a situation where they are not allowed to bring medication through the security checkpoint, they should ask to speak to a Supervisory officer or a Transportation Security Manager while at the checkpoint. Lastly, if a passenger’s medication is not allowed through the security checkpoint, the passenger can make a complaint to the TSA Contact Center:
Email: [email protected]
The complaint, if complete, will be investigated by TSA’s Disability Branch and the applicable airport. In order for a complaint to be complete, federal regulations require that it include the following information:
1. A signed, written explanation of the facts that led you to believe discrimination occurred with enough detail for the Disability Branch to understand what occurred;
2. Your first and last name;
3. Your mailing address, e-mail address (if available) and telephone number, if you are the one that the discrimination allegedly occurred to, or the third party legally allowed to file a complaint on behalf of the complainant;
4. A disability related basis for the complaint;
5. The location (e.g., airport), date and time of the alleged discriminatory action by TSA.
We hope this information is helpful.
"TSA’s policies and procedures for screening medication include medical nitroglycerin. If a passenger is asked to surrender any medication at the checkpoint, including medical nitroglycerin, they should ask to speak to a Supervisory Officer or a Transportation Security Manager during security screening. TSA officers are required to call for one if a passenger requests it.
If you or someone you know had this experience at a TSA security checkpoint previously, please use the complaint process below so that we can properly investigate the issue.
If you or someone you know had this experience at a TSA security checkpoint previously, please use the complaint process below so that we can properly investigate the issue.
Jun 25, 2014, 9:42 am
#49
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Mike
Jun 25, 2014, 10:32 am
#50
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Posts: 4,332
I agree with Mike. The responses that Petaluma's friend got were both CYA statements - neither of which addressed the actual issue at hand, which is that nitro pills are medicine, not explosive and are therefore allowed, always.
Chollie's experience sickens me, for multiple reasons:
1) He had vital life-saving medication confiscated, putting his life in jeopardy.
2) The meds were confiscated because a TSO thought they were "explosives", which is a blatantly untrue urban myth.
3) Every level of supervision above the TSO backed up the TSO. Not one was smart enough to know that nitro pills are NOT explosive. At all. Ever. And are therefore not prohibited in any way, shape, or form from an aircraft cabin.
4) Neither the TSA web site, the TSA blog, nor our newest FT member, TSAPressSec, has ever said simply, "Nitro pills are allowed." They hem and haw and discuss tangential issues, but none of them have the spherical girth to come right out and say that nitro pills are not prohibited, because they're not explosive.
5) Chollie now voluntarily travels without nitro pills, thus endangering his life, because he doesn't want to go through the stress of having his pills potentially found and confiscated again.
Chollie's experience sickens me, for multiple reasons:
1) He had vital life-saving medication confiscated, putting his life in jeopardy.
2) The meds were confiscated because a TSO thought they were "explosives", which is a blatantly untrue urban myth.
3) Every level of supervision above the TSO backed up the TSO. Not one was smart enough to know that nitro pills are NOT explosive. At all. Ever. And are therefore not prohibited in any way, shape, or form from an aircraft cabin.
4) Neither the TSA web site, the TSA blog, nor our newest FT member, TSAPressSec, has ever said simply, "Nitro pills are allowed." They hem and haw and discuss tangential issues, but none of them have the spherical girth to come right out and say that nitro pills are not prohibited, because they're not explosive.
5) Chollie now voluntarily travels without nitro pills, thus endangering his life, because he doesn't want to go through the stress of having his pills potentially found and confiscated again.
Jun 25, 2014, 11:01 am
#51
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It's interesting that the 'redress' process is so deliberately difficult.
#1 - 'Discrimination'? Since when is confiscation of medical supplies considered, in and of itself, 'discrimination'? It was a strict application of a zero-tolerance rule against some substances that appeared (to several layers of TSA) to conflict with and over-ride any medical exemption.
#4 - What exactly does 'disability-related basis' mean? I am not disabled in the ordinary (ADA) sense of the word. How do I prove the 'disability-related basis'? Prove that I collapsed because TSA took my pills and I didn't have one when I needed it? Provide statements from my physician detailing my private medical history, a medical history that TSA already deemed irrelevant at the checkpoint?
Brother.
#1 - 'Discrimination'? Since when is confiscation of medical supplies considered, in and of itself, 'discrimination'? It was a strict application of a zero-tolerance rule against some substances that appeared (to several layers of TSA) to conflict with and over-ride any medical exemption.
#4 - What exactly does 'disability-related basis' mean? I am not disabled in the ordinary (ADA) sense of the word. How do I prove the 'disability-related basis'? Prove that I collapsed because TSA took my pills and I didn't have one when I needed it? Provide statements from my physician detailing my private medical history, a medical history that TSA already deemed irrelevant at the checkpoint?
Brother.
Jun 25, 2014, 11:08 am
#52
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
It's interesting that the 'redress' process is so deliberately difficult.
#1 - 'Discrimination'? Since when is confiscation of medical supplies considered, in and of itself, 'discrimination'? It was a strict application of a zero-tolerance rule against some substances that appeared (to several layers of TSA) to conflict with and over-ride any medical exemption.
#4 - What exactly does 'disability-related basis' mean? I am not disabled in the ordinary (ADA) sense of the word. How do I prove the 'disability-related basis'? Prove that I collapsed because TSA took my pills and I didn't have one when I needed it? Provide statements from my physician detailing my private medical history, a medical history that TSA already deemed irrelevant at the checkpoint?
Brother.
#1 - 'Discrimination'? Since when is confiscation of medical supplies considered, in and of itself, 'discrimination'? It was a strict application of a zero-tolerance rule against some substances that appeared (to several layers of TSA) to conflict with and over-ride any medical exemption.
#4 - What exactly does 'disability-related basis' mean? I am not disabled in the ordinary (ADA) sense of the word. How do I prove the 'disability-related basis'? Prove that I collapsed because TSA took my pills and I didn't have one when I needed it? Provide statements from my physician detailing my private medical history, a medical history that TSA already deemed irrelevant at the checkpoint?
Brother.
Jun 25, 2014, 11:22 am
#53
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The truth is, for anyone who thinks it could never happen, this ought to lay those doubts to rest. Yes, it's unlikely, because a TSO would have to be doing a label-reading bag search. BUT....TSA is notably reluctant to just come out and say 'medical nitro is OK'.
That reluctance says it all. The layers of TSA involved in confiscating my nitro were following SSI SOP, just as they said.
Interestingly, TSA was far more forthcoming when explaining why Britney Spears was allowed to take advantage of a new rule that hadn't been published yet but all the TSOs at LAX already knew about - ice was allowed.
A new rule that TSOs had been trained on but that somehow got rescinded before it ever actually got published on the website.
Note: someone tell me what good it will do if I ever need my medical nitro on the plane, don't have it, and pay the price? Unlike some items, this isn't something that can be bought airside each time and Fed-ex'ing it ahead doesn't do me much good while I'm at the airport and in the plane.
So the best possible outcome is that someone on my behalf files a complaint and gets told "Our bad, you're right, it shouldn't have happened that way".
Jun 25, 2014, 12:02 pm
#54
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
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Posts: 4,332
Note: someone tell me what good it will do if I ever need my medical nitro on the plane, don't have it, and pay the price? Unlike some items, this isn't something that can be bought airside each time and Fed-ex'ing it ahead doesn't do me much good while I'm at the airport and in the plane.
So the best possible outcome is that someone on my behalf files a complaint and gets told "Our bad, you're right, it shouldn't have happened that way".
So the best possible outcome is that someone on my behalf files a complaint and gets told "Our bad, you're right, it shouldn't have happened that way".
"If a traveler has a medical condition requiring them to bring aboard a prohibited item/substance, they should contact TSA in advance. Any such request will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Chollie not only failed to contact TSA in advance to review his case, he chose, without prior discussion with TSA, to fly without his life-saving medication, placing himself at grave risk. TSA is not responsible if a traveler takes it upon themselves to leave their lifesaving medication at home and falls ill in transit."
Jun 25, 2014, 2:40 pm
#55
Join Date: Dec 2007
Programs: DL, WN, US, Avis, AA
Posts: 662
My guess is that they'd never say that. They'd come out with a statement that says:
"If a traveler has a medical condition requiring them to bring aboard a prohibited item/substance, they should contact TSA in advance. Any such request will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Chollie not only failed to contact TSA in advance to review his case, he chose, without prior discussion with TSA, to fly without his life-saving medication, placing himself at grave risk. TSA is not responsible if a traveler takes it upon themselves to leave their lifesaving medication at home and falls ill in transit."
"If a traveler has a medical condition requiring them to bring aboard a prohibited item/substance, they should contact TSA in advance. Any such request will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Chollie not only failed to contact TSA in advance to review his case, he chose, without prior discussion with TSA, to fly without his life-saving medication, placing himself at grave risk. TSA is not responsible if a traveler takes it upon themselves to leave their lifesaving medication at home and falls ill in transit."
If nitroglycerin pills are medications, and there should be no doubt about that, then a passenger is allowed to bring them through security.
While I certainly agree that TSA seems to have a visceral reluctance to stating any rules in a clear, concise fashion, the real problem in chollie's case (as is true for many situations) is that the vast majority of TSA screeners and supervisors are dumber than a bag of hammers. Stupidity, ignorance and a tiny bit of authority make a disastrous combination for passengers.
Jun 25, 2014, 3:07 pm
#57
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
Chollie's pills were in the dispensed container and the TSA still took them away. Appeals to higher ups only reinforced the screener's decision that they could not fly.
The TSA needs to make a clear and concise statement that ALL PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS ARE ALLOWED ON A PLANE AT ALL TIMES and NO SCREENER WILL EVER DENY A PASSENGER HIS OR HER MEDICATION. Full stop.
Until the TSA says such, it's still a crap shoot.
Jun 25, 2014, 3:25 pm
#58
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DFW
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Posts: 3,670
When the TSA seizes a medicine and refuses to allow it to be carried on, and the supervisors all support the seizure and refuse to allow the medicine, WHAT DO WE DO in order to get our medicines on to the plane?
Further, for past incidents, what is the appropriate complaint process that will get immediate attention and have this issue permanently resolved, as well as result in appropriate discipline for the TSA employees involved?
Jun 25, 2014, 3:41 pm
#59
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Not good enough.
Chollie's pills were in the dispensed container and the TSA still took them away. Appeals to higher ups only reinforced the screener's decision that they could not fly.
The TSA needs to make a clear and concise statement that ALL PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS ARE ALLOWED ON A PLANE AT ALL TIMES and NO SCREENER WILL EVER DENY A PASSENGER HIS OR HER MEDICATION. Full stop.
Until the TSA says such, it's still a crap shoot.
Chollie's pills were in the dispensed container and the TSA still took them away. Appeals to higher ups only reinforced the screener's decision that they could not fly.
The TSA needs to make a clear and concise statement that ALL PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS ARE ALLOWED ON A PLANE AT ALL TIMES and NO SCREENER WILL EVER DENY A PASSENGER HIS OR HER MEDICATION. Full stop.
Until the TSA says such, it's still a crap shoot.
Although this statement, being made on a private message board and not on even on the TSA blog or web site, is far from binding, it is a major step in the right direction.
Next step: Issue the same statement on the TSA web site, amend the prohibited/permitted items pages with this statement, and refer to it on the TSA blog in each place where commenters mentioned the issue.
Final step:iossue a memorandum to every single front-line TSO, TSM, and FSD/AFSDxx in the country REQUIRING them all to be familiar with this policy.
Only then, I think, will Chollie feel confident enough to once again pack his nitro pills in his carry-on without fear of a rogue TSO confiscating them through ignorance.
Obviously that doesn't always work, and the only place the TSA has given Chollie to complain about his medicines being seized requires, "disability-related basis for discrimination". But Chollie doesn't have a disability, and he wasn't discriminated against. He was the victim of an idiot who didn't know the rules.
When the TSA seizes a medicine and refuses to allow it to be carried on, and the supervisors all support the seizure and refuse to allow the medicine, WHAT DO WE DO in order to get our medicines on to the plane?
Further, for past incidents, what is the appropriate complaint process that will get immediate attention and have this issue permanently resolved, as well as result in appropriate discipline for the TSA employees involved?
When the TSA seizes a medicine and refuses to allow it to be carried on, and the supervisors all support the seizure and refuse to allow the medicine, WHAT DO WE DO in order to get our medicines on to the plane?
Further, for past incidents, what is the appropriate complaint process that will get immediate attention and have this issue permanently resolved, as well as result in appropriate discipline for the TSA employees involved?