gingersnaps

Looking at TSAs "Can I bring it", TSA restricts "breast milk breast milk ... in excess of 3.4 ounces in reasonable quantities for the flight."

Don't have a baby with you, then you dont need breast milk with you either, because you dont need it for flight.

No wonder Stacy Amato had such a pleasant time with PHX Tsa, which cost the tax payer $75,0000 plus attorney salaries.

Maybe TSA should just screen liquids claimed to medical or breast milk and say "Thank you for cooperation while we screened these liquids" to the traveler rather than trying who needs breastmilk on a flight.

On the otherhand with high educational standards to work for TSA - NONE - we can trust TSA employees judgement on medical conditions and what a person "reasonably" needs, right?

Boggie Dog

Can't you ladies just just turn off the factory for a few hours in order to accommodate TSA?

How inconsiderate of you.

saizai

It's actually the other way around that's the problem. Pumping breast milk is very laborious, and people need to save up enough to e.g. feed their kids when traveling, when they're in someone else's care, etc. It can easily represent several days' worth of effort (and baby food).

The notion of limiting it to "reasonable" quantities at all is patently absurd, as is limiting it to the duration of the flight. That simply has no basis in law whatsoever.

But we'll see how that goes in court…

LizGross144

I was on a flight last week with a woman who successfully carried on a cooler full of breast milk. She'd been traveling away from her child (who was still breastfeeding) for a few days, and pumping the entire time. I wasn't near her when she went through security, so I don't know if she was hassled at all, but she definitely was able to take it on the plane.

Boggie Dog

Which identifies one of biggest problems when dealing with TSA and that is that people are not treated equally. I lay blame directly on TSA management, both executive, senior, and local mid-level managers. Until TSA's lack of effective management is corrected all of the other TSA issues will continue.

TWA884

Not just the TSA.

saizai

Sadly true. Stupid "rules" know no borders.

It's very backwards to me that people even think it's okay to talk about what a "reasonable" amount of anything is to take with you.

Who gives a damn, as long as it's not WEI, and it doesn't violate FAA or equivalent actual-airplane-safety rules? If someone wants to bring 20 gallons of breast milk, shampoo, water, lube, grandma's apple pie filling, sand, whatever… it still ain't WEI.

(Granted, 20 gallons of sand would incur some massive surcharges for weight, but that's another question entirely. And if it's 20 gallons of sewage or something, I think it's reasonable to insist they have it sealed very air-tight… but otherwise, it still ain't WEI.)

The first and only question for this is: does this actually threaten the safety of the flight?

If the answer is "no", then nobody's opinion of whether it's "reasonable" or not is worth anything. It's simply none of your business what someone else wants to take with them. If they're willing to pay whatever the cost is for carrying it, that's 100% their choice.

saizai

FWIW, I'm an example of this.

As you know, I've been denied liquids in the past, multiple times.

However, the more savvy I became, the more I've been able to very convincingly (and successfully) insist, against the claims of screeners and police to the contrary, that my liquids are legally required go through — both in the US and UK. (And Canada.)

E.g.: on my last trip out of London, I brought with me 2 ~1L cartons of juice. The screeners said it wasn't allowed; I showed them a doctor's note (required in EU, not in US), and they said that could be faked; I insisted that yes it is allowed; they relented, screened it, and let me through. (All of their resistance was refusing to simply screen the liquids in the first place.)

No reasonable person facing that, without overwhelming knowledge to the contrary, would have thought they could get it through. But fact is, I did. Which is good, 'cause the flight didn't even provide free meals, let alone decent juice.

Is that fair? Absolutely not. People shouldn't have to have my level of chutzpah / aggressiveness / legal knowledge to get their liquids through. But the answer is to remove the stupid rules, not to tighten them.

Especially when the answer is simply to screen the liquids. Don't argue about whether it's medical or not, or what documentation someone has, or how much they have, or escalating to management… just put it in the ETD / LCS device that's there for that exact purpose, notice that it's not WEI, and move on. Would make life easier for everyone.

MSPeconomist

If someone is breastfeeding but not traveling with the baby, is there any rule that prevents packing the cooler with breast milk inside a checked bag? That would only leave the breast milk that is pumped airside while traveling as potentially at risk during security checks at the gate, which is extremely low probability in the USA although SOP at certain foreign airports such as SIN and mainland China. This might not be perfectly convenient if one would otherwise not check a bag, although a beast pump probably would consume an awful lot of the carry on allowance.

Anna Phor

But you run the risk of losing the milk if your bag gets lost. Or even if it's not lost but if it gets to you a few days late. I guess the cost/benefit depends on which seems like the higher risk -- security or baggage handling.

CDTraveler

Breastmilk is a very perishable product and needs to be maintained in a certain temperature range. Checking it is not a good idea.

FWIW breast pumps come in a range of sizes. Some of them are smaller than the average sneaker and don't take up much space at all.

BSBD

I guarantee you that any checked bag with breastmilk in it will be sent for manual search/inspection after being x-rayed. I would consider breastmilk that was searched/handled/examined by a stranger to be spoiled or contaminated.

GUWonder

LHR security is worse than TSA when it comes to breast milk or other liquid nutrition for infants/toddlers. I've seen so many issues at LHR T5 that my suggestion is to try to avoid the characters working security at UK airports when baby nutritional items are involved and needing a liquid/gel/aerosol "exemption".

And if someone is a single father having to travel with this stuff, expect even more grief from the screeners and their sexist prejudices even when the baby is right there in front of their eyes.

LHR has the ability to run ETD but they decide to make a stink about permissible liquids anyway.

Boggie Dog

Breast milk, no baby, raises its ugly head again after all these years. What's old is new again.

As usual TSA knows nothing.

i0wnj00

I cringe at the thought of this idea, especially with the junk the TSA uses..
Too much time is wasted in resolving false alarms, running around with the passenger and their stuff trying to find machine that works (or not occupied) or making do without the machine. There's no accountability on how TSA procures its equipment, it's always the promise of simplifying things or making the job easier, but it's just another pricey high tech gadget which breaks, and when it breaks, it significantly slows down the checkpoint throughput.

Even worse, is that these machines can't be serviced by existing personnel if it should continuously break, gotta wait for the tech to come out to get it looked at and it's not like there's a tech floating around who can instantly show up.

Giving the passengers the freedom to bring whatever liquid they want is just another disaster on top another...