TSA Tossing OTC Meds
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,496
TSA Tossing OTC Meds
Ran across this [MENTION=334464]ASK[/MENTION]TSA.
last week they told me as long as I had a script for OTC items I would be fine. I got them & I still lost it.
Proof that TSA confiscates (or disallows) medical items in some cases. Where is the requirement to have a prescription for OTC med's stated?
last week they told me as long as I had a script for OTC items I would be fine. I got them & I still lost it.
Replying to@chrislmendonca
and@TSA
2: However, any item, including items deemed medically-necessary, that alarms during screening and tests positive for certain chemicals won't be allowed through the checkpoint. You may always ask for a checkpoint supervisor.
11:24 AM · Sep 20, 2019·Conversocial
and@TSA
2: However, any item, including items deemed medically-necessary, that alarms during screening and tests positive for certain chemicals won't be allowed through the checkpoint. You may always ask for a checkpoint supervisor.
11:24 AM · Sep 20, 2019·Conversocial
#2
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 962
There is no prescription requirement for anything whatsoever, short of stuff like compressed oxygen cylinders that is actually for-real dangerous and thus was regulated as such by FAA pre-TSA.
A prescription is also not a defense. Nor is it really a "thing" for OTC. Prescriptions are to give someone access to otherwise controlled substances, or a billing justification document for insurance.
The first tweet re cream says nothing to indicate that it tested positive. TSA's response says nothing to indicate that they treated it as medical. So it seems to me TSA is just ignoring the problem by obfuscation, per usual.
Note that insulin & nitroglycerine has to be properly labeled, see "allowed items" in https://federalregister.gov/document...ohibited-items, but that says nothing about prescriptions.
A prescription is also not a defense. Nor is it really a "thing" for OTC. Prescriptions are to give someone access to otherwise controlled substances, or a billing justification document for insurance.
The first tweet re cream says nothing to indicate that it tested positive. TSA's response says nothing to indicate that they treated it as medical. So it seems to me TSA is just ignoring the problem by obfuscation, per usual.
Note that insulin & nitroglycerine has to be properly labeled, see "allowed items" in https://federalregister.gov/document...ohibited-items, but that says nothing about prescriptions.
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,496
There is no prescription requirement for anything whatsoever, short of stuff like compressed oxygen cylinders that is actually for-real dangerous and thus was regulated as such by FAA pre-TSA.
A prescription is also not a defense. Nor is it really a "thing" for OTC. Prescriptions are to give someone access to otherwise controlled substances, or a billing justification document for insurance.
The first tweet re cream says nothing to indicate that it tested positive. TSA's response says nothing to indicate that they treated it as medical. So it seems to me TSA is just ignoring the problem by obfuscation, per usual.
Note that insulin & nitroglycerine has to be properly labeled, see "allowed items" in https://federalregister.gov/document...ohibited-items, but that says nothing about prescriptions.
A prescription is also not a defense. Nor is it really a "thing" for OTC. Prescriptions are to give someone access to otherwise controlled substances, or a billing justification document for insurance.
The first tweet re cream says nothing to indicate that it tested positive. TSA's response says nothing to indicate that they treated it as medical. So it seems to me TSA is just ignoring the problem by obfuscation, per usual.
Note that insulin & nitroglycerine has to be properly labeled, see "allowed items" in https://federalregister.gov/document...ohibited-items, but that says nothing about prescriptions.
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,496
Yes I do, but until your action is settled TSA will continue doing what it likes, perhaps even after. As long as TSA gives individual screeners authority to prohibit items I'm not sure a decision in your favor will change anything.
#6
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: BUF
Programs: SkyTean, Star Alliance, HHonors
Posts: 155
Nope. A prescription is a note from your doctor saying "I think you should use this, take this much". It carries some legal weight for stuff not available OTC, sure, but there's nothing preventing a doctor from prescribing an OTC med. Last weekend I went to the pharmacy and got a box of Zyrtec with an Rx label on it from the pharmacist. I also a bottle of 81mg Bayer aspirin with an Rx label on it. Pharmacist handed it to me along with the Vicodin I was prescribed after surgery. Vicodin for pain, aspirin to prevent blood clots while I was sedentary during recovery.