No water allowed for infant formula
 

We flew today out of LAX T6/7 with our infant (7.5 month). He subsists primarily on infant formula, which is mixed from powder. We use bottled water (mostly regular bottled water; an occasional fluoridated nursery water).

We arrived at the airport for a transcontinental flight with pre-measured powdered formula and 2 16-ounce, nicely warmed bottles in insulated sleeves. We were not allowed to bring any water through. We given the following suggestions:

1) Mix the formula here. Answer: Un-refrigerated formula should be discarded 1 hour after mixing. (We will go 2 or possibly 3 hours, but certainly not the 5-hours-plus required for travel even without delays).

2) Use the water on the airplane. Answer: No way for a baby. I don't think the water on the plane is reliably sanitary.

3) Buy water in the terminal. Answer: This is, of course, what we did. This water, however, was refrigerated. It also turns out that UA apparently has a policy of not heating baby formula due to concerns about liability/lawsuits. Not good for our finicky infant. (Also, there is the possibility of check-in and screening taking so long that one may not have the time to purchase in the terminal.)

Question: Isn't this situation particularly absurd? The TSA website specifically makes an exception for baby formula. (By the way, powered formula is now preferred over liquid due to concerns about toxic plastic lining the cans containing liquid formula.)

I've filled out a complaint form and will also send an e-mail. By the way, the TSO's were all very gracious and I have no complaint against any of the people. In fact, one officer specifically encouraged me to make a complaint, saying, "We hate enforcing these kinds of rules." A second TSO then agreed with the first.

Another good tip: At LAX T6/7 there is a vending machine next to the elevators (we used with stroller) that sells bottled water in the sterile area for $1.

Thanks for the tip about cheap bottled water at LAX, schwarm, and for letting us know about your experience at the c/p.

I can't offer you much more than my condolences for the idiotic treatment you received, no matter how graciously it was served up. The complaint form is a good start, and, if you can muster the energy, a letter or two to your representatives can't hurt.

If UA would not heat the formula, I wonder if they might have heated the water alone. If so, you could have mixed them after the fact.

Perhaps post in the TWC forum?

Capital suggestion ...

Traveling with Children forum.

So next time, purchase ready-to-serve infant formula in bottles. I do know that they make such a thing, and even though it is more expensive, at least you know it is clean.

That's no excuse. Niceness does not make up for jack-booted thuggery. You apparently explained to the TSOs exactly why chilled airside-purchased water was unacceptable, yet the two of them still insisted on confiscating your baby's water. Even though liquids for babies are explicitly allowed. They may have been polite, but they were power-tripping and bullying you. Don't fall for it.

This type of behavior is exactly why no TSO deserves any respect from any passenger until this disgusting disgrace of an agency develops some accountability for it's power-tripping agents. These two agents should be fired with prejudice.

I know it's hard, but the appropriate response for agents doing this specific behavior is to loudly say, "HOW WOULD YOU AND YOUR WIFE FEEL IF THIS WERE DONE TO YOU? DON'T YOU FEEL ASHAMED TAKING FOOD AWAY FROM A BABY AND HER MOTHER? YOU DON'T DESERVE THE PRIVILEGES OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP. F YOU AND GO TO H." You want the crowd to hear you. You want to make them so ashamed that they shrink into themselves and wish they had never been born. That's the only way to stop this abuse.

TSA started this. TSA reaps what it sows. I hope the founders and leaders of this agency rot in filth while being spat on by true Americans.

I think the OP made it very obvious that the screeners were ashamed or at least very embarrassed to have to take the water away.

What I can't comprehend is why people continue to work for an organization when they are ashamed and embarrassed by that organization's policies and procedures.

Because they don't have better options. It's not as if Wal-Mart or McDonald's don't also have nasty policies and procedures.

IMO blaming front-line folks who make $10-20/hour for the policies of cabinet-level officials is rather pointless and unfair. Obviously there's a line here -- if they were enforcing rules that would seriously injure people then they should share the blame. But for the sort of thing described in the OP, complaints to higher authorities seem much more productive -- probably the OP's congressional representative and senators. The fact is that the policy is just stupid, and fortunately it affects a politically important group of people in a way that everyone can agree is unreasonable, so I'd say these officials ought to be receptive to complaints.

Asinine policies continue to exist only because there are sufficient numbers of cowardly thugs willing to enforce them.

Bravery is standing up to such outlandish rules and saying "No. Enough is enough. We're not going to confiscate water from human beings." Graciously enforcing such rules is cowardly.

This organization has very little to do with keeping anyone safe; its primary mission is window dressing with a side order of bullying.

Assinininity asside, what would stop the TSOs from simply swiping down the OP's water with the ETD thingies to make sure that he wasn't secretly sneaking through explosives to mix into the baby's formula?

Mike

Grab your rubber boots, folks, and pick up a shovel, because the BS has started flowing faster and deeper.... Lord, it would be nice to read something more constructive than "thugs", or worse, the inevitable descent to the necessity of invoking "Godwin's Law".

We're not at "Speakers' Corner, mounting apple-crates to deliver tirades against the tyrants (which, as ineffective as they seem, the TSA ain't quite).

Have you no comprehension of how governmental bureaucracies - and TSA is a prime example - function? The motto at every pay grade and longevity step is the noted maxim "CYA" ("Cover Your A**"). "Rules" are established by middle level bureaucrats to insure that they're status is not hazarded by their subordinates' potential actions and so their superiors are not put in jeopardy. Whether in Byzantium, Italy or among us USAians, the practical veneers of bureaucracies are the same, layer upon layer of protective armor to minimize the chance that anything untoward will occur.

The villains of the piece (if they are any real villains) are our Congress members, from Liberal to Conservative, who rather than calling for (or demanding) logical rules and sensible decisions, themselves play the "CYA" game, leaving it to bureaucrats to design and implement a program that provides mutual protection for low level bureaucrats who carry it out and seems to the general public (most of whom fly only occasionally) to provide "safety from terrorists".

....And don't expect any bureaucrat/civil servant, from GS"0" to the top of the class, to accede to the breaking of a "rule" simply because to do so is convenient, simple and logical, when to do so will put the bureaucrat's/civil servant's job at risk. That description especially applies to the TSA's front line personnel who are not, let's face it, chosen from amongst the "pick of the litter", being mostly about as simple minded as those who resort to screaming "thugs" whenever reading of inconvenience or the enforcement of silly rules. I'm confident that most of them launch their tirades at a safe distance from the firing line, and kowtow humbly as they pass through the TSA's clutches.

This is ridiculous. I've taken water and powdered formula through checkpoints on multiple occasions with no problem.

The OP has already stated a legitimate health concern that contradicts your suggestion:

Complete BS.

The water is part of the food. Simply declare it and it is allowed.

I would have escalated up the ladder.

As someone who has found the infant formula rules maddening, I very much sympathize with the plight of the original poster. With a second infant in the fold, my wife and I also will feel the pain of these rules on our upcoming travels. However . . .

I trust you make insubordination in the name of bravery a regular practice in your day job. :rolleyes:

We don't permit local TSA agents to decide policy on an ad hoc basis. And this is certainly a good thing because as you and I will almost certainly agree, on balance, freelancing TSA agents would be much more likely to increase, rather than decrease security hassles at the checkpoints that they man.