ROTFLOL! Good point.
Posted on 02/12/2007 11:33:47 AM PST by Michael.SF.
SANTA ANA - A woman who was forced to throw away her breast milk at an airport this month is fighting to change the way nursing mothers are treated in the changing world of high-security travel.
Airport security agents in Las Vegas earlier this month banned Rachel Popplewell of Capistrano Beach from bringing her breast milk on a flight to California because she didn't have her baby with her.
Popplewell, who says she followed all the rules for bringing liquids on a plane, sent a written complaint to the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport screening.
"You should be allowed to carry it, and you should be treated like a human being who is feeding your child," Popplewell said.
A spokesman for the federal agency said he had not seen a record of the incident.
"If she had exactly what was required, I don't understand what happened," Nico Melendez said. "It should not have happened. Please accept our apology."
Popplewell, a marketing director, flew to Las Vegas for a one-day business trip to a footwear trade show. While there, she used her breast pump to collect 6 ounces of milk, which she planned to bring home to her 9-month-old son, Mason.
Popplewell divided the milk into two 3-ounce bottles and placed the bottles in a zip-top plastic bag, as stipulated by security regulations. But when Popplewell, 40, told a screener at McCarran International Airport what was in the bottles, she was forced to throw her milk away.
The TSA has restricted carry-on liquids since last summer after an incident in England alleged to have been a terrorism plot involving liquid explosives. Liquids must be in 3-ounce containers, which must be in plastic bags.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Maybe she was dehydrated? LMAO
I am a mommy and I'm special. But seriously, why not do some sensible profiling and stop harassing Americans?
I can see that point, but really she needed to throw it away anyway, since it could not be kept frozen.
This treatment is udderly ridiculous.
I know that's a clever line, but my wife has to express milk every day so I can bottle-feed my son in her absence.
I swear, there are times when I'd value those little plastic bags over bags of gold. That she had to throw them away after following all the rules is criminal, but not unexpected.
Not if she had it in a little cooler. That is how I flew with bottle of breastmilk.
The "original containers" have limited capacity. In addition to physical discomfort associated with not emptying them, their production will quickly slow in response to not being emptied regularly. The little tyke is entitled to all his mama can produce.
duh. of course. :D
I find this whole liquids thing rather silly. It is quite possible for someone to take down a plane by packing enough explosives inside of a metal sealed tube or battery LOOKING device that would fool the average TSA screening agent.
For that matter, thin film plastic explosives can be worn on the body, under a hair piece, within a belt, socks, etc.
In short, targeting the METHOD of attack is not as effective as targeting the PERSON who will be carrying out the attack.
Particularly if the airplane A/C is on high...
ROTFLOL! Good point.
Even for a one day trip, I'm a bit surprised that she only had 6 ounces of milk. This might be in the TMI category, but it only takes me about 2 hours to produce that much milk (3 oz from each side).
If she was gone most of the day, what happened to the rest of the milk. Did she not have a problem throwing that away?
Not that I'm condoning TSA for making her throw it away. It seems she followed their guidelines, and they messed up (as usual).
When our twins were babies we had to use the neighbor's freezer in addition to ours for storage! And after seeing what my wife had to go through to get some of those early bags filled, if someone tried to take them away it would have been a "from my cold dead hands" moment!
For cryin' out loud, the kid didn't starve. He was fed while she was gone. She didn't need to bring the milk back. Sheesh!
My thoughts exactly.
LOL !!
And that is the correct answer. Refreshing to see nowdays.
People on planes can't have it both ways - let her bring it in bottles, or let her boob the baby. Or DON'T complain when the baby is crying on the flight.
Then again, a lot of people just like to bitch endlessly.
All of that is understood and irrelevent. The little tyke was being feed while she was gone and she was only gone for eight hours. But, as I stated, she did follow the rules and TSA does appear to be out of line on this one.
The baby was not with her.
Every time I go through such a screening I get a disturbing image in my head of 19 guys in hell laughing at our goofiness in the way we confiscate breast milk and grandma's water bottle. I used to enjoy air travel. Now it feels like defeat.
LOL...
I was never a Guernsey like my next door neighbor in the milk producing department, but I know if I wanted to up my production, I'd just express more milk, and voila, in the next few hours, I'd be producing more milk.
Six ounces doesn't seem like much production to me. And, yes, unless it was frozen or in a cooler, it doesn't seem like it's something I'd be wanting to give to my kid.
Plus you forgot that babies are politically incorrect anyway.
"Seems she was obeying the rules and they still stopped her. "
The plastic baggies are not meant for beverages, but for medical, hygenic, and cosmetic gels and liquids. If that were true, people would be slipping bottles of water, cans of coke, or containers of coffee inside those plastic bags to get them past security.
"The baby was not with her."
If the baby was with, she can bring aboard a reasonable amount of her expressed milk that can be consumed by the baby on that flight (just not carry it in the plastic baggie). The rules are clearly posted online and at the airport itself. I won't comment on the logic of the rules, but just say that there is no excuse to not learn them or to complain when everyone follows the same set of rules.
What bugs me is that the rules vary wildly outside the US and are inconsistent with TSA even though they say they are the same. Sometimes they are much worse and sometimes they are more lax. Sometimes they don't follow their own rules, but you don't want to make a stink about it overseas. They already hate you for being an American.
C'mon, everyone knows that breast milk is a very volatile liquid!
From the TSA:
"If you’re not traveling with a baby or toddler, any formula or breast milk you’re carrying must meet the requirements for carrying liquids, gels and aerosols (3-1-1)."
"From the TSA:
"If you’re not traveling with a baby or toddler, any formula or breast milk you’re carrying must meet the requirements for carrying liquids, gels and aerosols (3-1-1)."
Correct, but it can and should be carried separately from those other gels and liquids because the TSA will examine it separately. Also that way it doesn't count against you when you carry your little baggie of hygenic supplies on board. When I carry on board a 6 oz bottle of contact lens solution it must be separate from the baggie of toothpaste deoderant, etc. and shown to a TSA agent. Some mark it on my boarding card as an extra allowed liquid and some don't. I don't think they have a rule specific as to how they indicate your are carrying extra liquids, but you still should follow the rule of showing it otherwise they may pull you out of line. I've seen them pull out women for having full size shampoo bottles for a pat down on a couple of occasions.
Just wait, they'll ban those too.
Back when I grew up that was a normal way for a mother to feed her baby. Even in public. Nobody thought anything about it. Wasn't a good idea to stand and stare though or some gentleman just might close your eyes for you. Even if he didn't know the woman. Men respected woman more back then than now.
Too many people today spend most of their time looking something to be offended by.
Ten bucks says that back when you grew up, breast-feeding mothers made an attempt at discretion. I always thought that was why mothers carried around those teensy blankets that they never wrapped the babies in.
Now we're liable to see Junior, the (um) dispenser, any tattoos Mom might have felt she needed, and a good deal of whatever foundation garment she deemed appropriate this morning.
Except that she wasn't feeding her child.
From the article:
Popplewell divided the milk into two 3-ounce bottles and placed the bottles in a zip-top plastic bag, as stipulated by security regulations. But when Popplewell, 40, told a screener at McCarran International Airport what was in the bottles, she was forced to throw her milk away.
It sounds to me like she was carrying them separately from other liquids/gells.
Wouldn't she have to bring the baby for that to happen?
Doesn't matter. See: post #30
She was following TSA rules for carrying breast milk without a child.
True, however, let's not forget the case of the flying waitress stewardess flight attendant who got bent at the sight of a nursing mother. She would seem to be in a Catch-22 situation. (Or Catch-36DD, as the case may be.)
Breast milk is much better sucked from the source.
...and since they can't vote, politicians aren't interested in doing anything for them other than use them as props to dupe the parents into believing they "care".
Which wasn't the argument I was commenting on. She was arguing about not being treated like a human while feeding her child; despite the situation she was complaining about not existing.
lol
WHAT A BOOB!
It's discouraging that you are one of very few making the obvious point today. We've got people arguing about the finer points of breast milk regulations, and most seem to be oblivious to the fact that this has nothing to do with security.
Aside from securing the cockpits, and arming the pilots, real security comes from trying to keep murdering a$$h*les off of the planes (and out of the country, for that matter).
Your recollection is accurate. Can't win sometimes.
That wasn't always true. Although, a high percentage of them did. It was a normal thing and most didn't pay any attention to it. Remember that I am an old guy and they didn't have store bought accessories for feeding like they do now. When the baby was hungry. They fed them.
Again, the TSA doesn't care whether the child is present or not. Their rules only mandate the conditions under which a breast-feeding mother can carry breast-milk on-board an airliner.
A breast-feeding mother is a breast-feeding mother regardless of whether the child is present or not.
I am still a pilot even when not actively flying an airplane.
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