Pumping and traveling... Weird experience at midway airport

Sigir · October 2012

Hi everybody! Just got back frm my longest trip ever... 3 nights... And I am proud to say I brought back 109 oz! But I had a v weird experience at midway, and just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

I had an older lady with a bit of attitude as my security lady. I told her about the milk right away and she took me over to the table to inspect it. Well, she took out each bag, one by one, and put them inside some sort of machine to check for explosives. In all my travel this has never happened to me... Normally they just look at it and let me go.

Well, 3 bags "failed" whatever this test was, and were going to have to be dumped! And two of them were really full, first pump of the day bags! I don't have much of a freezer stash and have to travel, so every oz counts for me! I said to her "thank you so much for all of your help. I really appreciate all you've done, but can I please see a manager to talk about my other options?" She did not like this at all... Lots of muttering under her breath, but she got a manager.

I carry the TSA rules with me, so I had them out when the manager came over. The manager wiped down the inside of the testing machine, wiped down my bags, and retested them... And they passed. So I was on my way and barely made my flight.

So to all of you... Has a TSA agent ever tested all of your milk like this? If so, have you ever been forced to throw away milk if it failed the test? I don't know what they would have done if I can not passed that last time. I offered to taste it [i don't care about something like that if it will save my milk!] but that just disgusted the TSA agent further.

I am wondering if this is a midway airport thing, and if I should go through o'hare instead for an upcoming flight. It was nerve wracking to say the very least!!!

Anyway I would love your input!!!

NicoleWI · October 2012

No experience, but WAY TO GO for thinking to ask for a manager! That is awesome.

Sigir · October 2012

Thanks I said it super nicely bc she was already not happy to be dealing w me, but it still made her mad.

I forgot to share the part where she said that it was ok that she had to trash 3 of the bags, because "you have so much". That really po ed me bc how does she know how much milk my baby goes through a day, and how much I need? But I didn't say anything.

mexicolombiana · October 2012

Sounds like you handled that well!

fryrat · October 2012

The "additional screening" is likely just a result of the TSA needing to randomly select a certain number of bags each day. It sounds like they used a chemical sniffer to scan, essentially a puff of air, then a sensor reads the particles in the air. The manager used the older explosive swab technique. They still do that now, if they pat you down, they will swab the gloves and scan that. They may have been testing the new machine and were told that they should really be going by what it says, and that employee was just following instructions.

They used the puffer on people before they started with the new backscatter ones. The puffers were too expensive.

Sigir · October 2012

I know what you are talking about... But this was a different test than the swab test, which i have experienced before. The two TSA agents used the same machine, which had a hole in it, into which each bag of milk was placed. It was not the one w the swab... I had planned to ask them to use that machine if the bags failed again. The manager used the same machine that "attitude lady" used, she just wiped out the hole w a paper towel first.

sooner1981 · October 2012

Sigir:

So to all of you... Has a TSA agent ever tested all of your milk like this? If so, have you ever been forced to throw away milk if it failed the test? I don't know what they would have done if I can not passed that last time. I offered to taste it [i don't care about something like that if it will save my milk!] but that just disgusted the TSA agent further. I am wondering if this is a midway airport thing, and if I should go through o'hare instead for an upcoming flight. It was nerve wracking to say the very least!!! Anyway I would love your input!!!

I think on pretty much every trip I have taken post-baby, I have had my milk tested in the machine. Maybe there was one trip with the baby where a spare bottle wasn't tested, but definitely every trip I have taken without the baby, my milk has been run through the machine.

The machine tests for traces of explosives (it is the same basic test as the one that they run on your purse or luggage occassionally). You can always on any of those tests ask for a re-scan if it doesn't come back clean. And, if the re-check fails, they won't necessarily throw out the milk, but they might have to do additional tests on its contents (as opposed to the initial scan, which only looks for contaminants on the outside of the bottle).

I have never had milk fail, but I am assuming if the re-check and any subsequent tests failed, then they would ask you to either dump the milk or send it via Fed-Ex in a cooler back home (like you can do with pocket knives or other non-plane safe items). Since traveling via plane is technically a privilege, not a right, as long as they follow the rules, they can make you discard liquids that do not meet their safety tests. I doubt being willing to drink a substance would be sufficient, as people with ill intentions might be willing to subject their bodies to harm if it were a part of a larger mission.

I have always just tried to be really friendly to the TSA reps, and just hope for the best. They say that lots of people's luggage and other carryons test positive in the initial scans for traces of explosives, just due to the crazy amounts of particles that are on most of our hands as we walk around a big city. That is why it is just used as an initial screen, and there are more follow-up tests afterwards.

Although we do have the right to carry BM through security as long as it passes those contaminant tests, I wonder if it might be safer, if you were really worried about losing such a large stash, to send it via FedEx icebag back home? Maybe would your company pay for that? TSA won't let something through that doesn't pass their tests, for whatever reason that might be, and it would be devastating to me to lose that much milk!

nmeirose · October 2012

DaisyJanie · October 2012

I've traveled with milk 6 times, and have had it tested all but once. I've never had it fail. It sounds like you did just the right thing, getting a manager and having them test it more. I'd suspect you just got unlucky this time. With that much milk I personally wouldn't check it or send it Fedex, I feel much safer with it in my hands.

Sigir · October 2012

Thanks for sharing all your experience- it is good to know that this might be somthing that I may see at any airport. So far I have been in newark, boston and myrtle beach and have not seen it til now. I tried to google it to see exactly what kind of test it was, and the machine was something like this:

https://www.smithsdetection.com/5479.php

I agree, sooner, that ultimately they do have the final say, but I wonder what would happen if the liquid that failed the test was someone's medication that they needed to take every 4 hours or something... they could not check it.

I am trying to avoid the logistical nightmares of having to ship milk, and so far have been successful. If I can carry back enough milk from my next trip to Chicago, I will have enough of a freezer stash that it won't matter if I have to throw some out going forward. Keep your fingers crossed for me! If I did have to ship it, I doubt my company would pay bc they are not very bf-ing supportive. Ugh, can't wait for one year so I don't have to worry about this anymore!

I think I am going to try going through O-Hare for my next trip, to see if there is a difference. I would honestly prefer to try to avoid airports with this machine if I can!

michaelaskedlauren · October 2012

Yeah, it sounds like you were unlucky and just got a TSA person who was a crankpot. Ive had to fly from JFK to Heathrow and have both had the scanner test (mine failed at first so they had to wipe the machine down and try again) and have had to drink my milk to test it.

You should be fine with your next trips. Hopefully youll get a TSA person with a better attitude. (Personally I find it amusing when I have tell younger male TSA agents that I have breastmilk. Their faces are always pretty funny).

Sigir · October 2012

Good point! Actually, maybe the difference w my experience has been that up to now, all the TSA agents have been men maybe they felt too uncomfortable to test it more thoroughly!

ChicagoWeded2007 · October 2012

Yep, they always put my bottles in a special machine to check for something. Then they check my hands for something too. I always got through with all my milk though.

stl_bride · October 2012

I travel all the time for work and have almost always had to put the milk in the scanner you described. In fact, I had the exact situation where the bags failed and the bottles passed. The TSA agent even commented to me that the bags seem to fail more so I would suggest using bottles only if you can. However, she did get the bag to pass with re-testing.