Two Boston doctors brought, by their admission, “probably two and a half times as much as we’d need” of baby food on a recent flight from Chicago Midway Airport to Manchester, N.H. The TSA agent told them it was above the official limit and confiscated it. The parents argued that in light of record delays, winter weather, and stranded-on-the-tarmac stories, they wanted to be fully prepared. The TSA officers told them they’d need a doctor’s note to bring that much food on board—but, um, from another doctor who wasn’t one of the parents.
Dr. Soni said he was raising the objection publicly because “I feel the message needs to be put across. I don’t think the T.S.A. has the training to exert judgment on what the nutritional needs of a baby are” for a 2 ½ hour flight, not to mention a possible long delay.
Dr. Soni stressed that he and his wife have no quarrel with the T.S.A. officers, but would like to see a rule allowing parents more discretion. He also suggested that airport shops inside the security zones consider selling baby food.
Hell, why don’t we just open supermarkets on the other side of the security checkpoint? Only then will our fear of death be fully defeated, when we can strip nude in the front of the airport, emerge from a cleansing security bath on the other side, and then go on an overpriced shopping spree to re-supply our lives with meaning.
“Bringing Along Baby Food? Not Too Much, Rules Say” [New York Times]
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Hold up here…….. stop demeaning turnip pickers.
Well everyone hates baby on planes, so why not save everyone some heartache and keep the baby at home. lol
Baby formula and medication are exempted from the liquids limitation. They just need to inform the TSA staff before checking in.
[www.tsa.gov]
@ironchef: Baby formula and baby foods are different things. The former is a breasmilk substitute, the latter is pureed solid food given to older babies.
@spinachdip: From the tsa website in the link above (emphasis mine): “You are allowed to bring gel or liquid-filled teethers, canned, jarred, or processed baby food in your carry-on baggage and aboard your plane.”
@JadedScientist: Aha. See, I don’t read links, so I have to depend on other commenters to cite or paraphrase accurately.
no no no no…. shhhh the water cartels will hear you. If they have the power to get the TSA to confiscate your water, then they have the power to end your life.
@pigeonpenelope: I have a flight next month that I am not looking forward to. I wanted to drive, but my boss already bought my ticket.
A doctor’s note for what? “I Dr. M. D. do solemnly declare that this child needs to consume nutrients in order to survive”? This agent was full of spectacular amounts of crap. As most of them seem to be.
this does seem ridiculous. Would they do the same for baby formula or just baby food? What would they have done if they were in that plane that was sitting on the runway for over 3 hours? geez, this is stupid, maybe they should insist that the TSA agent fly with them so if the baby does get hungry, he can hold it while it screams, preferably away from everybody else
@deweisz: Part of that is because about a year ago the TSA was making women THROW AWAY expressed milk. [breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com]
After many complaints and media attention,they changed the rules. [breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com]
I think I would break down crying if I had to throw away any milk. That stuff is more precious than liquid gold.
@Canerican: There’s always someone who says something just to be idiotic, isn’t there? You can’t possibly believe baby food is going to be a problem. Man.
@telepanda: Try Southwest. The East Terminal is a LOT less of a hassle than the Main Terminal, is cleaner, and you don’t have to go anywhere near as far to get to your gate. That is, if flying to Midway is OK with you (it’s also less of a nightmare than O’Hare).
TSA apparently confiscated a “portion” of the baby food and let them take some through. Hopefully they took the time and effort to confiscate the portion that contained the explosives.
On a more serious note, my son has a feeding tube and takes all food/water via his tube exclusively. We’ve had to take full Nalgene bottles of his blenderized food onboard and that’s more like 30oz, not 3oz, so this story presents exactly the scenario we dread. Luckily it’s worked out for us on the handful of occasions we’ve flown. I think the key is to proactively declare it to the TSA persons when you reach the front of the line.
in other news, a plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing in denver. two parents & a child were detained & arrested after causing a disturbance on a cross-country flight. according to a press release, the baby refused to comply with the flight attendant’s order to “stop crying”. the parents & the child are facing sedition charges.
@Buran: You’re absolutely right about the convenience of flying Southwest to Midway, but since Mr. Panda lives in the suburbs west of O’Hare, it’s just a lot easier for him to come get me there. This has really been an unusually bad winter for flying up there. It’s never good, but this has just been nuts. I am seriously looking forward to spring. And to graduating and moving the hell up there.
@Canerican: “ follow the rules, they are in place for a good reason”
This is the most hilarious thing I’ve read on this site in weeks. George Bush is so proud of you!
@johnva:
I’m just waiting to hear one of the TSA monkeys say “Because I said so.”
@doctor_cos:
After you punch the TSA screener in the face, can I watch as they sodomize you repeatedly in the little white room with no windows and only one door?
Half-witted American citizens allowed this to happen. America had a choice in 2004, to get rid of Bush and his fear mongering administration, but instead, they voted for less freedom. A guided cage is still a cage.
To those who want to claim the election was fixed: Get over it. If it was really fixed, Kerry would have known how bad he was beating Bush. Bush won. He was voted in by stupidity.
Hopefully whoever gets in next will change the focus from freedom from terror (and no other freedoms) to economy reform. I guess we’ll have to see.
We all were aware of how badly Chimpy McF-kup lost BOTH “elections”, yet nothing was done about it. This nation has become a place of willful ignorance, blatant toadying, and pure prozac-smothered rage. The citizens no longer oppose tyrants, be they TSA or any other, lest they end up in a Project Falcon sweep or incarcerated for life inside one of the massive camps that Halliburton built all across the land.(30 of them spreading throughout 50 states)
There will be no reform anywhere, because it’s just too great a deal to pass up for those holding the reins.
Desperate, scared people are always more desirable than those who speak up. Go ahead, pretend what you want really matters to power. I’ll see you in the place where there is no darkness.
PS, no I don’t own a tinfoil hat.
@Vastarien202: I agree 100% I hate the TSA among other things and this is right in line with the bullshit we are subjected to with respect to bringing liquids on a plane. Oh yeah and by the way the “terrorists” that supposedly plotted to blow up planes with liquids were released 30 days later without being charged. Must have been a misunderstanding. I hate the airline industry as well anyway. Should go back to regulation.
Note to self: Gerber supports terrorism. Got it!
@chocxtc: The ‘misunderstanding’ was that people would take the ridiculous claims seriously.
The TSA is another matter. We can do what we want because we said so.
@dualityshift: I doubt you’ll see me near an airport until control of this country is wrestled back from the Dept. of Fatherland Security.
Is it too late to move to Australia?
Here’s the problem with TSA: they continually fail testing by Homeland Security, but they stop 85 year old grandma’s for bringing a knitting needle, because it could be used as a weapon.
I’m beginning to think the rules aren’t there for safety. They exist to make the illusion of safety.
Wow.
It’s not every day that you see an attack on the consumer in the body of the Consumerist post. The flippant grocery store suggestion really undermines the serious point of this story – that TSA goons are making irrational and possibly dangerous “judgment calls” that do nothing to actually prevent terrorism.
I haven’t seen this mentioned yet, so here:
If you think that we are winning the WAR on terror, you are clearly mistaken. The TERRORISTS are winning. This is just another sign. Clearly, we need a real shift in strategy.
@CharlieSeattle: Look, I am no Bush defender, but we should all remember that 99 out of 100 senators authorized the creation of the new DHS after 9/11, and the attendant creation of the TSA.
This was purely a political move to make it seem safer to live in the US, and so they could say they “did something” to protect the country from terrorism. This is really the politics of self-preservation.
Go Russ Feingold!
@MMD: I concur. Let’s leave the consumer-bashing to the comments, unless it’s a ‘Bad Consumer’ post.
@Canerican: Have you tried the Kool-Aid?
Stop flying. It’s pretty liberating. Even with a toddler. Rather than play security games I just take my Constitutional rights and go home.
Just watch as I get nailed by some new arbitrary rule next month when I fly out of Baltimore.
Actually, has anyone noticed that when you fly into or out of the DC area, it is a guarantee that your checked bag will be opened by TSA? Every time I have flown I expect now to find the little white “we searched your bag” paper.
I’ve said it before, but I think that rather than trying to fight all these little TSA screwups, we need to just give them tasers. Once they’ve tasered a series of toddlers, nuns, congresscritters, foreign diplomats, air marshals, and fellow TSOs, the situation will have gotten ridiculous enough for there to be a top-to-bottom investigation and reform.
@weedpindle: I was on the project that hired the TSA screeners back in 2002 and only a small percentage of the old screeners made it through the process to get hired on under the TSA. The current badness comes from a whole new crop.
@kantwait: What happened? 19 terrorists crashed planes into two buildings..
@theblackdog: The first time my checked bags were ever rifled through was coming back home from D.C. last year. I had a cute little keychain-type holder on the outside of my bag holding the zippers together and they didn’t even return it to me. It wasn’t a lock so it wasn’t like they had to destroy it to open my bag. They just kept my personal property and put a note in my bag that it was tough shit.
If only our security used common sense, they let bombs get through, but stop baby food because it is so “explosive”. All those crushed carrots might burst.
@spinachdip:
A hot plate?
A HOT PLATE?
What are you, nuts?
@MissPeacock: I had a cell phone charger that either fell out of the bag or was stolen after I had my bag searched in Detroit. I was not happy trying to replace that.
I work in ‘new media’ meaning internet journalism, I would travel with more electronic junk than you could imagine. I knew every time I was going to be pulled out of line to have everything checked, be wanded, etc. I was happy to show them my press passes to explain why I had this much gear, as well as turn it all on for them.
Most of the time it was fine but every so often I’d get an idiot TSA person who would literally DUMP or spill out everything – the combination of being a mom and onsite media reporting meant I had more junk packed away than you could imagine. There is nothing like watching a TSA person hold up a sealed TAMPON and examine it closely. They would demand to know why I was carrying this all – I’d say repeatedly these are all standard carryon size bags carrying computers and cameras that I don’t want hurled into a luggage hold.
And every time that happened, I would later be pulled out of the gate seating for a special check that they said was random.
The reality – I’m a white, 5-4 suburban mom right down my mom chino, polo and crocs. The computer gear was all very standard and easy to identify. The level of harassment was ridiculous. If we have to fly, we fly but most of the time we drive.
The TSA needs to be disbanded. It’s simply become a home for power hungry idiots who are more interested in making people comply with idiotic rules that do not have any security value whatsoever all the while being under the threat of arrest or banning from traveling by air if they question the all powerful TSA morons.
I also should have added this:
What’s next — the TSA banning a breast feeding mother for carrying too much liquids on her person?
@WV.Hillbilly: I forgot to mention, you should also pack a sarcasm detector that beeps anytime the phrase “modest proposal” is mentioned.
They should have just hid the baby food in a hollowed out book. Might I suggest Swift’s A Modest Proposal?
~j
@cheera: Eeehh, I don’t know if I want to see Chris naked
And as I always say, yet another reason I refuse to fly.
@se7a7n7: What, you couldn’t get a note from Benjamin Franklin Pierce?
I never have problems when I fly, but I’m about to take a vacation that I’m sure will result in anger and frustration. I will have to repack EVERYTHING that I own.
@laserjobs: Baby food during an extended delay will not do you much good if it is checked with your suitcase. The issue is the limit allowed to pass through the security check with ones carry-on luggage.
TSA must think that if Jenny and Forest mix their peas and carrots to gether they will get napalm. “Stupid is, as stupid does” – Mama always says.
@se7a7n7: for some reason that’s the funniest thing i’ve ever read.
my favorite part about the article is the fact that they would need a doctor’s note from some other doctor. apparently their doctorates are not valid by the tsa’s all encompassing mighty standards of excellence.
Why not just have nude flights?