TSA Won't Let Parents Bring Extra Baby Food In Anticipation Of Delays
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.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.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.
"Bringing Along Baby Food? Not Too Much, Rules Say" [New York Times]
Post a comment
Comments:
So much for "Be Prepared". I suspect the TSA agent was eying the strained peaches.
The root of the problem is obviously being overlooked here. Babies should be confiscated and not allowed on flights.
Or placed in totes in cargo.
Maybe if we all start punching the TSA people in the face when they make ridiculous, illogical, and sometimes dangerous demands, it will become acceptable? I mean, they can't arrest everyone, right? right???
Flying sucks now. What happened?
@unklegwar: I'm sure the babies will make for fine child labor. Perhaps they will be trained as new screeners. Or better yet, undercover agents.
The rule sounds like it is written very poorly. If they are going to make a rule about something like that, don't leave it up to a TSA badge monkey to decide what a "reasonable" amount is. Use a standardized limit.
The most outrageous part to me is that the "doctor's note" couldn't be from the parents themselves. That's just arbitrary stupidity made up by the officers, it would seem. Last time I checked, it's perfectly okay for a doctor to (for example) write a prescription on the spot at a pharmacy, which would seem to be an analogous situation. I've seen my dad (who is a doctor) do this.
@unklegwar: They still need to eat or they'll cry and interrupt the in-flight movie. Not acceptable.
Well maybe the little TSA babies were hungry! :-)
Remember that South Park episode where the teacher invents a high speed mono-wheeled device that anally sodomizes you?
"Yeah, but its better then flying!"
Fear the baby food! It is evil, and will attack you if FISA is not extended!
Sorry, channeling a little W there.
The thought that the TSA has any right to remove food from a child's mouth is just outrageous! Not to mention...that baby food just isn't fucking cheap!
He also suggested that airport shops inside the security zones consider selling baby food.
And we'll have something that sells for .99 in the supermarket going for $4.50 because [shakes 8 ball] it takes up shelf space.
Gerber's jars that I have seen do not exceed 3 ounces, so what is the issue with fitting as many as you can into the 1 quart ziploc as you would toiletries?
Oooo... maybe they can just transfer the food into the toiletry bottles.
Should have suitcased it
From the article: "two Boston area doctors, Anand V. Soni and his wife, Arati Pratap"
Obviously, you're all over reacting. This happened to a couple of people with brown skin and real Americans should be thankful that the TSA was there to save us from their nefarious plan to use pureed biryani and strained ghee to overwhelm the flight crew.
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.
@Chris Walters: you forgot to mention that the supermarket will be supplied and operated by people who go through no security screening of their own.
This is probably a good example of the TSA screeners lying to people when they know they won't/can't be held accountable. Specifically regarding the doctor's note. Would they really have accepted a doctor's note saying the parents needed extra food? How would they verify it was from a Dr and not just anyone? Who would make that determination? Since the parents obviously couldn't leave the airport, find a doctor, get a note and return with it in time for the flight, the screener was trying to offload responsibility on the traveler (*you* didn't come prepared, sir) when really I doubt a note would have been accepted. If you're a public security official and you're lying to the public, especially about regulations, that's a firing in my book. But then, my interpretation of how to execute security is based in reality.
Sure it's all fun to laugh at the TSA's silly rules, but wait until terrorists hijack planes using 9 oz of baby food, then who'll be laughing?
@laserjobs: That doesn't help if the concern is long delays in the terminal or on the tarmac, where they wouldn't have had their suitcases anyway.
@jtheletter: Yeah, this really smacks of "let's make up arbitrary BS rules so that no matter what, you're wrong". They probably just couldn't stand the thought of someone beating their "authority".
@B: Then they'll say that Bush should have been more prepared and more strict.
Honestly, get over it, follow the rules, they are in place for a good reason.
The only baby in the story is Dr. Soni. Notice we never find out if he is an MD?
"My PHD in history allows me to tell you what is acceptably safe on airplanes"
They probably sell all the stuff we throw are forced to throw out in the duty free shops anyway. 100% profit, duty free.
With the 'Confessions of a ...' posts sparking actual change/discourse in the outside world (Best Buy employees, Monster Cable markups, etc.), maybe it's time we get some confessions of TSA screeners in here to expose exactly what goes on on the other side of the X-Ray machine. Seems that's what it takes to make changes. Sure doesn't happen with customer complaints.
I was on a flight back from China a few months ago and bought some bottled water at the Beijing airport, after passing through security. I then found a vending machine that was selling the same water for a fraction of the price, so I bought another bottle. I then immediately got in line to board, at which point they told me that I would have to throw away my bottled water (that I just bought 2 minutes ago!). I nearly lost it. Forgetting that I was in China, I spiked the bottle of water into the ground, where it bounced toward the security guy.
I immediately realized how stupid it was for me to do this and apologized profusely. It sure would suck to be kicked off the flight back home. I thought for sure that you could bring anything purchased at a gift shop or vending machine past the security checkpoint onto the plane, but maybe that is just in the U.S.
I know we've all been harping on the TSA lately, but I have a nice anecdote.
I was travelling out of the Tucson airport and I was in the middle of the TSA screening when I realized that my 11-month-old's sippy cup was still mostly full of water. Remembering the crazy debacle regarding the TSA and sippy cups of water I kind of freaked out a little on the inside because I wanted to keep it with or without the water (those things can get expensive!), nor did I want to get arrested. But the screener asked me if I wanted to keep the water and I was all like, "Umm, suuuuure...?!?!" ("That's an option??") And she used a paper strip to test it and then she gave it back to me. Score.
Doctors note:
This baby does eat food and in the event of running out of food will need more.
- Trapper John M.D.
Right, a real terrorist bent on bringing explosives on the plane disguised as baby food couldn't fake a doctor's note.
We have mental midgets ruining our lives. In saner times, these people were could advance no further than being peasants picking turnips for a living.
Ill just take a high speed train. Oh wait we only have slow trains and they just started the same BS false sense of security stuff there too.
Security theater at its best.
TSA visible employees are composed mostly of those minimum wage folks who worked for private security firms before TSA was formed. Those fine peoples are not in the 35000 and up range, with all the power of say, God. If you question then, its off to secondary screening and possibly missing your flight. They are always right. Always. And they will not hesitate to tell you. I know a few who work at a small airport and they ALL say that they are taught, 'You Are Right, Always Right, No Matter What'.
I think this is another case of TSA discretion. I brought a whole weekend's worth of breast milk in bottles through the Oakland airport (roughly 2 liters) - they did not even open the bag once I told them it was there. Seems like TSA is leaving way too much to individual or site-level interpretation.
@Canerican: And the TSA have done what to inspire this confidence in you?
In the 20 years prior to the formation of the TSA, only 4 planes were brought down due to hijacking (I'm talking about flights originating in the U.S.), and those 4, as we all know, were brought down by people using nothing more than box cutters...
As has been pointed out time and time again on this blog, and others, it will never be possible to protect against every possible threat, and there has to be a balance between protecting against the threats, freedom, and common sense.
The TSA, much like the current administration, has no common sense, and thinks freedom is overrated. So as far as I'm concerned, they're obviously not the best people to be making rules.
Tucson probably has 5 flights leaving a day....maybe those people actually have patience to check your babies water!
The doctor's note doesn't do jack all either. My mom has no salivary glands (cancer) and so she MUST carry a bottle of water with her at all times or she is in a lot of pain in a very short amount of time. She HAS a doctor's note stating that she must have water and the TSA makes her pour it out every time.
Because my husband lives in Chicago, I fly regularly from St. Louis to Chicago in the winter when the weather is too crappy to drive. It's a 45 minute flight.
Of the four flights I have booked with American Airlines in the last month, three have been canceled. Two of those times, I spent at least 8 hours in the airport waiting to get out (not counting de-icing, flying, and holding pattern time). I can't imagine if I'd had a small baby whose food had been confiscated at the checkpoint because he "wouldn't need it".
These parents were absolutely right to bring a generous excess of food - especially with O'Hare involved. The TSA needs to modify its policy to reflect the godawful state of air travel in this country.
To add to Chris's modest proposal, why couldn't parents just prepare baby food on the plane? It's easy! All you need is fresh fruit or vegetable, a small sauce pan, a mesh strainer, and a hot plate that plugs into the outlet under the seat. You get the joy of serving homemade baby food to your jet-setting baby without the big security scare of BRINGING AN EXTRA PACKAGE OF BABY FOOD!!
@B: Hey, some of that baby food is pretty nasty. Gerber's squash is deadly, I tell ya! Apple sauce on the other hand, is well, apple sauce. It's not bad at all.
People need to stand up and say screw that to this now. But it won't happen, we continue to be sheeple like some sick Henny Youngman..."Take my civil liberties please"
I worked for the TSA. Ridiculous from the top down. Training was minimal at best, and then you get these gate Nazis that like to freak over baby food. Can't fix stupid, especially when it's government-run.
@spinachdip: Actually, I think the applesauce is by far the best of the bunch and even better than regular as it is blended even finer :)
Anyone else up for a quantum shift in the stupidity scale back to the informed side? This is insane...
Every time I hear more of this nonsense it makes me want to take the train, but they are working on screwing that up too.
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.
Crap, Walters -- Don't give the government any bright ideas!!!
so i think that the tsa should really take this issue seriously. there are very easy solutions... let liquid back on the plane. really this liquid ban is dumb. i'm tired of taking off my shoes too. who wants to fly any more? they can hold us on the ground for several hours without food. we can't have liquids. we're treated like possible terrorists. our privacy is violated when they publicly search our luggage. i'm really sick of the whole thing. the threat of terrorism is actually quite nil. we've had the same threat for a very long time but now we have fear and suspicion. can we please get over this 9/11 thing?
Flaskbacks of that southpark episode and the IT machine!!!
@pigeonpenelope: Agreed, bring back the 80's dammit!!!! I miss being able to meet people at the gate as they came off the plane!
Ah... a doctor's note? Saying what, "this baby will eat food" -- or would it need to be "this baby eats more food than you might think"?
For a while, I toyed with the idea of pumping about a gallon of breast milk and forcing them to let me take it on the plane with my baby. Luckily, I've never needed to fly since I had that "clever plan", and hopefully won't until I've weaned my son -- I'm just stupid enough to try it.
Seriously, though... We are going to Boston this summer, I'm a lot more thrilled with the idea of taking unpaid vacation to allow for two extra days travel time *and* being stuck in a car with two grumpy small children for ten hours. I'm sick of airlines, airports, security, the whole damn mess.
Why can't America have decent super-express trains? This country needs to be more like Japan, especially in the "professionalism at airport security" department.
Well gosh dang Chris, flying sure sounds a lot sexier with your ideas!