New TSA Policy on Expressed Breastmilk

Traveling on airplanes with expressed breastmilk just got easier. As of August 4, 2007, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) instituted a new policy concerning transporting pumped breastmilk in airplane carry-on luggage. Breastmilk may now be carried in any quantity and in no special container as long as it is declared for inspection at the airport security checkpoint. This modification of TSA rules is a great victory for breastfeeding women.

In August of 2006, the TSA, an agency created after 9/11 as a part of the Homeland Security Administration to police security in the U.S. transportation system, banned all liquids from airline carry-on luggage. In September of 2006 this rule was modified to allow liquids packaged in accordance with a procedure known as "3-1-1." Under 3-1-1, which applied to pumped breastmilk, all liquids had to be carried in individual three ounce containers all of which were required to fit into one twelve ounce zip lock bag.

Needless to say, that is not a lot of breastmilk and this regulation caused significant problems for breastfeeding women traveling without their children. Not only were allowable quantities small and packaging requirements difficult, TSA agents were often unaware of the regulation and women frequently complained that breastmilk was confiscated and dumped despite compliance with the 3-1-1 policy.

Under the new policy, breastmilk is now classified as a "medical necessity" and will be treated by TSA agents as a liquid medication. Under this classification, breastmilk must be presented for visual inspection and may be run through X-ray. While the TSA does not now require any particular packaging for breastmilk, it should be carried in a container that allows it to be seen to avoid agents pouring the breastmilk into another container for inspection. Thus far, the TSA web site offers little additional guidance for traveling with breastmilk, stating only that "[w]e don't discuss our specific security procedures. Since the liquid ban, passengers have been required to present exempt liquids at the checkpoint to undergo additional scrutiny." What that additional scrutiny will be is unknown.

Given the TSA's history of inconsistent enforcement, it is strongly advisable to print the new breastmilk policy, along with the TSA policy on liquid medication, from the TSA web site and carry them while traveling. Please note that the TSA website page called "Traveling with Children" contains incorrect information about traveling with breastmilk. BWB has filed a complaint with the TSA demanding that its website information concerning breastmilk be consistent and correct. If a TSA agent fails to comply with the new policy, a traveler may ask to see a supervisor and may file an incident report. Incident reports should be filed while still in the airport.

Please send BWB your experiences traveling with breastmilk under the new TSA policy.