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Posted 4/24/2012 2:03 PM (GMT 0)
I just got back from an 11 day trip, which was excellent (except that I picked up a cold and am not feeling so great now).

Here is my airport experience:

Leaving in Boston. Got the scanner, didn't tell them about the bag, but held the blue card from the UOAA in my hand. They said I was fine. I was shocked, as all other times (when I told them about the bag in advance) I got pat down in one way or another.

San Francisco: Got in a line with a metal detector and a scanner. Got lucky and got the metal detector.

Chicago: There were several lines and some had metal detectors and some had scanners. I just chose a line w/a metal detector and was fine (if you're not sure which is which, watch others walk through -- in the scanners they lift their arms over their heads).

The airports were very different. I think Logan (Boston) was one of the pilot places for scanners and they are everywhere there, very hard to avoid. But in San Francisco, it seemed like they didn't have very many of them. O'Hare (Chicago) was maybe half and half.

Bottom line -- try to get a metal detector, but even if you get a scanner, you're probably OK.... oh, I emptied right before going through, not sure if that mattered or not in the scan.
Posted 4/24/2012 4:13 PM (GMT 0)
Yay! So glad it went well for you!
I don't think the emptying matters I had just emptied in orlando and mine showed up the same as it did in new orleans. Except in new orleans it showed up at my knee!
Maybe they just recognized the card.
Anyway, the cold sucks, but sounds like otherwise it was a good trip!
Posted 4/25/2012 7:50 PM (GMT 0)
lol you can hide the drugs in the poop bag mixed with poo. I wonder if it can be detected.
Posted 9/9/2013 10:00 AM (GMT 0)
I found that the so-called best metal detector in the airport are always annoying. Once my watch was magnetized by the body scanner.

Post Edited (ShayneThill) : 9/10/2013 7:45:55 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/9/2013 12:45 PM (GMT 0)
I went through the scanner twice with mine and no one said boo :) Glad you had a nice trip!
Posted 9/9/2013 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
I always get dinged by the full body scanners and never the metal detectors. Obviously if there is a choice I go for the metal dtectors. San Francisco where I normally fly out of has mostly full body scanners but they have a line with a metal detector at some of the security checks labeled "medical liquids and families". It may be a stretch but I try to go through that line and no one yet has questioned it.

I dont really mind the scanners as you just touch the clothing over the pouch and they wipe/swab your hand and run it though a machine. Problem is all this time (if you are traveling by yourself)your stuff is sitting unattended including, computer cell phone, wallet. That I dont like.
Posted 9/9/2013 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
 

Glad you didn't have any issues at the airports and had a great time.  Sorry, about the cold.

Would you believe that at 59, and in this day and age, I have never flown?    Not sure about overall, but in my little corner of the world, I am in the minority when it comes to flying.

 

Posted 9/9/2013 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
This is an old post, and now my bag always shows up on the new scanners... but it is easier, as they just test hands for residue. For a while, I was having to have a lot of pat downs, which were annoying. People were always nice and professional about it, but just disruptive.
Posted 9/13/2013 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
Gee, I flew this summer and I never even thought about the pouch. I just went through the scanner and/or metal detector and didn't say boo. Never got asked about it either. Do people really get hassled about it?
Posted 9/13/2013 8:32 PM (GMT 0)
If you get one of the newer scanners, the one that goes around you (sort of like a ct scan machine but standing up) it will pick up the bag. Metal detectors and some of the older scanners don't pick it up..... but those new ones do, every time.
Posted 9/13/2013 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I went through at least one of those, but nobody questioned me.

blueglass said...
If you get one of the newer scanners, the one that goes around you (sort of like a ct scan machine but standing up) it will pick up the bag. Metal detectors and some of the older scanners don't pick it up..... but those new ones do, every time.

Posted 9/13/2013 9:16 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe there are different brands or something... when I've been in them, I can see the screen on the way out, and my bag shows up perfectly.... good part, though, is that the people there seem to know what it is now.
Posted 9/15/2013 7:13 AM (GMT 0)
There was a drive in the UK to install body scanners in airports, but the gov did a 180 on it and they have been removed. I went through chicagagos o'hare earlier this year and went through one of these revolving scanners. Curious I looked at the screen afterwards and it's all kind of blinded. Some buttons on my trousers lit up which were circled in red.
Posted 9/16/2013 1:38 AM (GMT 0)
I have yet to notice any difference whatsoever in screening with my ostomy vs before- have flown half a dozen times I think that it is well established as "nothing more to see here, move along" by most screeners. I keep expecting to be asked about it (the pouch) but it never seems to happen. I dont have nor plan to get any card or letter for my ostomy but maybe I should just in case I need it one day.
Posted 9/16/2013 10:16 AM (GMT 0)
I have not needed any card or letter, but I definitely have not have anyone who saw the bag and said just move along. I always get at least my hands tested for explosives. With the older equipment, I did just move along, but they didn't see the bag....
Posted 9/16/2013 10:16 AM (GMT 0)
I have not needed any card or letter, but I definitely have not have anyone who saw the bag and said just move along. I always get at least my hands tested for explosives. With the older equipment, I did just move along, but they didn't see the bag....
Posted 9/16/2013 1:47 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting. The only time I have had my hands tested for explosives was when that step was before the scanning. In screening where I walk through or stand in a scanner, that was always the end of it. But good to know that you never have even been asked.
Posted 9/17/2013 12:01 PM (GMT 0)
Well go figure, last minute flight yesterday, and I sailed through, just as some of you mentioned. That was very welcome.....
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