Airport bag inspection by TSA

[Debjax]

What is your percentage of having your carryon inspected, with the machine, hose and mask in your bag? Mine is 2 inspections out of 13 trips through security.

When I've traveled in the last month, it has to come out of the bag (like a laptop) and it has to be swabbed...

[Victoria]

I just got the cpap, so haven't had to travel with it yet, but our ds #2 has a nebulizer for chronic asthma and our dd#2 has a feeding tube. I can hardly wait to carry on all this junk....I generally have a backpack just full of meds for our kiddos when we fly. Add the cpap into that, and I can let the good times roll....

[Debjax]

I just got the cpap, so haven't had to travel with it yet, but our ds #2 has a nebulizer for chronic asthma and our dd#2 has a feeding tube. I can hardly wait to carry on all this junk....I generally have a backpack just full of meds for our kiddos when we fly. Add the cpap into that, and I can let the good times roll....

We need airport sherpas....

[Kiralynx]

WHY are they taking your cane away? Unless you have given them good reason to do so, they have to let you take that through with you. From the TSA site: (I'm also betting that with documentation from your doctor, you can get your food and liquids through...see below..)

Damifino... unless it's the fact that my cane is metal, and four-pronged. But every time I've flown, they've insisted on taking it. They give me one of theirs, but it's not the right balance nor the right height. Then, after I go through the scanner, they'll give it back...

And yeah, I printed out the stuff about my cane and food. Doesn't matter. A lot of SCDers are afraid to fly because of this. It totally depends on the staff at the gates.

I've been asking for a letter about the food from my doc for the last umpgrunch years. Every time, he says he'll get it to me, and he never gets around to it. But one of many reasons he is about to become my former PCP. Up until this whole liquid/gel business, food wasn't really an issue. Now it is.

My husband says he'd rather drive than go through the gyrations they put me through. I apparently look dangerous, because they always pull me aside. He, on the other hand, they don't even look at.

[Debjax]

WHY are they taking your cane away? Unless you have given them good reason to do so, they have to let you take that through with you. From the TSA site: (I'm also betting that with documentation from your doctor, you can get your food and liquids through...see below..)

My husband says he'd rather drive than go through the gyrations they put me through. I apparently look dangerous, because they always pull me aside. He, on the other hand, they don't even look at.

It's the enigmatic smile....they know you have SOMETHING up your sleeve...

[Kiralynx]

It's the enigmatic smile....they know you have SOMETHING up your sleeve...

Uh-huh. Well, I did scare the bejaysus out of a guy in an SUV, once. I'm crossing the crosswalk. He came rip-roaring up, slammed on the brakes (musta hurt, the way he went over the speed bumps). And stopped. I continued walking. He was impatient and beeped his horn at me. I stopped. Turned. Looked directly at him, and LIFTED my cane. Smiled. Two quick steps, assuming the knee and hip didn't give out, and I could have smashed in his windshield. He threw his SUV into reverse and backed up rather violently. I set my cane down and continued walking. He waited until I was safely on the sidewalk before coming cautiously forward at the posted speed limit.

I remember the security at Dublin International (Ireland). I'd had a bit of a problem returning the rental car, and was exasperated when I came in the main door. The guard inquired politely if I had any weapons or explosives on me. "Only my temper," said I. He threw back his head, laughed, and said, "Ah, if tempers were illegal, all Ireland would be banned from flyin'!"

Now, imagine a TSA's response to that kind of cheeky comment!

We were hoping to go back there this year...dunno if we'll make it. The traveling will be interesting... although I already have a step-down transformer so I don't have to risk my BiPap on overseas current.

[TheDreamer]

I have essential tremor...which seems to be worse when I'm tired. But, airport security will pull me aside and give me extra screening because apparently I look suspicious.... Rarely they'll ask why am I nervous...and won't believe me when I say I'm not. Only once was that ever followed up with the question "then why is your hand shaking?" I know I got mad, but I didn't yell or cause a scene...because it was a custom's officer just before the very end of a long flight....and he was blocking the exit to the end of that trip.

Didn't help that there were weather delays and I had taken the long way to Calgary.....I was supposed to go Kansas City->Denver->Calgary. But, due to weather the flight to Denver was rerouted to Chicago. And, once in Chicago...the last flight of the day for Calgary had already gone...so my only option was to get on to a flight from Chicago to Denver and then Denver to Calgary.

My trip isn't until April 30th...but I'm sure worrying about flying with CPAP. I think I'm more worried about getting through security than using CPAP in a hotel room, etc.

The Dreamer.

[TheDreamer]

It's the enigmatic smile....they know you have SOMETHING up your sleeve...

Wonder if I have that to look forward to....right now I'm too tired to smile when I'm traveling.

Maybe I'm also not looking forward to not dozing off while traveling. But, I tend to do that when I'm just sitting and not doing enough. And, the in-flight magazine doesn't hold my interest long enough, and there's only so many times I can read the safety card. I think the last few trips I'll even doze off watching the flight attendants do their safety 'dance'.

Come to think of it, it is one of the reasons why my parents have a hard time believing that I have a sleep disorder....the fact that I seem to be able to so easily sleep anywhere...in hotels, in airports, on airplanes, in a car, in the office.....

Though it was the last that finally enough....dozing off in a moving car was just an annoyance....except that one time that I was behind the wheel.

The Dreamer.

[Gale Hawkins]

100%

[ColinP]

I've flown six times with my CPAP and it's never been checked. Of course all this in in South Africa, so it's probably meangingless, except as a comparison. I do get patted down each time I step through the metal detector though, cos the plate in my arm sets it off.

[cflame1]

My trip isn't until April 30th...but I'm sure worrying about flying with CPAP. I think I'm more worried about getting through security than using CPAP in a hotel room, etc.

Don't worry about it. Be polite, be calm.

The security in the US will make a bigger deal out of it than the security in Canada. The ones in Canada take one look at my bag with the Respironics logo and know exactly what it is. No hassles at all. The ones in the US, I ask them to use fresh gloves and they are really polite about it.

I've flown in and out of Calgary a couple of times last year. You should be just fine.

[Fafner]

I have traveled with my CPAP equipment three times since August '08 and have never had it swabbed. I always treat it as a carry-on (doesn't count toward any limit) and when going thru security place it in its own "tub" with my DME provided letter explaining what it is on top. These trips have been between New York, Miami and San Francisco. It has been a breeze.

[momadams]

I travel with my CPAP, flute, piccolo, and formerly a leg brace.
Takes me forever to get things set up to go through the scanner - asking people to go around me is a pain. Last trip, I had my 3 tubs laid out ( one for shoes, one for cpap, one for cpap case), and somebody behind me took one of them...
BUT
In ABQ, PDX,SEA,DEN,OAK I've had nothing but courteous, caring treatment by TSA and they treat my "equipment" with respect.

Shari

[Kiralynx]

Come to think of it, it is one of the reasons why my parents have a hard time believing that I have a sleep disorder....the fact that I seem to be able to so easily sleep anywhere...in hotels, in airports, on airplanes, in a car, in the office.....

Well, you have three more months of therapy ahead of you -- you may find, as I am -- that as you begin to catch up on your sleep debt, you aren't doing that any more.

Who knows? You might have to start carrying a book to read!