In all my travels I have never seen a TSA agent with a PDR. I will try to remember to ask them about this when I travel next in a few weeks. They care about more important things, I think. I hope.
I only take one med and vitamins but also travel with OTCs (dramimine, benadryl, etc) and put them all in their little cards (or baggies) in a small pouch. Have never - in about a gazillion trips - had anyone question this.
What they tend to really look for is how many liquids you are carrying.
What they tend to really look for is how many liquids you are carrying.
I've traveled hundreds of times since 9/11 and never once has any TSA Agent or similar "agent" in any foreign county EVER look at or questioned any of my medications, whether they've been in M-S dispensers , loose in plain zip-lock bags, bulk bottles, etc.
FYI - Spouse sometimes has one OTH medication that's a powder in a large bottle. TSA occasionally shakes the container to make sure it is not a liquid or gel and then gives it a pass.
OP's concerns are a non-issue.
FYI - Spouse sometimes has one OTH medication that's a powder in a large bottle. TSA occasionally shakes the container to make sure it is not a liquid or gel and then gives it a pass.
OP's concerns are a non-issue.
The TSA wants you to put into the bins only that which they require to be put in, and pills do not require special screening. So even if you decide to carry original bottles, don't pull them out. Leave them in your purse.
Yes, we never pull any of that stuff out for all to see.
In fact, our favorite vitamin is a powder, which we sometimes bring, and we like to take brewers yeast, also a powdwe - absolutely proven to help with vit B deficiency in our cases.
We put these in something similar to a Talenti gelato container with a screw lid (or a smaller version), leave it in in our bags. Never had a issue, and a reason to buy gelato, if you need one.
The only time we were ever stopped was returning from Mexico with about a kilo of course ground rock salt from a salt flat in Baja, where it was harvested and sold, wrapped in suspicious looking plastic bag. The agent knew exactly what it was when he found it, smiled, and waved us through.
In fact, our favorite vitamin is a powder, which we sometimes bring, and we like to take brewers yeast, also a powdwe - absolutely proven to help with vit B deficiency in our cases.
We put these in something similar to a Talenti gelato container with a screw lid (or a smaller version), leave it in in our bags. Never had a issue, and a reason to buy gelato, if you need one.
The only time we were ever stopped was returning from Mexico with about a kilo of course ground rock salt from a salt flat in Baja, where it was harvested and sold, wrapped in suspicious looking plastic bag. The agent knew exactly what it was when he found it, smiled, and waved us through.
Even going through Dubai and Abu Dhabi we had no issue with meds. We were concerned because we were going to be away for extended time and needed 60 days of pills. And they have some strange things on their forbidden list. We were carrying some "pain pills" and we went with original containers, doctors script and they didn't even notice.
This a really a non-issue; take what you need in any convenient container and put it in your carryon and very done with it. You are over thinking this....
This a really a non-issue; take what you need in any convenient container and put it in your carryon and very done with it. You are over thinking this....
I honestly don't know where the myth of 'original containers' came from. The TSA website has always only mentioned some sort of labeling -- and that is only a suggestion, not a mandate. And before TSA -- was a total non-issue.
But when traveling it probably IS a good idea to have some sort of basic labeling -- if just in case of emergency and someone needs to know what meds you are taking.
But when traveling it probably IS a good idea to have some sort of basic labeling -- if just in case of emergency and someone needs to know what meds you are taking.
My pharmacy will put prescription labels on zip lock bags and it works well. They say they do it all the time because many people going on certain trips (African Safaris, etc) can only take a very small bag. I only put my eye drops in my plastic bag that I put in the TSA bin. All the rest of prescriptions are left in my bag and put thru the machine.
Again - use logic. Anyone with a good printer and some computer skills can make a label that says anything and looks authentic. (Same concept as why an "MD letter" requesting certain privileges or accommodations is useless).
Anyone can put 100 oxycontin in a Bayer's aspirin bottle. No one is going to open it and look. And if they do they will see 100 little white pills.
Anyone can put 100 oxycontin in a Bayer's aspirin bottle. No one is going to open it and look. And if they do they will see 100 little white pills.
Forget bothering the drug store. When I used to travel with a prescribed controlled substance I asked them to print out a label since I carried all my pills in unmarked containers, many drugs in one container, or sometimes in ZipLocs. That label from the pharmacy was carried for so many years in my wallet in case I got stopped. I was far more worried about customs than TSA. The label was never looked at and became so tattered I threw it out. No problem. Lisgten to Gail.
Face it, TSA agents are not qualified to make pharmaceutical and medical decisions for travelers. Imagine confiscating just one travelers meds leads to death. I always travel with a slurry pill box that has OTC excedrin for head aches, tylenol for aches, and a couple of vicodin for emergency if going to the emergency room isn't necessary. Now if you're traveling with a mason jar of vicodin - well that's a red flag. No blue pills here.
I've never in my entire life had any TSA agent ask me about drugs, why would they? It's not something they are concerned about in the Xray machines (which is metal, etc). I certainly don't carry them in the original containers, I think that is ridiculous as my containers hold 90 days, I'm not taking that on a trip, I just take the number of pills I need in a small pillbox I carry in my purse. I"m not taking anything remotely controlled, but they are prescriptions.
The idea that some "original container" is going to prove anything is so stupid I don't even know why any security agency would recommend such a thing as proving anything. You wouldn't have to have that high an IQ to just get a container for some innocuous prescription and fill it with illegal drugs if that's all it took to prove something. If the TSA says you have to do it and that it proves something, that shows how deficient they are. Having read what the TSA advises, they are talking about things that are controlled through the security process, not a few small pills--anything that is liquid or aerosol or a gel, for example, and can't be contained in the 1 qt bag you are allowed or that could be detected in screening. Not pills.
The idea that some "original container" is going to prove anything is so stupid I don't even know why any security agency would recommend such a thing as proving anything. You wouldn't have to have that high an IQ to just get a container for some innocuous prescription and fill it with illegal drugs if that's all it took to prove something. If the TSA says you have to do it and that it proves something, that shows how deficient they are. Having read what the TSA advises, they are talking about things that are controlled through the security process, not a few small pills--anything that is liquid or aerosol or a gel, for example, and can't be contained in the 1 qt bag you are allowed or that could be detected in screening. Not pills.
Just to add to the chorus...
I recently traveled to and from Brazil with pills in checked luggage (daily vitamins, each day in a tiny ziploc, two weeks' + worth, as well as OTC meds such as Motrin and Immodium) and in carry on bag (a few tiny ziplocs with vitamins, plus individual small containers with prescription meds, plus some Motrin, Immodium, and Mucinex), none labeled or in their original containers, and SO had the same in his checked and carry on bags, and neither of us encountered any extra questions anywhere.
Unless your prescription meds come in large white bricks wrapped in plastic and masking tape, this is a non-issue.
I recently traveled to and from Brazil with pills in checked luggage (daily vitamins, each day in a tiny ziploc, two weeks' + worth, as well as OTC meds such as Motrin and Immodium) and in carry on bag (a few tiny ziplocs with vitamins, plus individual small containers with prescription meds, plus some Motrin, Immodium, and Mucinex), none labeled or in their original containers, and SO had the same in his checked and carry on bags, and neither of us encountered any extra questions anywhere.
Unless your prescription meds come in large white bricks wrapped in plastic and masking tape, this is a non-issue.
All is well. I asked two different TSA reps and they told me that in the state that I live in, it is a requirement to carry CONTROLLED Rx meds in its original container, but that they usually do not bother with pills, in general. They also added that it is SUGGESTED, not required and he doesn't remember a time when they have pulled someone over re: Rx pills.
TSA will not question your meds. Not in their job description unless it is liquid. The only time I ever saw meds checked was with a girl that passed out and they could not wake her. Delta called the leo's and they got her awake enough to get her permission to check her meds to see if she had overdosed. They wheeled her out and she got picked up. Some people self medicate to get on the plane and then don't make it. I personally take my ambien in the original container but everything else goes in a daily pill container. If you have narcotic pain meds I would keep in bottle if flying international.
