Has anyone gone through new airport scanners with a pump?

We're not actually planning on flying anywhere until next year, but I know a lot of people will be traveling next week and over the holidays. I am very interested in hearing any experiences.

How do the new scanners work with pumps? I know you're not supposed to subject them to body imaging x-rays. If your pump sets off the metal detector, will you have to go through the scanner? Will you have to remove the pump? Will you have to have TSA scan it manually? If you refuse to go through the scanner, will you need to remove the pump for the pat down? Also, are they doing the evasive pat downs on children under 12?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

 

Here are two links with discussions from the ADA Type 1 Boards.
I haven't been through tne new scanners but have gone through the old ones. Being Deaf I was always patted down and scanned even more than the regular passengers, so this is not new. One time I was patted down 3 times. Maybe they thought a Deaf person should feel different than a Hearing person, I don't know. Being Deaf I have gone through some weird things.

http://connect.diabetes.org/discussions/general-discussion-type/2010/11/16/so-the-bodyscanners

http://connect.diabetes.org/discussions/general-discussion-type/2010/11/15/issues-with-ttsa

 

Emma went through the metal detectors and set them off - went straight to pat down. the full body scanners are just going to show what you disclosed is there so they pat down anyway and then do a bomb swipe

 

Flying both domestically and internationally, Maddie has worn her pump and it's never set off anything, in over a dozen flights.

I'm not happy at all with the new scans or the invasive pat down procedure. The more I read about it, the more it seems like a crazy waste of time and resources. Would I subject my kid to such a pat down? ... not sure, certainly would feel awful about having to if I did.

 

No problem with local flights (omnipod) but we are travelling to Europe this summer....we'll see.

 

NY Times editorial on the subject mentions an insulin pump as triggering a full pat-down. I'm sure this would be very uncomfortable for my 12 year old girl

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/opinion/20sat3.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

 

Oh dear, we are flying to Florida tomorrow morning

 

I read the radiation from the scanners could affect the pump.

I would not want to be exposed to excess radiation even for security reasons.

 

Please let us know how it goes.

 

I will let you know. I do have the pump ID card with me, but I doubt that will make any difference. Ab just turned 13, she will be so embarrassed.

 

For the 2 minutes it takes to go through the scanner, I'd disconnect and ask them to carry the pump for me and not xray it and reconnect afterwards. I have no problems with security if it keeps our flights safe

 

Just a few from today.

Unfortunately, people cannot simply disconnect the Omnipod or their continuous glucose monitors. It seems to me things are out of control and there's a lack of respect.

Medical Devices And The New TSA Procedures Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4986524/1/

Attention! Now arriving at Gate 6: Airport hell - National Voices - Modbee.com
http://www.modbee.com/2010/11/20/1436760/attention-now-arriving-at-gate.html



UCSF letter to Holdren concerning health risks of full body scanner TSA screenings 4-6-2010
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35498347/...-of-full-body-scanner-TSA-screenings-4-6-2010

TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40291856/ns/travel-news/

 

TSA spokesperson clarifying the policy regarding children.

"We did not do frankly a very good job of communicating initially that there would be an exemption, if you will, from the thorough pat-down for children 12 and under. That was under review when the policy came out, and so we have clarified that. It does not apply to children 12 and under."

So all our adolescent boys and girls, those who wear pumps or cgms, can look forward to being subject to advanced pat downs due to their medical devices. Maddie turns 13 in Jan. Would I subject her to this? Will I have to for her to visit her grandparents overseas next summer? Horrid situation.

 

I cannot see why wearing a pump would trigger an automatic pat-down. If your CWD goes through the scanner, it will show the infusion set. Then the TSA could physically check only that area to verify that the infusion set is just that and nothing else. The scanner has already told them that there is nothing else on the passenger that would warrant further scrutiny.

You have already told the screener that you are wearing an infusion set (pod etc) so they should only need to check that site manually.

 

Reports across the web are indicating that people wearing pumps are being uniformly pulled out for the intrusive pat down.

Edited to add ... Ellen posted at least one in her above, for those who actually read the posts of others.

 

Charlie's pump has always set off the metal detector and he (and I) have always had to get patted down. Dulles has even checked his hands for gun powder residue and that was when he was about to turn 4. He was using the metal infusion sites then. When we fly next month we will be using a different kind so I'm curious if it will set off the alarm

 

This is the experience I have had. I was hesitant about what would happen the first time, but having now been through the scanner many times, the patdown I receive is quick and minimal. They touch only the areas where the devices are, a quick explosives swab and I'm done. I found it to be significantly less intrusive than any standard pat down I've ever received. And as some one with severe sensory issues, to find the patdown tolerable is significant.

The most recent experience I had, about two weeks ago, there was no pat down at all, just an explosives check.

(I wear a pump and CGM)

 

I was thinking this too. We've been lucky, the times we have had to have the pat down, the woman who did them were very good and explained every step of the way. That being said, a young girl standing there being pat down in a little plexiglass cubicle would be, IMO, very embarassing.
My concern is when A has a set on her butt. How much of a pat down will she get? We were having this discussion this am as my parents are traveling to CA this week and were asking if the pump can go through.

 

I think that Minimed says that the pump should not go into the new full body scanners. But not everyone is put in the scanners right? Alex won't have those scanners on the way home next month but we have them here at our airport. He won't get too embarrassed by the pat down probably but I do want to give him good advice on how to handle it....go thru scanner or not?

 

Sometimes my pump sets off the scanners and sometimes it doesn't. The last time I flew--less than a week ago, it did not set it off (this was the first time I've flown with this particular pump). When it did set off the scanner, I was just asked to remove it. The only time I had a pat down was when they thought something was strange with my CPAP machine and it was done by a woman and very briefly. However, the new pat downs are much more intrusive and some feel like it is more like molestation.