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airport security scanners

pegletbee

Active Member
Messages
28
Type of diabetes
LADA
Hello fellow pumpers,
I've had my Cozmo for a couple of months now and we're doin' fine, but I'm off on holiday next week - flying from Schiphol (Amsterdam) to Florence - and I'm wondering if there's anything I'll need to know about getting through airport security with my pump.
Will I be allowed to keep it on or will I have to take it off and put it through the scanner? If so is this a problem? I don't want it getting b*****ed up due to ignorance. Also, if I can keep it on through security, Schiphol have 'whole body' scanners that you have to stand in to be checked out. Will it be OK in one of those?
My nurse was a bit vague about it all. She's given me a very general letter on hospital paper about being a diabetic, but nothing specific about the pump. She just seemed to think it would be fine.
Anyone got any tips or info on the subject?
Thanks a lot.
Pegletbee
 
Keep your pump on your body as usual and show it to the security men. Bring a letter from your doctor saying you are a diabetic and have a pump.
 
Hi there,

It's fine to walk through the body scanners with your pump as they are just metal detectors but never, ever let it go through the x-ray scanner that your bags go through. X-ray can damage your pump. Refuse to disconnect it - a letter from your GP explaining you have a pump for your diabetes and you'll be fine. I've travelled through lots of airports with mine and 9 times out of 10 it hasn't even been noticed because it's tucked in my bra or something and it doesn't seem to set of the metal detectors!!



katie
 
Don't worry, all airport security teams now seem to be aware of pumps and there is little issue. The only airport I have had a problem with recently has been Schipol! No not a serious problem, but they did scan my bag 3 times as they were curious about the pump inserter device.

They asked me what it was from the picture on the scanner. I did offer to get it out for them, but they insisted on using the scanner a 4th time before they would let me go. By then there was a very long que. :roll:

Apart from Tokyo in 2005, I have never been asked for my medical letter. Unfortunately in Tokyo, the bag with the letter had been checked in. I did though manage to blag my way onto the plane.

P.S. Don't be surprised if they swab the pump for explosives. They will do this whilst it is still connected to you.
 
It's years ago now( about 25) when T1 and I were going through security at Heathrow. We each carried idenical Diabetes kits for him. In those days it was syringes and vials. the kits were not even looked at, but they made me unscrew the lens from my camera and examined the inside. Then the "Arch" beeped as T1 walked through. He removed his zipped jacket, coins, keys and belt and it still beeped. they "wanded" him and let us through, muttering a bit. It wasn't until the evening in our Austrian Hotel, that T1 realised he was wearing safety shoes with steel toecaps.
I got "wanded" a couple of years ago everywhere I went in the USA, because I kept setting off the "arches" at airports and tourist attractions. I handed in my shoes and removed everything I was asked to and only after I got home, that I realised it was my spring clip bangle watch doing it. It was a very bling one I'd bought for a fiver. :lol: The bangle looked innocent as it was covered in faux leather
Sometimes it's not the things you think of in advance that cause the trouble.
Mind you, if Homeland Security in the USA unpack your bags as they did mine, they do a brilliant job of re-packing.Much better than I'd done 8) They did confiscate a packet of seeds I had though. Someone told me I should just have had them in my jacket pocket.
 
Just to update on this one. No problems on the outward check at Schiphol, I just told them and they let me through without even looking. On the way back from Florence there was no one at the 'in' end of the scanner to tell, so I just put my bag through and walked through the arch. They called me over and I explained I was diabetic, wearing a pump etc. The guard asked to see my letter, which she duly read, then she started searching my bag and produced ...... my new swiss army knife! Oh no! This was purchased the day before we left home to replace the two I've had confiscated already. Problem is they're just so much a part of my everyday kit that I keep forgetting to take the flipping things out of my handluggage. She was very nice though and gave me and my companion the opportunity to re-pack our small rucksacks and go back to check one in. It's a small airport, so there was time: there never is at Schiphol as it's now so huge. Incidentally I obviously wasn't at all 'with it' - and neither were they - as my friend pointed out I had a small bottle of suntan cream stuck in the side pocket of the rucksack which nobody gave a toss about, despite ostentatiously checking that the mineral water bottle I was carrying was completely empty. Still - I could go on for hours about the pointlessness of airport security checks.....
Absolutely no probs with the pump though, and we had a great break.
 
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