Taking HRT gel (>100ml) on flight in hand luggage?

[bearinup]

I'm packing as we're flying later today. It's a short trip so we only have hand luggage. I've recently started HRT and it's a gel in a pump pack which gives a measured dose each day. If I transfer it to another container I won't be able to manage the daily doses so precisely. The airport says medication can be more than 100ml if you have evidence. I may have the prescription somewhere - I need to look. Will that be enough? But really I don't want to have to publicly present my HRT medication in front of my kids and a queue of people - it feels a bit private. Does anyone have experience of this? Will they just see the bottle, with the prescription taped to it, understand what it is, and wave me through or will I have to explain myself?

You'll need the prescription i think. They shouldn't be caring what it's for, just making sure it's legitimate, in the interests of everyone's safety.

Ring your doctor and ask. You might need a note aswell as your prescription. You have to have it out and visible, I'd definitely expect them to ask you what it is and why you use it to verify its yours and real.

I’ve literally just had to do this myself! Took the gel in a separate (slightly bigger) clear bag with a copy of the prescription. When it went through the scanner they took the tray to one side to be inspected again, the security guy picked it up and said ‘HRT?’ I said yes and that was the end of it.

You don’t need to squash it in with the rest of your liquids, you’re allowed a separate bag for prescribed liquid meds.

Oh and he didn’t look at the prescription but it might be worth taking if you have a copy.

Someone said previously on the menopause section that it’s not 100ml.

I was told at Heathrow you need a Dr’s letter for medicine. This was for. eye solution.

I had a separate clear bag for liquid/gel medicines. I didn't have a copy of the prescription but they were all in the original packaging with the pharmacy prescription label with the bame on it. At security, they unpacked them, checked the name labels against our passports and us (ds was waiting to one side, they called him over to check his ID and medicine).

If you look on the airline website it will tell you what you need. For example we are flying BA and you need a copy of the prescription for medication.

Whether they ask you any questions or not nobody can say, it's the luck of the draw.

Like most situations though you are less likely to be questioned if you 'present yourself' well. Make sure you put everything neatly in the tray, don't forget a phone or a belt or whatever. Get your kids through the scanner one by one in a calm and timely fashion. That sort of thing.

I'd keep the prescription in my pocket and if they ask what the medicine is for you can get out the prescription and hand it over.

I always put my meds in a separate clear bag along with the prescription and a copy of my hospital letter. Never had any problems. I find the security staff are discreet about checking meds.

I can of Oestrogel/Oestrodose is under 100ml and within allowed limits. All meds should be taken in hand luggage in case hold luggage gets lost. They should be taken in their original containers with evidence they’re for you depending on which country you’re travelling to. Usually a prescription is fine, sometimes a letter from a GP is required (as in the recent ridiculous guidelines from a couple of airlines). For example people who travel with diabetes meds and syringes take the required proof. In practice the majority will tell you they are never stopped - they’re more interested in things like narcotics. However my view is still check laws of the country where you’re going eg if UAE.

You can put the gel in a separate clear sealed bag, with prescription if you have it or the outer box with the pharmacy sticker that has your details on.

Have a good holiday.

I very much doubt it will be the case for your meds, but as a warning to anyone else reading this, you should also check that the drugs you are taking to another country are legal in that country. Some routinely prescribed drugs in the UK are actually illegal in some countries.

My daughter has heart meds in a larger than 100ml bottle and all security needed was the prescription label which was on the box so I included that with the bottle

When PP are saying 'a copy of the prescription', what do they mean? My scripts are sent direct to the pharmacy, all I get is the year off part that you can use to reorder your medication. Would that do? It has my name and address, the GP address and a list of the drugs.

I took it recently and no one even questioned it. I had printed off the repeat prescription page from the gp online system just in case anyone asked me about it (but they didn’t and all in all I went on 4 flights).

I just flew from Heathrow on Sunday and just put my my HRT gel (in it's container and box from the pharmacy) in a clear bag. When I went through security the guard just picked it up and I told him it was HRT and he just told me to take it out of its box and put it back in the bag, and then told me to have a nice day. Honestly, no one cared around me what I was taking and he wasn't interested at all :) x

The gel is 80g which is equivalent to 80ml, so under 100ml. I just peeled the prescription sticker off the box, stuck it on the bottle and took it through with no issue at all.

I've travelled several times with the same gel in a clear bag. It's misleading because the packaging is big but the gel itself is under 150 which is fine.

I took oestrogel when I made 4 flights a couple of weeks ago and put it through in the liquids bag. No problems at any of the airports. I stuck the chemist label on it, but none of the security people gave it a second glance and went through X-ray machines fine. This was Portugal and Spain.

I've just flown to France with mine, took in hand luggage, went in a special black tray through X-ray machine, I kept it in its box which had the prescription label on with my name, they checked this against my passport.

Would add, I think if it'd just been in my transparent liquids bag they wouldn't have checked, but I couldn't fit it in there with all my other wash stuff, so I put it through separately.