Airport security discarded ALL my frozen expressed milk before our flight

[Nadsthakur]

During security screening, approximately 25 ounces of my frozen expressed breast milk was confiscated and discarded. I was told that because it was frozen, it could not be tested and therefore could not be taken through security.

I explained several times that this milk was for my 8-month-old daughter, who is unable to latch and is exclusively fed expressed breast milk. This was not simply a drink or an inconvenience, it was my daughter's only prepared source of nutrition for our journey. Despite explaining this, I was told there was nothing that could be done, and I had to stand there and watch as the milk was thrown away.

I cannot put into words how upsetting this was. Expressing 25 ounces of breast milk takes an enormous amount of time, dedication and physical effort. It means pumping throughout the day and night, carefully storing every bottle and planning ahead. Every ounce represents hours of work. To have it thrown away in front of me, after explaining exactly how important it was, was absolutely heartbreaking.

What made the situation even worse was the attitude of the officers involved. Throughout the interaction, I felt they showed very little empathy or understanding of how serious this was. I was clearly distressed and repeatedly explained that they were taking away my baby's only food for our journey. Rather than trying to help, showing compassion or explaining whether there were any alternative screening options, my concerns were simply dismissed.

After my daughter's food had been thrown away, I was handed a customer feedback card and sent on my way. It genuinely felt as though nobody cared that an 8-month-old baby had just lost the only food I had prepared for her. The complete lack of compassion shown towards me as a mother was deeply upsetting and made an already distressing situation even worse.

Instead of looking forward to our holiday, I boarded an international flight feeling anxious and devastated, worrying about how I was going to feed my daughter while we were away. No parent should ever be put in that position.

Before travelling, I checked the guidance available to passengers. Ryanair's website clearly states that parents travelling with an infant can bring as much baby milk as needed for the flight, provided it is presented for inspection. I relied on this information when preparing for our journey. At no point was I made aware that frozen expressed breast milk could be refused because it could not be tested, and I was given no alternative option when I reached security.

I do not know the names of the officers involved, but im sure they can be identified through CCTV footage and staff rosters for the security checkpoint.
I want Manchester Airport to provide a full explanation of why my daughter's expressed breast milk was confiscated.
The specific policy or security procedure that required it to be discarded.
An explanation of why no alternative screening method. The time and physical effort it took to express and store it, and the significant distress, anxiety and disruption this caused to both me and my family.im supposed to enjoy my holiday and now im stressed in morroco about how I will feed her. She doesnt latch and only has expressed milk. Besides complaining to the Airport what else can I do so no other family goes through this.

Jobs worth! I had security in Manchester confiscate all my baby milk (5 small cartons but over 100ml - Aptamil), even though they were sealed, I asked them if they could pick a random one I would drink it in front of them, to prove they haven’t been tampered with but no, they all had to be chucked in the bin.

You don’t spout your view that airport security staff are “dicks” in front of your children do you? @BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw

You have an issue with authority

and a meaning towards major exaggeration. Bellowing at you? Nope

Can you imagine the outcry if airport security broke the rules and allowed a banned/dangerous substance onto a plane that a load of holiday makers were on and it ended in disaster? Of course it was upsetting for you but they are doing their job of enforcing regulations that are there for safety. Do you think terrorists go on the planes wearing masks or holding hand guns? No, getting a breastfeeding mother to try to board the plane with frozen 'breast milk' is exactly the kind of tactic they might try.

@1WhiffyGrowler Your logic is astounding.

Is an obvious mum carrying a baby with small bottles REALLY like to be a terrorist??!

I'm so sorry OP. I pumped exclusively for my now 13 year old, I understand what losing that amount of milk means.

• Because it might not actually be Radox.
• Because a smaller object might be concealed inside a larger bottle of Radox.

Threat model looks like: Take a tube that is narrow enough to fit in the Radox bottle's neck, paint it Radox-coloured, fill it with Class A drugs or a skinny knife, put it in the Radox bottle.

Not only that, they can vote. No wonder the country's screwed.

And if there was a bomb or the like on the plane people would be demanding answers. If the security guard who let it through said ‘well she was just a mum with a baby and it was some breastmilk’ people would be rightly furious.

Did OP suggest that? Because it's not security's job to.

Aren’t shops usually after the security check anyway?

indeed. Clearly that poster thinks only single brown men with backpacks are risky.

I’d have been appalled if the airport HAD let her board with all that frozen milk!

sounds stressful but you should have checked the rules first.

Also, i am not really sure why an exclusively breastfed and now weaned child needs you to express milk? surely bf is the easiest solution every time rather than faffing with expressed milk?

• Security don't know that these are actually your kids.
• Security don't know that you aren't pretending to go on holiday but actually intend to hijack the plane.
• Security don't know whether you've been given contraband or an explosive by someone else without knowing yourself what it is.

How do the security team know that the man living with OP didn’t substitute one of her frozen packs for something nefarious and tip off his accomplice on the flight he’d done so?

Even if everything will be fine in the vast majority of cases, they are there to try and stop the very small % of times an attack has been planned. The other travellers (and the people living below flight paths) are very grateful for this!

Everyone focuses on 9/11 but there was also Lockerbie, the shoe bomber and various other airline related incidents. The potential for mass loss of life is huge!

Where did Op say she was going to Morocco?

I can’t make sense of this, you were travelling from Manchester to Morocco and you had approximately six bottles worth of frozen milk. You say you also had some which was refrigerated so only the frozen stuff was thrown away? But then you mentioned not having anything to feed your daughter on the flight – what happened to the refrigerated milk? Apart from that, how often were these six small bottles of milk going to last in Morocco? Did you not bring a pump to express more milk? If your daughter will only drink expressed milk rather than latching on, how are you going to maintain your supply while away if not pumping? So much that doesn’t make sense here.

also, if every ounce of expressed milk represents hours of work then I’m sorry but that is not normal.

In one of her 3 posts.

It's also worth remembering (or looking up if you don't know) that crying babies are often used in high-pressure scams and cons, as the sound is designed to set people on edge and this is used alongside the sympathy factor to pressure people into bypassing security protocols or common sense.

There was a great video on YouTube of someone playing a crying baby in the background, then ringing up a company pretending to be a stressed mum trying to get into her "husband's" account. She was successful.

A mum with a baby is a high-risk factor for security because of the emotional guilt and pressure they might try to apply, as in OPs case. They're not an occasion to lower the bar; far from it.

First post. She spelled it "morroco".

Sounds to me that the OP thought that she checked the rules, but read a kind of shortened version and didn't pick the nuance about frozen not being a liquid.
And it's understandable mistake that when one thinks they have a confirmation, they stop there and don't search for more details.

That said, there was nothing to be done about that - security staff aren't allowed to bend rules or invent new ways of testing stuff. One person put on spot wouldn't be a match for methods of hiding stuff organized baddies could come uo with.

If baby stuff wasn't routinely checked to the same standard as the other things, it would be a clear invitation for drug smugglers to focus on contacting mums with babies, and the result would be destroyed lifes of young families.

Many say airport security doesn't have empathy, but I'm wondering now whether more polite an "human" communication would just lead to people assuming they can negotiate with them, trying to argue their points... which would be pointless and take time.

I clearly have a heart of stone but Im reassured that airport security dont make exceptions for distraught mothers, confused elderly ladies, clueless teenagers etc It's not nice when it's you or your family-my mum got herself into a right muddle going through security recently (87 and quite deaf which didn't help) but their job is to keep the flights safe and they can't be creating loopholes to be exploited.

The security guard has to follow the rules. I get they might appear dispassionate but they have to do this stuff every day. Loads of people try to get stuff through they are not allowed to. I understand your sadness but unfortunately they are the rules.

I've read her posts 2 or 3 times and still don't see Morrocco getting mentioned

Skyler White did something similar to get a locksmith to break into a house for her in Breaking Bad. I know that's fiction, but it was very plausible.

Last paragraph of her opening post, says she is stuck in Morocco