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.

This.

I bet she wasn't particularly polite to them either, the OP sounds like she was there for ages arguing with them because she is a MOTHER and her baby absolutely CANNOT be expected to eat formula in an emergency.

This seems overly dramatic given the only person who made a mistake sadly was you OP.

The security staff have no discretion because the consequences if they get it wrong could result in hundreds or thousands of people dead.

It's sucks that you made a mistake and it had to be thrown away, I'm not quite sure why you want security staff names when they acted perfectly properly and the screw up is on you not them.

Also, I get that expressing is hard, but the 'every ounce is hours of work' is a huge exaggeration, as if an ounce was even 1 hours work, pumping 24 hours a day wouldn't give you enough to sustain your baby.

I’ve actually found the opposite, ie that the British security staff are polite whereas in some European airports and the USA they’re very brusque indeed.

To pay to put it in the hold as the rules state they can

Hopefully you’re having a lovely day at your hotel by now @Nadsthakur, and you and your baby are both fine and fed and calmer.

I think the best outcome to all of this stress and upset is to get Ryanair (and other airlines where required) to specify on their website that frozen breast milk cannot be taken in hand luggage, so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

I would complain to the airport and ask them to make their guidelines clearer

The airport couldn’t be more clear 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️
How much more do you want it spelling out, when it quite literally says “You can carry breast milk in your hand luggage, however frozen breast milk is not allowed”?

You should have done your research. This was your own fault.

Who was it that wrote she was in the same queue as OP at the airport..? 😅

They rightly cannot break aviation law. OP could take an unlimited amount of liquid breast milk in her hand luggage or an unlimited amount of frozen milk in hold luggage. It isn’t so much testing being the issue, frozen solids obscure x-rays, so each bag would need to be fully liquid before going through the security scanner.

You can’t just leave security and go back. The rules are very clear.

Every ounce is hours of work?

It doesn’t matter if the op should or shouldn’t be EBF her child or if she should or shouldn’t buy some formula.
It doesn’t matter if the staff are polite or not.
It doesn’t matter if the rules are there for a good reason, security theatre or so that the airside shops can make money selling over priced water.
She failed to research something properly and has made out that it wasn’t her fault. She has no reason to complain to anyone.

It always amazes me how many people fine it challenging and can't pack according to the rules.

Googling what's allowed and not allowed seems to be a task that is too difficult for many.

Not understanding the instructions repeated five times by a member of staff is another.

Even putting stuff in the tray and removing jackets seems to be a stretch that people can't prepare themselves for before they get to the tray is something. Given DS knew exactly what to do age 8 I can only conclude they have less common sense than an 8 year old.

It's not that hard. Even if you think you know the rules always check your airline and airports because these rules do change.

They don't have these rules to piss you off or inconvenience you. They have these rules to keep you safe. And if they are going to these lengths they will have a bloody good reason to do so because strict security measures are expensive to enforce.

This.
In a nutshell.

That is true. However security offered for me to put my suncream in the hold and to pay for it when they said I couldn't take it as hand luggage this week. If I was told I could pay to put it in the hold at security then so should she have been offered the same. No?

I passed up on the offer as it seemed ludicrous to pay for just a suncream to go in the hold while I was only taking hand luggage. However, while she was taking other items it would've made sense.

They can't detect metal through frozen milk?? How come they can detect it in a solid suitcase then?

(Because I can't imagine what weapon bigger than, say, a single razor blade, could be fully hidden in the tiny bags that are used to hold frozen breast milk.)

I didn't say it was. I'm saying that that would be what I tried to do if it were me, and I wondered if she had tried that

Frozen liquids are quite different to a layer of plastic or leather. It isn’t just weapons, due to frozen liquids being problematic for scanners it could also prevent things like drugs being missed. Frozen liquid can often completely block x-ray, its actually quite impressive as its dependent on the placement of the molecules when the liquid freezes and more common in a slow freeze, which it would be in a domestic freezer.

It's not just weapons, it's drugs as well.

Frozen liquid messes with the scanners in the way suitcases don't. It's actually surprisingly effective at blocking X-rays in the right circumstances.

This is what was on the link that came up for me when I googled Manchester airport and breast milk.

"Breast milk can be brought in hand luggage in containers of up to 2000ml (even if you’re travelling without your baby). You can also bring formula milk, cow’s milk, soya milk, sterilised water, baby food and cooling gel packs – but your baby must be travelling with you."

https://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/blog/posts/travel-tips/top-tips-for-travelling-with-babies-and-young-children/

'It isn’t so much testing being the issue, frozen solids obscure x-rays'

Really? That seems crazy in this high tech age. So a terrorist could just check explosives into the hold and as a long as wrapped in frozen packing it's obscured when xrayed?!

It’s not security’s job to offer that.

There are some massively entitled people on this thread bordering on thick who seem to think that because they have a baby, have done some piss poor planning and need to ‘rush’ through security that somehow they should be waved through.

What could possibly go wrong…

Useful thread to emphasise that there are absolutely no exceptions to airport security rules in place to protect all passengers.

I do have empathy for OP who has misunderstood the guidelines, but I think getting a hard time on here because she 'explained several times' and suggests the officials can be tracked down via CCTV footage for punishment. No explanation from OP was needed, completely irrelevant, take No for an answer.

Anyway presumably baby survived the flight and they are enjoying a lovely hol with drama over

Good grief, listen to yourself - “a measured risk based approach”! These are staff employed on minimum wage, having to abide by a very strict, rigid set of rules for bloody obvious reasons. They do not have the power to make their own decisions, and when it comes to the safety of 300+ passengers on an aeroplane 1000s of metres up in the air moving at 500KM and hour, then that rigid set of rules is vital.
Just imagine if Sally from Bury working on security decided to not bother checking bags as they come through the scanner, and Bob from Didsbury who flirted with Sally was able to get a knife/gun/semtex onto the flight in his bag, do you think Sally would be excused for using a ‘measured risk based approach’ by claiming that ‘Bob seemed like a nice bloke and after all he WAS from Didsbury’?