A mother of two was recently “humiliated” after being forced by Heathrow Airport security to toss almost 15 litres of breast milk. Jessica Coakley Martinez hit out at the UK’s biggest airport in an open letter published on Facebook, calling the rules “incredibly unfair”.
Restrictions for carrying liquids on flights departing the UK have been in place since 2006, when a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives on seven transatlantic airliners was stopped. But Martinez, who was not travelling with her eight-month-old son at the time, vented frustration at her treatment, saying:
“You made me dump out nearly two weeks’ worth of food for my son”. We’re guessing it was fair bit of work as well, but really we can’t say as producing breast milk is not something any of the Belly Achers have attempted… yet.
According to Heathrow’s website, exceptions are made for baby food and baby milk, but the passenger must be travelling with an infant and that excess liquids should be carried as hold luggage. Martinez, from the US – ahh yes, we see part of the problem already – admits she should have checked the rules (really? yah think?), but she believes that not allowing a mother travelling alone to take breast milk
through security was “incredibly unfair and exclusionary in consideration of all of the other working mothers like me”.
She said that most of the 15 litres of milk was “frozen solid” but that she was ordered to dump that too. “I was willing to let go of the liquid milk. But you also wanted the solid milk because it could ‘melt and become a liquid’,” she said. Yes, that does tend to happen according to some mysterious physics stuff .
“I now don’t have the option to solely breastfeed my son because I don’t have enough milk to supply him while I’m at work, despite all of my best eff orts. Security is the priority, but it isn’t and shouldn’t be your only goal, and it certainly shouldn’t punish those you intend to protect.”
Hmmm, while we do feel for Ms Martinez, it seems a wee bit inconceivable she hasn’t heard about the 100ml liquid limit. And to be fair, it could have been explosive milk!
POSTSCRIPT: It turns out that Ms Martinez isn’t the fi rst to get done for breast milk at security. She’s actually in the company of Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano who had 10 ounces of the precious liquid confiscated at Heathrow (we’re starting to see a pattern here!) last year. Solilciting the support of her fans, Milano tweeted: “@HeathrowAirport just took my pumped breast milk away. 10 ounces. Gone. Not okay. Th ey said they would let the pumped milk through if I had the baby with me. Why would I need to pump if I had the baby with me????”
Yes well, good point! So really the take home lesson here is – don’t try to bring that unaccompanied milk with you! Bring the baby! Or… just leave the milk in its natural storage … errr um, ‘containers’.
What’s a shower without a bit of soap?
China’s Chang An Airlines endured a very embarrassing first day back in the air as an independent carrier after firetrucks at Zhuhai Airport accidentally sprayed B737-800 wiThfire-suppressing foam instead of water during the traditional water cannon salute. At least the airport fire fighters know what that other lever is for on the fire truck! Guess reading the owners manual wasn’t high on the priority list.
The aircraft, which had just arrived from its inaugural flight from Xi’an Xianyang on 9 May was forced to undergo several safety checks after the foam was found to have blocked the engine intakes. The return flight was subsequently cancelled and the passengers put up in hotels.
But after watching the online video of the ‘foam job’, the Belly Achers were left a bit perplexed. In the video the aircraft can be seen approaching the fire trucks, one of which is already spewing a fountain of foam high in the air. One would think that the pilots might have suspected something a bit odd considering water and foam don’t really look the same! Why they didn’t stop is a mystery, but perhaps they reckoned it was Champagne (Great Wall) being sprayed, or perhaps they just wanted to have a nice shiny aircraft.
POSTSCRIPT: As fate would have it, in the midst of writing up this foamy foible, we received a press release in our mailboxes from the Singapore Aviation Academy, a training arm Singapore’s aviation authority announcing the commissioning of a new generation of the Airport Foam Tender Driving Simulator (AFTDS)! Well how about that… we certainly know of a few people in Zhuhai who could use a bit of a refresher course!
