The Transportation Security Administration is sorry it humiliated a mother of four by forcing her to pump breast milk in a crowded airport bathroom in order to satisfy a clueless officer. Click below to read the rest of the story.
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Amy Strand, an elementary school vice principal, was trying to follow the no-liquids policy when she poured out her bottles of breast milk before boarding a plane home to Hawaii after a business trip.
Strand didn’t have to do this — according to TSA guidelines, it’s allowed in “reasonable quantities exceeding 3.4 ounces” and is not required to be in a zip-top bag.
But to her surprise, a TSA worker at Lihue Airport in Kauai told her that she couldn’t board the plane with the empty bottles and pricey breast milk pump.
Strand told the “Today†show on Monday that the male TSA worker told her she had to prove to them that the empty bottles were for breast milk.
“He said I couldn’t go through because there was no milk in the bottles,†Strand said. “But I was not going to leave a part of the breast pump behind — it cost over $200. He told me that my option was to leave it behind or to put milk into it.â€
There was no private area, so the TSA officer accompanied her to the public ladies’ rest room, where there was an outlet for the pump.
Aghast and mortified, Strand was forced to pump her breast milk in the crowded ladies’ room.
“I had to stand at the sink in my heels and dress pumping as travelers came and went,†she said. “I was humiliated and fighting back tears.â€
Once the bottles were filled, she was allowed to board the plane, which she also found baffling.
“It really confuses me as to how an empty breast pump and cooler pack are a threat to national security and 20 minutes later, with milk, they no longer pose a threat to national security,†Strand told ABCNews.com last week.
