Although the regulations for hand luggage could change in the not too distant future, airport access control still gives passengers a lot of trouble, especially when they force you to get rid of your favorite product. This is what happened to the American Patrick Neve when, devastated, he had to give up your beloved peanut butter in a journey
Neve, 25, was preparing to catch a flight last March from his native Pittsburgh to Tulsa, where he was to give a lecture. He is part of his professional routine, accustomed to constant trips in which he usually brings his own food for fast consumption, since he does not usually have time to find where to have lunch. But during the routine baggage check, unexpectedly, a boat was confiscated of peanut butter.
Outraged, according to account The Washington Postsnow went to Twitter to protest and it didn’t take long for it to go viral, to the point that the Transportation Security Administration itself (TSAfor its acronym in English) responded indirectly on Instagram reinforcing his position, alluding to the definition from a chemistry book: “a liquid has no definite shape and takes a shape dictated by its container.”
The young man emphasized that from your point of view, a jar of peanut butter is neither a liquid nor a gel nor an aerosol, but a solid food. Food that is also part of your daily routine, used to to eat every day his ration of oats with peanutbutter. It must have been shocking not being able to eat it on the way, at least until she landed and she could buy another jar.
Speaking to TWPTSA spokesman R. Carter Langston supports the agents’ decision, admitting that the question may be semantics, as it can also be considered a gel. Under “liquids” not only those considered 100% as such enter, because as AENA also indicates in Spain, the standard covers all drinks of any kind, toothpaste, syrups, creams, perfumes, deodorants, shower gel or shampoo, lotions, oils, sprays and shaving foam.
As Langston points out, “if you can spill it, spray it, spread it, pump it, or pour it,” you hold yourself to the same standard. The problem is that this rule is sometimes somewhat confusing, since there are exceptions with very specific cases that can generate more than one doubt, especially with food and drink.
Let us remember, for example, that there was a time when you could not travel with Majorcan ensaimadas filled with cream or sobrasada in the cabin, until this product was admitted as exceptional. The same is happening in Genoa, Italy, with the pesto sauceallowed for a patrimonial matter.
Exceptions aside, neither peanut butter nor any other nut butters can be carried as hand luggage on airplanes. Neither the cream cheese spread, neither pâté or foie, hummus and its variants, nor cocoa creams and chocolate, nor the Honey nor jam or compote, and of course no other cream or gel that exceeds 100 ml.
If you plan on snacking on some of this on the flight, as young Neve often does on his many travels, you’d better pack a small portion or buy it now at the airport. Otherwise you will have to say goodbye to him at the control, at least for now.
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Photos | Towfiqu barbhuiya – Marco Verch – wavebreakmedia_micro
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