View Full Version : Contact Lens Wearers to be Shunned!
AKFlyer
11-10-2008, 04:27 PM
According to CNN, as a contact lens wearer who needs to bring along more than 3 oz. of disinfecting solution on most of my trips Outside Alaska, I'll now be forced to go through the "family friendly" (AKA infrequent traveler) security lane. Oh, joy.
So much for recent rumors that the 3 oz. rule was soon to be rescinded . . .
Kairho
11-10-2008, 05:23 PM
Sounds fair to me. They have to slow everything down to accommodate those with larger amounts of liquid. (Whether it's warranted is a completely separate issue.)
John225
11-10-2008, 05:27 PM
According to CNN, as a contact lens wearer who needs to bring along more than 3 oz. of disinfecting solution on most of my trips Outside Alaska, I'll now be forced to go through the "family friendly" (AKA infrequent traveler) security lane. Oh, joy.
So much for recent rumors that the 3 oz. rule was soon to be rescinded . . .
Well, in all the articles that I have been reading about the 3 oz. rule being rescinded, they all speak of it being close to a year before it will happen, so I don't see anything wrong with this.
AKFlyer
11-10-2008, 06:42 PM
Well, I guess there's "nothing wrong with this" if you don't wear contacts or travel frequently, but I do both. I've always got my shoes and jacket off, quart ziploc and laptop out, and lens solution in view by the time I reach the XRay machine. Why should I and all the other contact wearers now get stuck behind the elderly couple with change in one pocket, a money clip in another, a hip replacement and a pacemaker, and misplaced boarding passes? Or the harried mom with three sceaming kids under five, two of whom won't stay in their strollers and one of whom keeps going back and forth through the magnetron? Plus, unless the TSA can ensure that "family friendly" lines will not result in longer waits, travelers with insulin and other medically-necessary fluids over 3 oz. will have a strong discrimination case against the government.
Kip Hawley, TSA Adminstrator, in his blog late last month stated,
Right now..., we’re looking at some short term options based on passenger feedback and input from airports and airlines. We think there is an opportunity to build on the Diamond Self-Select lanes systems that we have tried in 2008.
The Diamond Self-Select (http://www.tsa.gov/approach/black_diamond.shtm) lanes system, where expert travelers and families choose the lane best suited for them, has worked well. The expert lanes are fast and the Family lanes are hassle-free and they are at 45 airports today. TSA, airports, and airlines can further develop that concept, and we’re looking at something along the following lines.
- Limit the Black Diamond (Expert) lanes more formally beyond self-select.
By number or size of carry-ons?
By 3-1-1 only, no exception liquids?
- Focus liquid detection technology at the Family/Special Needs lanes and ask those with exception liquids to go there – speeding up the other lanes in the process?
Liquids restrictions are with us for the better part of the next year but we all realize that a simple, hassle-free security process is good for passengers and security too. Thank you for coming to TSA.gov (http://www.tsa.gov/) and I am looking forward to your feedback.
So, yes over the next year, until the liquid size restrictions are eliminated, it is highly likely that if you're carrying a liquid container larger than 3.4 oz that you'll not be able to use the "expert lane."
That may seem unfair, but they are trying hard to keep that line moving, and exemptions to the rules do slow things down.
I wear "rigid gas permeable hard contact lenses." I have to clean my lenses each night, and soak them. I've purchased travel size containers of the solutions from drugstore.com of my Bausch & Lomb solutions. They easily last me several weeks, and if I'm going to run up against it, I'll take two containers of the solution of use the most of and I'm good for about two months. Perhaps doing the same will work for you until the size restrictions are eliminated, which is currently scheduled to be sometime after Thanksgiving next year.
Frankly, if you're only taking carry-on, you're probably not going to be away more than a couple to three weeks, so travel sized contact lens solution containers should do it for you. If you have checked in luggage you can put the larger backup container there.
AKFlyer
11-12-2008, 01:38 PM
Unfortunately, because I suffer from dry eyes, my optometrist has me using H2O2 solution with a catalyst -- like the old "AOSept" system. This setup uses much more liquid each night than solution in a small lens case does. And since I travel to and from Alaska, my trips last longer than yours, i.e. an extra day or more for a standard East coast business meeting. For trips in AK, it can be virtually impossible to find solution outside the major cities.
Maybe I need to get several empty 3.4 oz. bottles and fill all of them with the hydrogen peroxide solution. I'm not sure this is advisable, though, as the solution is unstable and easily breaks down to O2 and water. The bottom line is that the TSA has all of us constantly jumping through hoops in an effort to travel as normally as possible. There's no reason to believe any of us present a threat to the skies. I'm married to an MD-11 pilot so I take air safety very personally. Also, I've just been rescreened for a security clearance by my federal employer. TSA is still fighting yesterday's battles. What a waste of my taxes and time!
My cousin uses that system and today he told me they pushed him over to the green line for his flight to West Palm. I agree with you that buying solution in some areas is impossible. Frankly, outside of large cities in the US and western Europe, I've never seen the solutions I use or even alternate brands.
I've traveled in Alaska a few times. I was running low on cleaning solution in Anchorage and couldn't get it there. I had drugstore.com overnight it to me, so I had before getting on the ship to complete our trip. Fortunately they had it in stock. I'm guessing if you can't find it in an Anchorage drugstore, you can't find it anywhere in Alaska. I learned to take an extra container of each solution from that trip.
Unfortunately, because I suffer from dry eyes, my optometrist has me using H2O2 solution with a catalyst -- like the old "AOSept" system. This setup uses much more liquid each night than solution in a small lens case does. And since I travel to and from Alaska, my trips last longer than yours, i.e. an extra day or more for a standard East coast business meeting. For trips in AK, it can be virtually impossible to find solution outside the major cities.
Maybe I need to get several empty 3.4 oz. bottles and fill all of them with the hydrogen peroxide solution. I'm not sure this is advisable, though, as the solution is unstable and easily breaks down to O2 and water. The bottom line is that the TSA has all of us constantly jumping through hoops in an effort to travel as normally as possible. There's no reason to believe any of us present a threat to the skies. I'm married to an MD-11 pilot so I take air safety very personally. Also, I've just been rescreened for a security clearance by my federal employer. TSA is still fighting yesterday's battles. What a waste of my taxes and time!