I'm confused about taking along pills on airplanes

[rgG]

My husband takes a bunch of prescription meds, and some are in those large mail order bottles. He just puts whatever he needs in a ziplock bag in whatever container he wants to use. He said he has never been questioned about them. Atlanta is our home airport.

[finn]

The only time I have seen anyone questioned is if they have large quantities of prescription meds.......I mean over 3 month supply and coming from a country where said meds may be cheaper.....India, Mexico, Xanax, Viagra.......don't sweat a four day supply.

[Buzz]

Never been totally hassled w/ the meds, and they're generally never in their original containers, and there are mass quantities of Schedule II controlled substances in the carry on. Since I have to go thru the gimp line, I'm assuming they're used to us decrepit old handicapped folks traveling with our own self-serve pharmacies. Frankly, if the narcotics were in their original containers, I think they'd arouse more suspicion, plus if I went thru the main TSA line they'd probably garner more attention. So maybe the 1%'ers that still fly commercial hire gimps to get their meds thru, just like cutting the lines at Disney parks...

The "real" rules are one thing, but reality is something else. I don't feel comfortable packing a bunch of meds in a checked bag, and hoping that they end up at my destination. Amongst all the meds, I usually do keep one small labeled container, and I've only been partially hassled once, and the hassle was shut down by a supervisor before it even got interesting. I've been really hassled more w/ general TSA inspections than anything meds related. Oh, and Don C, the med list is a good idea, along w/ detailing what they're for (if you don't have a bunch of obvious surgical scars...). Happy trippin'.
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[Speedy]

No sweat. Use your day-by-day container. Nobody will bother you. You could be bothered by any LEO for a stop-and-frisk anytime, anywhere and the meds could be seized even in their original containers.

We annually travel internationally and use Ziplock Baggies for a week's supply, two baggies a day with well over a dozen meds in each. Never a problem in 24 years. We also carry on the pharmacy labled bottles because we stay abroad two or three weeks but have never been asked about anything including bottles holding more than the maximum 100 mls. of allowed liquids except once and that time a supervisor waved us through after a quick glance (about one second long) at us and the bottles. In theory we should also have a doctor's letter for medicine but in practice no one does.

[dk62]

Travel internationally at least 15 times a year, including Asia, plus some domestic travel. Never an issue with pills in small bags.

[Mr645]

Old people with a trove of pills in little dispensers..... no problem

24 yr old hippie looking guy with a trove of pills in little containers? Suspicious

[Mike Johnson]

We travel with quite a variety of pills, and even on international flights we've never been questioned. The heavy duty stuff we keep in labeled bottles, but that's more so we can take bottle to a pharmacy in an emergency to beg for a refill.

Domestically, the TSA seems to, if anything, err on the side of letting people travel with whatever they claim is a medical necessity. There's all sorts of stuff they let people take on planes, stuff that is far more dangerous than a bottle of Vicodin, because somebody needs It because they have back aches.

[Michael]

I don't know about the legality, but around here (in North GA), when I read about various arrests in the newspaper, it's not at all uncommon to see that part of the charges was having medicines not in original containers. It may well be that it's an add-on type of charge and not something that the police are looking for. Having said that, I carry prescription pills when I travel in a small plastic case in my pocket. I figure that it's much more likely that they'll be picked up on a carry on xray than on my person. I don't take them out of my pocket when I go through the metal detector and I've never been questioned in any way about them.

[sekker]

I think the worst case scenario for taking pills on a plane is if the OP has a drinking problem ... Tough to swallow when all that liquid misses your mouth!

[Don C]

Follow up: put our pill cases in a plastic bag and a list of our medications (I usually keep the list in my wallet; I have both my list and my wife's list) and no questions were asked.

We were on the pre-approved list so got to take the short line through security! Well, I was "selected" for the body scan but it was still a fast process.

Thanks to all!