I'm confused about taking along pills on airplanes

[Don C]

Getting ready to fly to Orlando where we will meet up with the grandkids (and their parents); wife and I have prescription pills that need to go along. After reading several links, I know that we can carry them in our carryon bags. BUT do they have to be in their original containers? I have seen a page or two that say they must be in a container and the name on the container must match the name of the flyer.

Instead of hauling a month's supply along, we would much prefer taking a four day supply in the day-by-day containers. What are the rules these days?

(All pills, no liquids and no narcotic or exotic stuff.)

Thanks

[mrbigstuff]

I always carry any medication in my carry-on, which goes through security with me and I have never been asked to explain anything.

Are you traveling through Heathrow by any chance? They make the TSA look like the most efficient organization in the world. If you are, good luck.

[sekker]

I carry a full pharmacopoeia when I ttavel oversees. Nothing fancy, but excedrin, Dramamine, Tylenol, allergy meds, Imodium, etc.

Half are in repurposed bottles.

Never been asked about them.

And my wife flew with me to Scotland, with her daily meds in her standard container. We even went through Amsterdam.

[JoeM]

I carry my meds in my carry on and in their original bottles or med container. Never any problems.

[testcase]

As mentioned, most of the time, it won't matter how you bring your meds. That said meds in their original containers is the best way to go. If you run across someone who is bursting with self importance, it's difficult for them to fault you. Perhaps your local pharmacist can help you by issuing smaller, properly label containers which will save space. If you can arrange that, save those properly labeled containers for future trips.

For ANY controlled substances, I would only go with the original, properly labeled containers.

[Mr Downtown]

Domestic travel? Don't think twice about carrying whatever you want.

The advice to have meds in original bottles is being extra cautious, such that there's no chance of questions arising when going through foreign customs. The only time I've ever been questioned closely was returning from Hong Kong to Japan.

[space-time]

do you have some old bottles from last month? if so, put pills for 6-8 days in those. No need to take the whole month supply with you, but do take more than 4 day supply. You never know if your return flight is cancelled or something, you don't want to scramble to find medicine when you are out of state.

[Paul F.]

From what little I've read on this topic, traveling in Asia you will be more likely to be questioned on medications than in Europe. Take that with a grain of salt, as I can't say how accurate it is from personal experience.

I would go with "original" containers... and I can't imagine not being able to have a pharmacist do as testcase suggests, and supply properly labeled, lawful, smaller containers - just in case.

[Don C]

We're going through Atlanta and none of the medication are controlled substances. Prescriptions are mail order so stopping by a local pharmacy will do no good.

Some of the original bottles my wife uses are large enough that we don't want to use those so we are hoping to use the daily pill boxes. What I would LIKE to do is just put those in a plastic bag with a list of medications.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Paul F.]

In that case, at the very least, have your doctor give you copies of the perscriptions to keep with the "unlableled" drugs...

Honestly, the chances are no one is going to give a crap about anything the drug sniffing dogs don't wag their tail at...

Don C wrote:
We're going through Atlanta and none of the medication are controlled substances. Prescriptions are mail order so stopping by a local pharmacy will do no good.

Some of the original bottles my wife uses are large enough that we don't want to use those so we are hoping to use the daily pill boxes. What I would LIKE to do is just put those in a plastic bag with a list of medications.

Thanks for the suggestions.