I swore that I’d never fly again. However, it’s now necessary for me to take a trip by air. I need to know all sorts of things, like how I’m supposed to transport my insulin (I don’t think it should go in checked luggage) and whether or not I can take my walking staff on the plane (I’m guessing the answer is no). Can someone point me to a good website or three which will tell me the current rules, regulations, and pointed suggestions, please?
My Dad has to walk with a cane, and has never had any trouble taking it onto an aircraft when he’s flown to or from the US. They put it through the X-ray machine to make sure it isn’t a sword-stick, cane-gun, or stashed full of contraband, and then give it back to him.
I’ll wait for someone more knowledgeable to provide links and info on carrying insulin, but I can’t imagine they’d stop you from having it in your carry-on baggage if it’s clearly for your own medical use and properly labelled etc.
Make sure your insulin is labeled (keep the vials in the box with the pharmacy sticker) and carry a note from your doctor.
Be prepared to take off your shoes at the screening point. You can decline (I do if I’m having any neuropathy in my feet) and tell them why (my doctor doesn’t want me to have my shoes off in a public setting). They’ll do a more thorough wanding and check instead.
If possible, check liquids. If you must carry liquids (insulin, non-medical supplies), follow TSA guidelines (under 3 oz. each, all in one 1-quart ziplock bag).
Lock your checked luggage with a TSA-accessible lock.
You should be able to buy juice beyond the security point, but check if you’re traveling at weird hours or going through a small airport. You can have glucose tablets with you, and that and a (non-liquid) snack might be a good idea because many flights have no food available now. I usually carry a bag of Oberto turkey jerky, a bag of dried apples, and a bag of nuts, but I’m sure you have your own strategies.
My family members haven’t had trouble with canes.
If you’re flying outside the US, liquids or pastes must be in containers of less than 100mls and these containers must be in a transparent plastic sealable bag (they hand the bags out or sell them in airports if you forget).
Medications are considered separate from this liquid allowance and can be carried separately. As always you can carry hypodermics with you if you have a current letter from you doctor explaining why you need them.
In London they now take your photos when you land and when you depart, I suppose to prevent you handing your ticket to someone else, or changing your appearance in the airport.
I flew back to the UK from holiday in Egypt yesterday, and apart from my husband forgetting the liquid rule and putting a bottle of duty-free rum in his hand luggage, we were fine (the rum was confiscated). The only hassle was getting through the long queue at the EU passport line in London, but we both have the new passports so they just scanned them into the machine in about 5 seconds.
I work at the nearest hospital to Northern Ireland’s biggest airport, so my colleagues in the Emergency department often get people calling in for a letter for their insulin because they only remembered on the drive over to the airport that they needed one. I get the calls to certify the heavily pregnant ladies as fit to fly, which is often rather difficult to do (all I can usually write is that there is no reason why they can’t fly, but that I can’t guarantee they won’t go into labour on the plane).
Canes or walking sticks are allowed, my wife flies with a cane.
As has been mentioned, you need to have your insulin in a 1 quart plastic bag along with all other liquids. They must be under 3 ozs each. I heard one TSA screener give a passenger shit that the container was more than a 3 oz capacity, even though it obviously contained less than 3 ozs. If it is a prescription make sure you leave it in the original packaging.
They will want your shoes off, since the latest set of regs when into effect, I don’t believe you have a choice in the matter.
Here is the link to the liquids requirements, you can have larger amounts of medicine as long as you declare it.
Over here you will find the list of prohibited items
Have a good trip
No cite, but I thought this was more to do with immigration controls than security.
Thanks, everyone. Rick, that’s just the site I was looking for. I think that I’m going to buy a cane, rather than take my walking stick, which is about 4.5 feet long. I’ve been told that it’s imposing/frightening, and I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. I guess I’d better get a note from my doctor, too.
You don’t mention how long your flight will be. My father, who also uses insulin, just finished a trip that required several legs. On at least one of the legs, the plane had no refrigerator that he could put his insulin into. If your flights are long enough, I’d suggest looking at some of the thermal softsided lunch boxes/bags that are available. You could get some ice from the flight attendants and put that and the insulin into the bag.
This one is kind of fun and made from recycled juice boxes.
Insulin can be left unrefrigerated for up to 30 days, the duration of the trip won’t affect it.
My mother-in-law flies with a broom [rim shot] 
As far as the ‘shoes off or on’ over the past two months I have flow out of 6 different airports. 2 times I didn’t have to take off my shoes. I think it depends on which airport.
I travel frequently (too frequently of late) and the above summarizes most of what you need to know. I occasionally have to use a cane and have never had a problem with it. Shoes off seems to have become a standard policy, but if you have a doctor’s note they may exempt you, although you may have to submit to a wanding. The 3 oz liquid issue is one that seems to come up all too frequently, and it seems like about half the time that I fly out of Salt Lake City I end up debating with the TSA screeners that the plastic bottle from REI that is clearly marked “2.5 oz” is significantly less than the allowed 3.4 oz. I’ve never had a problem elsewhere, even with containers that were slightly over the limit.
A couple other things to note: if you are taking a laptop computer or any other large electronic devices (larger than an MP3 player) have them accessible because you’ll have to pull them out and put them in a seperate bin for scanning. Also, many airports now how the “puff” explosive detectors, and the TSA people are often kind of obtuse about explaining what you’re supposed to do. Basically, you step in to the kiosk, the machine puffs at you a few times in rapid succession, and you stand there for twenty seconds or so until it clears you. If you’ve been handling anything with nitrates (fertilizer, paints and pottery enamals, solid rocket propellants) there’s a middling chance you’ll set it off (though my experience has led me to doubt the effectiveness of these machines) and then you’ll have to go through a more thorough inspection. And sometimes they’ll just pull people off to the side randomly for screening.
You don’t say which airport you’re flying out of, but you may want to get some anecdotal references from more seasoned travellers. At some airports the TSA people are quite good about getting you through security expeditiously, and some coughLAXcough are egregiously bad, with the security wait at heavy traffic times often exceeding two hours, so that may dictact how much time you want to budget to pre-flight entertainment. Most airports by now seem to have worked out the throughput bugs, though I’m a little dubious about the effectiveness of the actual precautions.
Oh, and expect to hear, “We have a completely full flight today, so please put your smaller items underseat to make room in the overhead bins, and…” I swear, in the last three months I’ve only been on three flights that were not at capacity, and had one cancelled, ostensibly due to “mechanical difficulties”, but I noticed that all the passengers were rescheduled for the next flight, and it appeared that we all fit on. Fortunately, the delay was only slightly more than an hour, and I sympathize with the airline wanting to at least break even (especially this particular airline which has been riding bankruptcy for a while now) but I wish they’d just be honest about the reason they’re cancelling the flight.
More than anything else, air travel has made me want to move to Europe. I want an affordable high speed rail between Los Angeles and Phoenix/Salt Lake City/Albuquerque/San Francisco/Seattle more than I want world peace.
But enough ranting. Enjoy your flight! 
Stranger
People are linking to the liquids requirements, but there are also specific medications guidelines, including one for diabetes-related equipment and supplies.
I don’t have any problems traveling with a big bottle of contact solution in my carry-on, as long as I declare it up front - that’s considered medical, so I know diabetic supplies are.
Cough Post #5 Cough
The insulin does not need to be in the bag with the other liquids. I traveled with vials of injectible progesterone lately, and they were not in a quart bag - no problem. They didn’t even look at the prescription labels, although I had them.
Read for detail
Clear enough?
So we’re supposed to let self-contradictory posts pass if the right answer is in there somewhere with the wrong ones?
The medicine does not have to be in the quart-size ziplock bag even if there is less than three ounces of it. Your statement that it did have to be was wrong. The fact that you also included correct statements in your post did not make it less wrong.
The first three times I flew post 9/11/2001, I put a TSA-accessible lock on my checked luggage. All three times, the lock was nowhere to be found when I picked up my luggage at my destination. The last time, the hook part of the zipper slider was twisted and bent up at a sharp angle and the zipper pull was gone. Mind you, this was not a dinky little suitcase with a cheapo zipper. It was a thick, metal zipper. To bend that part of the zipper like that, you’d have to intentionally be doing something reckless, like picking up the bag by the zipper pull instead of the handle.
So I no longer lock my checked luggage. Anything valuable is in my carry-on or left at home. Locks are useless if the TSA doesn’t give a darn about taking them off and putting them back on properly, and in my experience, they don’t.
Even prior to 9/11, I “locked” my luggage with a brightly colored nylon zip-tie. My reasoning being that no lock would keep a determined person out of my luggage, but with the zip tie it was relatively secure, and I’d know immediately if it had been tampered with.
EDIT: IT also makes it really easy to spot on the baggage carrousel, especially when I use the day-glo orange ones.
On my last post 9/11 flight, the TSA inspector said that it was fine, in fact they preferred it, and if they checked my luggage, it would come back with one of their zip ties on it.
The only trouble I had was that every utensil I normally carry with me that would cut the thing off was locked in my luggage!
Thanks again, everyone. I’m just going on a short flight, a little less than two hours, nonstop. I’ll be spending the week AFTER Thanksgiving with my parents, and see my sibs and possibly nephews as well. I’ll probably go to the Container Store and buy either zipties or TSA locks. I got a note from my doctor on Monday, and I guess I’ll just put all my medicines in one huge zipseal bag. My husband will drop me off at 7 AM for an 11 AM flight out of DFW, he works there. I’m leaving my keychain and Leatherman Squirt or Micra at home, and I’ll feel nekkid without my multitool. However, my dad will probably let me carry one of his pocket tools for my stay.
Gah. I hate flying. But I hate driving, too. WHY don’t we have transporters yet?