Then she arrived at the gate of her Delta flight from Atlanta to Minneapolis and the plan fell apart when the gate agent said passengers needed to start checking their bags. Modeen argued that hers contained the medical equipment she needed during the flight, but despite Delta's policy that allows a breast pump in addition to a carry-on bag and a personal item, she didn't was not allowed to bring her bag into the cabin.
“I felt like I had no power,” Modeen said.
Her experience illustrates the layers of anxiety parents endure when traveling, supported by stories of thrown away milk, continue pump discharge, alleged “breast milk discrimination” And in-flight repressions. Breastfeeding travelers who are unable to express milk may face more than embarrassment and discomfort: it could lead to infection and reduced milk supply.
Adding to the challenge: Not all airline policies are the same, and they can be difficult to find and confusing to decipher. There is no one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to push-ups; the Department of Transportation has no regulations regarding the devices.
“There are no real consequences for the airlines, so they do what they want,” Modeen said.
Soaked and in pain during a four-hour flight
A California woman claimed in a lawsuit filed in federal court last month that Delta Air Lines forced her to endure a “grueling” four-hour flight in June in pain and drenched in breast milk after she refused it. leave your breast pump and milk on board. Erika Geraghty was allegedly told she had to either check or throw away a bag containing her breast pump and breast milk, or a separate bag containing milk.
The lawsuit calls the situation “a draconian dilemma for any mother: choosing between vital food for her son or the essential instrument to obtain it.”
Geraghty eventually checked the breast pump but kept the milk with her. As a result, she suffered swollen breasts and “emotional trauma,” the suit says, causing “profound humiliation, physical pain and emotional anguish.” She was “soaked with her own milk gushing from her breasts, which soaked her blouse.” When she finally got the pump back, she claims, it was broken.
“She chose to save the milk so that when she returned home, she would have something to feed the baby,” Calvin Love, one of Geraghty's lawyers, told the Washington Post.
Delta has denied the allegations. The airline's lawyer wrote in court documents that Geraghty “failed to use reasonable care and diligence to mitigate” the problem. The airline declined to comment Tuesday, but its attorney wrote in response to the complaint that “Delta had no legal duty to protect (Geraghty) from any particular risk of harm.”
Every major US airline says some version of this: Draws milk are allowed on board without counting towards your carry-on baggage limit. Some, including Border And JetBlue, say on their websites that they consider a pump to be a medical or assistive device. Some airlines include the information in sections about traveling with children, although a person who needs a breast pump is often not with their baby.
But experiences like those of Modeen and Geraghty – and many others leaflets who publish articles about theirs tests on social media – show that these policies are only valid for serving staff members.
The Transportation Department, which investigates complaints against airlines, has no rules regarding flights with breast pumps. Tools are not covered by the Air Carrier Access Acta 1986 law that requires airlines to allow passengers with disabilities to bring their assistive devices — items such as walkers, CPAP machines, syringes and crutches — into the cabin for free.
The lack of federal protection means that traveling nurses turn to the alphabet soup of government bureaucracy when preparing to fly. Many groups point out that the Food and Drug Administration regulates breast pumps as medical devices, a designation the group applies for aviation purposes.
The Department for Transport said passengers should contact their airline to “find out more about whether or not breast pumps will count toward the carry-on baggage limit.” The agency does not follow any rules or guidelines to protect the rights of breastfeeding parents, but noted that many airlines have policies allowing breast pumps in addition to a carry-on bag and a personal item.
“Failure to respect promises made to consumers, in particular those to allow the carriage of a breast pump in the cabin, could constitute an unfair or deceptive practice,” the ministry said. “The DOT has the authority to investigate and take enforcement action against airlines that engage in an unfair or deceptive practice.”
In terms of airport security, the Transportation Security Administration allow formula, breast milk and ice packs over the limit of 3.4 fluid ounces and said breast pumps can be checked or stored.
“It is up to the airline to decide whether it counts toward the number of carry-on items that can be carried in an airplane cabin,” TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in an email. email.
Yet this created confusion. In 2022, a mother said a TSA agent said his ice packs violated the liquids rule, which required him to check pumping supplies. The agency apologized and said it would work to improve its process.
How Breastfeeding Parents Can Prepare
Advocates warn that pumping parents should arrive at the airport armed with information and ready to assert their rights.
Sascha Mayer, co-founder and chief experience officer of Mamava, which designs lactation spaces, said in an email that travelers should call their airline to clarify guidelines and ask an agent to send in writing exactly what is allowed. She said having TSA and airline information on hand could also be helpful if there is a problem at the airport.
“While a parent should not have to create a dossier of evidence to support the rights that allow them to provide breast milk to their baby, this could save the day – and hopefully educate a few people in the process of road,” Mayer said. .
Jessica Madden, a pediatrician, neonatologist and international board-certified lactation consultant, said a breastfeeding parent who is separated from their baby should express milk about every three hours. If a breastfeeding mother is unable to do so, she could suffer from breast engorgement, blocked milk ducts and mastitis, infection, as well as reduced milk production.
“We are taking a toll on her health and her baby's health,” said Madden, medical director of Aeroflow breast pump, which helps parents get pumps through insurance. She recommends that parents bring a small hand pump in flight in case of problems with a larger electric pump or become familiar with hand expression in case of emergency – two precautions that should be taken in advance.
“If you're stressed on a plane and you've never expressed it manually before, this would be an absolutely horrible time to do it,” she said.
Efforts have been made to better protect traveling nurses in recent years – nearly 40 years after the passage of the Air Carrier Access Act. When the law was passed, electric breast pumps were still widely used in hospitals and portable electric devices were years away from availability, according to Smithsonian Review.
Congress pass the Baby Bottle and Nursing Equipment Screening Act of 2016, which also required training for TSA security personnel, but did not mention training required for airline staff members.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), who is sponsor an amendment on TSA's handling of breast milk, fought for clearer implementation of liquid exemption rules, better training of TSA officers and to access to appropriate places to express milk for breastfeeding parents.
“It is unacceptable that mothers are forced to throw away their breast milk or are denied access to their breastfeeding supplies while trying to board a plane,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to do everything I can to resolve these issues, because no parent should worry about how they will feed their baby.”
Other provisionsenacted in 2018 and 2020, requires spaces other than restrooms for nursing or pumping to be provided in airport terminals.
“These laws were passed in response to a multitude of reports from breastfeeding travelers regarding difficulty pumping or breastfeeding at airports, with many mothers reporting pumping or breastfeeding on the restroom floor, as well as significant difficulties during safety checks with pumping supplies, such as breast pumps, storage containers and ice packs,” Cheryl Lebedevitch, national policy director of the American Breastfeeding Committeesaid in an email.
After Modeen's experience with Delta in 2015, which she complained speaking on Twitter, she said she received a phone call and an apology from the airline as well as an upgraded seat to fly home. She spent that first class flight creating a Facebook group, Tits on boardto share stories of other breastfeeding women who have had nightmare experiences while traveling.
Although she no longer updates the page — her children are now 7 and 10 — Modeen said she has been receiving messages for years from other women who have had similar experiences.
“Depending on who you get and depending on what they know and how they’ve been trained, it could be anything,” she said. “Because there is no black and white; it's not like (how) smoking is banned on planes. It's not a clear policy like that; It's pretty much a matter of interpretation. … It’s so anxiety-inducing.
