Airline Travel With Equipment

Has anyone traveled on an airline with their 'medical bag' or other sex toys? Have you just checked this bag and hoped it all arrived at your destination? I would hate to think of security going through my carry on suitcase. Any advise on the best way to transport or hearing about other experiences would be greatly appreciated.

I have not done so since 9/11. Before then, I did and the only strange question I got was about my oto/opthalmoscope. The security guy said he'd never seen one.

Tell them you are a sex therapist. brazen it out. 😉

A few years ago, my husband and I went to Europe to do some traveling and to attend Europerve. We took three suitcases and were checking them all. One had my clothes, one my husband’s clothes and one had my rubber scene clothing, my husbands leather garb, a 4 quart silicone bag, b_a_r_d_e_x, several leather restraints, a rope harness and sex toys all neatly laid out in large heavy freezer duty glad bags. As luck would have it, they were x-raying the bags that were being checked, as well as carry on bags. My husband carried the two bags with regular clothing and I carried the one bag with all the goodies. We got separated by another couple or two as the bags were checked, and he started to walk to the gate when he saw I was stopped at the x-ray having my bag opened and examined. ALL the paraphernalia was examined by the Transportation Security Authority guards! My Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis was turned on full blast, everything was centered on maintaining composure — my husband was very impressed, saying I personified "elegance and grace under pressure," a benefit derived from my OR training and from a few particular scenes where my husband dominated the hell out of me. I was concerned because I wasn't wearing a lot of clothing and didn't want to get picked up for anything like prostitution as we were about to leave the country. One by one, they had slowly taken everything out of the suitcase and put it out on a large steel table with a glass screen I had to stand on the other side of. After about ten minutes, the guard apparently had seen enough and packed it all back, and told me to be careful and gave me a wink.

I asked my husband why he stayed away instead of coming to my rescue. He said he didn’t come back to me because he was afraid that he might be implicated in something, so he just watched and waited from a bit of a distance. He said if I was detained, that he would be able to call for help to get bailed out. Lucky for him he had a good answer! I wanted to kill him for letting me go through this without his being by my side.

I guess if you don't have any sort of drug related paraphernalia, you'll be fine.

There is nothing illegal about a few sex toys. I bet you made that guards day! I bet his wife got a very good 'seeing to' as well. So all in all....a good time was had by all. x

I put all the toys in my checked bag and had a nice note from TSA that they opened it to check. Too bad I did not get to see thier face as they looked in.

Switchablesusie, what a horror story! I'm very impressed you stayed so composed.

nnnurse69, did the note say anything other than TSA opened your bag to check it out?

I think my best bet is to just check the bag with toys and carry on another bag. Or, I could try to ship it UPS ahead of me and hope it doesn't get lost in the mail.

Thanks for the responses!

For efests, many people will send their equipment ahead of time to the hotel, and then pick it up when they arrive. It works well going the other way too - as people often pick up extra equipment from the vendors or even win something large in a raffle.

I would just carry it on. If you get strange looks, you could call yourself a doctor, nurse, or medical equipment salesman.

I've never had a problem, though I always just place instruments in checked baggage. With all the airport security issues in recent times I usually just mail anything ahead to the patient and that works just fine.

While I'd bet TSA really has no time to think about this....all medical devices are classified. So for instance a speculum is class 1 , but surgical needles are class 2 ( I think that's correct ) - so technically you would need to have a prescription for class2 items or be licensed etc. The FDA is the organization that assigns the classifications. Just an interesting side note

My son travelled to Houston fromn London and they held him for a couple of hours or more at the airport just because he is a doctor - no equipment with him at all !! This was just after there was the bomb at the airport in Scotland set off by some asian doctors, he is 6 foot caucasian. Not impressed !!

Well, I did check all my toys in at the airport in one bag and wouldn't you know it? There was a nice card inside my bag from TSA letting me know that my bag had been inspected. Nothing had been removed but just the thought of someone going through all that stuff really freaked me out a bit. Next time, I'm definately sending it ahead in the mail to the hotel so it will be waiting for me when I get there. I had visions of security standing in the back ground and waiting to see who walked up and claimed the bag from the conveyor belt!!

Pre 911 I used to fly with my equipment in a carry on and my portable exam table in a box as checked luggage. I never had any of my equipment questioned, but one ticket agent asked about the contents of the box. I told her it was a "furnature sample" I wish she had opened the box, would have loved to see her face when she saw the stirrups

It depends what you are carrying. I have a friend in the medical profession, licensed to use what she had in her bag, and she was told that she is now on the TSA list and will be pulled for additional checks including hand check of bags and pat down each time... and that is what has happened.

Wherever I travel in the world - usually once or twice a year - I take basic medical equipment with me in my checked bag. Never had a problem, although I guess they are always scanned.

- Dr Alex

My post from UKgyn.com on the same subject:

As a law student and educated person, I will not take the time to explain my opinion on homeland security, terrorism, neo-McCarthyism, and any other isms we currently deal with because, frankly, I will get upset and I am on this forum to have fun. We can some up the airport ordeal with...the world is full of asshats, and many of them work in airports.

Anyway, my wife and I never leave home without some sort of medical gear, usually an enema kit with various catheters, nozzles, butt toys, rope, lube, and so on. Knock on wood that we have never been bugged about our gear, especially when traveling internationally.

I am shocked at how they seem to investigate people that are clearly not going to take down the plane and who they let through security because my wife and I planned on somebody in airport security having a problem with our medical gear, and we had a back up plan in the works just in case...but nothing. They didn't even ask about the plethora of rope.

That said, we were going to LA one time, and they searched everything of ours because they said there was a lighter in our bags. While I don't normally smoke, and make a note to not take lighters on airplanes, sure enough, there was a lighter hidden in the inside pocket of one of my suit jackets that hadn't been worn in years. It took them forever to find it, and had I wanted to use it, would have taken me a long time to find and extract from my luggage. Funniest of all though, while they got their precious (yet oh so dangerous) lighter, they failed to get the quarter-ounce of weed and pipe we had in the same bags as the lighter. Go figure. We laughed all the way to LA.

Those people are clown shoes and civil rights violators, and they don't make me feel safe about flying.

I've been flying around with a single enema bag without any problems but I also wonder what would happen if I would travel from the Netherlands to for example the US with my suitcase bulging with various enema gear, more then one metal speculum and other toys. Sending them by mail would hardly be an option.

I don't care if they have a look at things for security reasons but other then that there shouldn't be any issue with taking things like this with me. Unfortunately I've heard some bad stories about it, while others seems to be fine.

So I'm not so sure about how 'risky' it is nowadays...

When checking a bag, which you might have to do if you have a lot of equipment, is always risky. You might not get it back or it might get damaged, there is also the embarrassment factor of an airline employee going through it. The best way to transport your equipment is to send ti to your location via a shipping service such as USPS, UPS, or FedEx. These services are often times more reliable and cheaper than the airlines, who charge for more than one bag now. You can also buy insurance for low prices and you will always be able to track and confirm your shipment.

Do you think there will be problems sending in restiger ed luggage a steth and a half and some speculum's (graves and simms?)?

Let's say from europe to the states or to the United Kigndom?

Amaral,

I have some light experience in international shipping and I know that as long as you declare on customs forms what you are shipping there should be no problem. This may be of course embarrassing to let others know what you are shipping, but there are lots of company's that do this.

Air Travel with Gear?

Before 9/11, pre military,during military,post military, I never worried about it; packed it in carry on. Post 9/11, in 2002, I flew to the west coast solo packing only things, along with vendor sealed sterilant's and lubes that could be interpreted as being used by one individual. In the time since, when traveling with men,as I do not play with men,I pack nothing. When accompanied by a female companion,if she plays,I pack the same but for two, in either case she often carries some kind of douche syringe or disposables along with some combination of tampons or feminine napkin.

Only twice have there been inquiries. In both cases(as direct result of a decision I made on how to deal with the new security measures) I smile, explaining my family's history(only one, and not me)of intestinal diverticulitis, and say "if it is a concern, feel free to keep them" while starting to take them out and hand them to them, they were extremely quick in saying..."no..no..you can go"

There have been other times when I have traveled by rail and have no such concerns, the sleeper with the bathroom is an excellent playroom 😃 !

G.N.

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I just traveled recently with my med fet gear. Stuff that I don't care about if it got stolen I check in. Expensive equipment like my steth, otoscope, etc I bring on. I was questioned on the equipment and I told them I was a NP and they left it alone.

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I was stopped at the Toronto airport on the way back to Texas a few years ago. My stainless speculum evidently looked suspicious - maybe some bored airport screener thought it was an odd gun. Anyway, they took me and my bags to a private room, spread it all out on a table and started questioning me. I told them I was a holistic doctor. The female screener started chatting, told me about her back pains, so I "prescribed" the same exercises my doc had recommended for me. I think she was on to me, because she kept gazing at the speculum and other gyno instruments, including a Foley catheter still in its sterile wrapper. Fortunately, I didn't have anything illegal. After about 15 minutes they let me go. Whew!!

One,

I'm attending the eFest in Florida in November for the fourth time ! I always check my bag because I don't want to be embarassed in public in the event that they search it. If my bag gets searched before loading onto the aircraft I don't really care because I'm not present standing in front of the authorities with my face hanging out. NO carry ons for me !

Respectfully,

Del

I have had the same experience twice. The last time, I had also brought rope! That, with the 2 enema bags, dildos, suppositories, condoms, lubricants, etc., must have raised a few eyebrows. I also found the notes from the TSA informing me they had "visited" my luggage. The rope must have alarmed them.

Always check it in, never carry it on

I just traveled with 3 different size butt plugs, ky and my 2 qt red bag. Didn't even think about being inspected. A bit nervious about my return trip tomorrow. Oh well, I guess I will try not to look suspicious. I am sure the screeners get off on things like this anyway. maybe "our kind of kink" will qualify for one of those medical cards that people carry when they have a joint replacement.

I recently traveled to Virginia from Oregon via United and I had placed some of my sex toys and medical toys into my checked lugguage. I never had a problem at all. Now, if I brought everything in my medical collection, the plane may never get off the ground, so I do limit my medical toys when traveling by air 😉 .

I often travel across the US/Canadian border in my personal car with my medical toys as well as sexual toys and again, I have never had a problem.

Lady Teddy, who loves to travel

I remember watching some reality show on FOX a few years back that was about border patrol and CBP. There was a pretty funny ep where there was this suitcase that they practically evacuated half the terminal for because they heard buzzing coming from it. Turns out it was a 'personal massager'-- a battery-powered Hitachi Magic Wand clone -- that had turned itself on inside the suitcase.

Checked it. Was just speculums mostly. As expected, I also received the nice TSA letter. I can't say it bothers me...I'm just trying to figure out how a spec looks even remotely like something that would blow up a plane. Perhaps a terrorist device in the wrong hands, though. 😉

I have never had a problem in the USA / Canada. Just put in in my checked luggage and take out any batteries, just to prevent an accidental activation in the cargo area of the plane.