Consumer

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A Chicago area woman says she was kept off a plane for carrying three ounces of breast milk.

Cheryl Cirillo-Tarica, said she planned to board an American Airlines flight from Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Pittsburgh for a business trip this past Monday. That flight was canceled, forcing her to wait several hours for another flight.

Cirillo-Tarica said she came to the TSA security checkpoint with a bag containing three ounces of breast milk she had just pumped, and was told she could not board the plane unless she threw it away.

She said TSA workers told her she could not pass through a security checkpoint. TSA agents said that the six-ounce bag she was carrying was too big, even though the bag only had three ounces of milk.

Cirillo-Tarica and her husband, Perry Tarica, are the parents of a 10-month old daughter. Cirillo-Tarica said because she is lactating, she must pump her breast milk every four to six hours.

If she had waited until she arrived in Pittsburgh, it could have jeopardized her milk supply, Cirillo-Tarica said.

American Airlines officials let Cirillo-Tarica use the executive office to pump her breast milk, using a breast pump that she had brought along with several freezer bags designed to carry breast milk during travel.

Under TSA rules, air travelers may only carry on three-ounce bottles of gel, liquid or aerosols in a zip-top, quart-sized bag, which is known as the "3-1-1 rule." Breast milk and formula can be brought in greater quantities if a passenger is traveling with a small child. Cirillo-Tarica's child was not traveling with her.

But Cirillo-Tarica said she was within the rules and wants the rules clarified to help all parents in the future.

"The breast milk was clear see-through, so it's clearly readable that there was only three ounces of liquid on there," she said.

Cirillo-Tarica said the TSA agents told her they would only let her on the plane if she checked her breast feeding bag, which she would not do, given the delicate nature of the breast pump. They also said "anything I would have pumped the entire trip (aboard the plane) would have to be discarded anyway," she said.

Cirillo-Tarica said she explained that she was carrying several days of food for her infant daughter, and asked to speak to TSA supervisors.

She said American Airlines security and officials came to her aid and told the TSA staffers that she had just pumped breast milk in their office. In response, Cirillo-Tarica said the TSA officers asked, "How do you know she pumped, did you watch her pump?" Her husband called the question "demeaning."

She added that when she traveled from O'Hare to Newark, N.J., last month, she had no issues bringing several breast milk pouches onto the plane.

But on the Pittsburgh trip Monday, Cirillo-Tarica eventually left the airport and went home, missing her flight and her business trip.

"She came home literally in tears, and she was totally upset," Perry Tarica said, "and then she had to explain to her work why she didn't make the next day's meeting."

While TSA spokeswoman Laura Uselding could not comment specifically on Cirillo-Tarica's specific case, she reiterated the rules for carrying liquids on a plane.

No container of liquid brought on the plane may have a volume of more than three ounces, Uselding said. The rules concern the capacity of the container, not how much liquid is in it, she said.

"Container size is very important… based on intelligence testing and a security measures," Uselding said. "The security officers are highly trained, and they know what the threats are, and they have the final discretion."

For their part, Cirillo-Tarica and her husband said they have contacted several people in the TSA, first getting responses that Perry Tarica characterized as, "Our people are right. What are you talking about? You're wrong." But later, Tarica said, they found a supervisor who was responsive to their concerns.

"She's going to be getting their reports, and that's where it stands," Perry Tarica said. She asked me, 'What do you want done?'"

Cirillo-Tarica said she did not want any monetary award or disciplinary action against the workers involved, but said they believed the policy needed to be changed.

In addition to stating the "3-1-1" rule applies to breast milk if children are not present, the rules published by the TSA on breast milk and formula say they should be separated from other liquids, declared to a security officer, and presented for additional inspection at the metal detectors.

It does outline some practices that are forbidden for TSA officers, including tasting or testing breast milk or formula, or requiring a woman or her child to do so. In the months after Sept. 11, 2001, some airplane passengers alleged they were forced to taste their own breast milk at security checkpoints.

But Cirillo-Tarica said she believed the TSA treated breast milk differently than other liquids.

"They let three ounces of shampoo and suntan lotion and everything else go through, but breast milk – something that's important for the survival of an infant, they won't let go through," Cirillo-Tarica said.

American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan did not immediately return calls for comment.

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