03-02-2011, 12:18 AM
The following is my personal experience and opinion(s) only. It is not intended to be legal or procedure advice but simply an account of how I handled my issue of “flying with frogs”.
NO MEMBER OF TSA IS AN EMPLOYEE OF AN AIRLINE, AND IS NOT THERE TO REPRESENT
THE AIRLINES IN ANY WAY. THEY ARE THERE TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE PASSENGERS ON THE AIRLINES OF THE UNITED STATES, AND FLIGHTS ORIGINATING OR ARRIVING TO AN AIRPORT IN THE UNITED STATES.
CONVERSELY, THE RULES OF THE AIRLINES ARE THE BUSINESS OF THE AIRLINES, NOT TSA.
The airlines will not be looking in your bag, as long as it is within size limits and not suspicious looking and TSA could care less about the frogs, and would be more interested in looking at them than anything else.
TSA procedure regarding frogs and all other live animals (snakes and iguanas come through on a daily basis) is to have the animal bag hand-checked. They will not let live animals go through the x-ray machine, and have absolutely no problem examining them. When reaching the checkpoint, I simply tell a TSA guard that I have live animals and need the bag hand-checked privately. They need to see each animal to check for stitches – believe it or not, and it would hasten the process by having the frogs in clear cups. They also swabbed the moistened paper towels in the bottom of the clear cups and I can only assume that this is to check for liquid explosive even though the quantity of liquid is obviously minute. Granted, your particular airline may not "allow" frogs as carry-on items (as a money making scheme), but as long as you are in compliance with federal guidelines, and you are not advertising the frogs on the plane, there should be no problem with TSA – which is separate and different from the airlines.
On a side note, there is no way I would send my frogs through checked baggage stored underneath the aircraft. From what I have seen, most baggage handlers have no regard for people's belongings, let alone frozen or damaged by the cargo compartment. Get to the airport early, and have a backup plan to ship them, just in case.
On the subject of live things going through the X-Ray machines, NOTHING alive should be allowed to go through the X-Ray machine; If you have something that is alive, you simply request a "Hand Check" by a member of the TSA, and they will pull you aside, and hand check the item, after determining that the item in question will indeed be damaged or killed by the X-Ray machine.
I was concerned as this was the first time I was asking for a "hand check" of my frogs. I
made sure I got there early. (I was the first person through at 5:30 am, no one else was around!)
I requested a hand check. The TSA guy had me take my cooler to a table, unload the frogs and then ran the cooler (sans frogs) through the x-ray machine. He checked all the frog cups (clear plastic).
The TSA officer was amazed by the frogs and called everyone else over to look at them.They all made a big fuss over them and admired them. My only concern was that an airline employee might walk through at the time. The security people were all very nice. After the hand check, they helped me repack them in the cooler and sent me on my way.
However, I always have a backup plan. I had checked and found out another Airline does ship animals just in case. Another good back up plan would be to have a fellow hobbyist that is local to the city you are flying out of, to be on stand-by alert, should TSA or the airline refuse to accommodate your frogs.
I Simply approach the TSA officers at the security gate, and tell them that "I was told to request a hand check of my carry-on luggage”. I explain that I am taking frogs (Identify them as “Tropical Frogs”) to a trade show or home from a trade show, as the case may be. You may well be the most popular guy at the gate at that time, and all they should do is look, and send you on your way. I have done it a few times, and had no problems.
Have all the animals in small CLEAR plastic containers – deli cups are best, with some moist, not dripping, plain white paper towels only. Make sure that the inspectors can see all around and into the entire cup so that nothing appears hidden or hard to see. You must secure the cup lids, use clear tape for this as well. The tape can be over the whole lid top and not around the lip, that way the tape can easily be pulled off and reattached afterwards, if need be.
Finally, I label the interior, clear cup containers: “TROPICAL FROGS”, with a black sharpie and not a paper tag which would obscure the ability of the screener to see inside the cup. That particular verbiage will go a long way towards helping out and putting everyone’s mind at ease. I never say "Poison Dart Frogs, Poison Arrow Frogs or even Dart Frogs".
NO MEMBER OF TSA IS AN EMPLOYEE OF AN AIRLINE, AND IS NOT THERE TO REPRESENT
THE AIRLINES IN ANY WAY. THEY ARE THERE TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE PASSENGERS ON THE AIRLINES OF THE UNITED STATES, AND FLIGHTS ORIGINATING OR ARRIVING TO AN AIRPORT IN THE UNITED STATES.
CONVERSELY, THE RULES OF THE AIRLINES ARE THE BUSINESS OF THE AIRLINES, NOT TSA.
The airlines will not be looking in your bag, as long as it is within size limits and not suspicious looking and TSA could care less about the frogs, and would be more interested in looking at them than anything else.
TSA procedure regarding frogs and all other live animals (snakes and iguanas come through on a daily basis) is to have the animal bag hand-checked. They will not let live animals go through the x-ray machine, and have absolutely no problem examining them. When reaching the checkpoint, I simply tell a TSA guard that I have live animals and need the bag hand-checked privately. They need to see each animal to check for stitches – believe it or not, and it would hasten the process by having the frogs in clear cups. They also swabbed the moistened paper towels in the bottom of the clear cups and I can only assume that this is to check for liquid explosive even though the quantity of liquid is obviously minute. Granted, your particular airline may not "allow" frogs as carry-on items (as a money making scheme), but as long as you are in compliance with federal guidelines, and you are not advertising the frogs on the plane, there should be no problem with TSA – which is separate and different from the airlines.
On a side note, there is no way I would send my frogs through checked baggage stored underneath the aircraft. From what I have seen, most baggage handlers have no regard for people's belongings, let alone frozen or damaged by the cargo compartment. Get to the airport early, and have a backup plan to ship them, just in case.
On the subject of live things going through the X-Ray machines, NOTHING alive should be allowed to go through the X-Ray machine; If you have something that is alive, you simply request a "Hand Check" by a member of the TSA, and they will pull you aside, and hand check the item, after determining that the item in question will indeed be damaged or killed by the X-Ray machine.
I was concerned as this was the first time I was asking for a "hand check" of my frogs. I
made sure I got there early. (I was the first person through at 5:30 am, no one else was around!)
I requested a hand check. The TSA guy had me take my cooler to a table, unload the frogs and then ran the cooler (sans frogs) through the x-ray machine. He checked all the frog cups (clear plastic).
The TSA officer was amazed by the frogs and called everyone else over to look at them.They all made a big fuss over them and admired them. My only concern was that an airline employee might walk through at the time. The security people were all very nice. After the hand check, they helped me repack them in the cooler and sent me on my way.
However, I always have a backup plan. I had checked and found out another Airline does ship animals just in case. Another good back up plan would be to have a fellow hobbyist that is local to the city you are flying out of, to be on stand-by alert, should TSA or the airline refuse to accommodate your frogs.
I Simply approach the TSA officers at the security gate, and tell them that "I was told to request a hand check of my carry-on luggage”. I explain that I am taking frogs (Identify them as “Tropical Frogs”) to a trade show or home from a trade show, as the case may be. You may well be the most popular guy at the gate at that time, and all they should do is look, and send you on your way. I have done it a few times, and had no problems.
Have all the animals in small CLEAR plastic containers – deli cups are best, with some moist, not dripping, plain white paper towels only. Make sure that the inspectors can see all around and into the entire cup so that nothing appears hidden or hard to see. You must secure the cup lids, use clear tape for this as well. The tape can be over the whole lid top and not around the lip, that way the tape can easily be pulled off and reattached afterwards, if need be.
Finally, I label the interior, clear cup containers: “TROPICAL FROGS”, with a black sharpie and not a paper tag which would obscure the ability of the screener to see inside the cup. That particular verbiage will go a long way towards helping out and putting everyone’s mind at ease. I never say "Poison Dart Frogs, Poison Arrow Frogs or even Dart Frogs".
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"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".