Airport’s Mom’s Tour helps ease travel worries of flying with children for parents
AKRON, Ohio – As the mother of an infant and a toddler, Brittney Lewers was worried about the idea of flying with two small children.
How would she navigate through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security area with a 4-year-old and her 5-month-old infant strapped to her chest in a harness? Did she have to follow the same rules about what she could bring through security for her children’s needs?
But after a Mom’s Tour at the Akron-Canton Airport, where airport officials took a small group of moms and babies step-by-step from parking their car to getting to the gate, Lewers said she’s relieved and confident in flying.
“I want to take them to California when their dad goes in the next month,” said Lewers of Massillon, Ohio. “Before today, I thought it would be a total horror story going through TSA.”
Instead, Ryan Schweitzer, a TSA supervisor and transportation security officer, told the group of four moms and five children about rules many of the moms said they didn’t know. Among them: There’s no limit on the amount of stored breast milk they can bring through screening; ice packs and freezer gel packs required for breast milk and juice are allowed for carryons; and water can be brought in bottles for mixing baby formula. Pre-made formulas can also be brought that are larger than the normally-allowed 3.4 ounces, but may be subject to additional screening in special machines. And surprisingly for many of the moms, there’s no limit on the amount of baby food that can also be taken aboard, though snacks like yogurt or pudding must be under 3.4 ounces.
Traveling children 12 and under can leave their shoes on and will not be separated from their parent or guardian. They can walk through a metal detector with their parent.
When asked whether rules have loosened for traveling children since original rules started after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Schweitzer said equipment has changed, so procedures are different.
Lewers said she was surprised she was able to walk through the metal detector with her 5-month-old, Luna Martin, still strapped in a harness to her chest and her 4-year-old, Lily Martin, holding her hand.
The TSA agent simply wiped Lewers’ hand to test it for residue.
“It was a lot easier than I thought,” said Lewers, who as the adult still had to take her shoes and coat off.
The Mom’s Tour was a first for the Akron-Canton Airport marketing team. Director of Marketing Lisa Dalpiaz, who is expecting her first child, came up with the idea after seeing a lot of questions on a local mom’s Facebook group that she had joined.
“We recognize there are a lot of new parents in our community who feel intimidated or stressed by the notion of flying with children, and we see an opportunity to turn what could be a stressful experience into an extremely memorable one,” said Dalpiaz.
New mom Katie Parsons of Canton will be traveling for the first time with her husband and 5-month-old, Emma, this summer to the Dominican Republic for a large family vacation.
She said the Mom’s Tour put her worries at ease.
“I was nervous about being stressed,” she said before the tour.
After the tour, Parsons said she now knows what to expect.
“Even just going through the TSA helped ease my mind,” she said.
AP-WF-03-02-17 0942GMT