Imagine pumping two weeks worth of breast milk for a trip, only to arrive at the airport to find out it was all for nothing. You can literally feel the fury Texas mom Vanessa Kasten Urango felt bubble up in your chest. According to The Huffington Post, Delta employees didn’t know their own protocol when Urango tried to board the plane with her frozen breast milk.
Like many, Urango posted an open letter to the company on Facebook. In her post, she explains how she contacted Delta about how to travel with breast milk, following the protocol they specified (which meant she had to buy a special container and dry ice).
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However, when she arrived at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, she said the Delta agents didn’t even know how to handle the dry ice container, and ended up telling her she couldn’t travel with the cooler, because they couldn’t weigh the ice, and that she didn’t have the proper sticker to say it contained dry ice. To make matters even worse, they ended up telling her she needed to dispose of the contents.
Except you can’t dispose of dry ice in an airport without knowing how. Eventually, she was able to find airport police who actually took the time to help her dispose of the dry ice in an airport bathroom, and board the flight with the cooler filled with breast milk without the ice. Still, she had to hope the milk wouldn’t spoil on the eight hour flight.
According to the Transportation Security Administration guidelines, formula and breast milk are exceptions to the 3.4 ounce of liquid limit per carry-on item. Since the whole debacle, Delta has issued an apology, and has given her a $150 voucher.
Luckily for Urango, her breast milk was just fine, stating:
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“A Delta rep contacted me via phone and acknowledged that employees should have been aware of Delta’s dry ice policy and acted incorrectly. She promised They are going to look into the matter. They are sending me $150…better than nothing but still a long way to go toward making traveling a pleasant, hassle free experience for BF moms and anyone traveling with children.”
We’re glad she stood up for herself, because in many ways, she’s standing up for moms everywhere else facing the same problems. And really, it’s about time moms stopped facing so many hurdles, because mothering is a part of life.
