Southwest Question???

[Goofy22]

Has anyone ever flown southwest and packed suitcase with snacks and some other food items? I was planning on doing this and on their website it says they ask you not to pack foods in checked baggage. Any one have any ideas??????

 

[DebbieB]

Food in checked luggage can set off the security scanners, therefore causing your luggage to be manually searched. It's a general recommendation by TSA not to pack food in checked luggage, not just a SW rule.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Plus, if you watch the show "Airline" on A & E, I think they're concerned about people packing stuff like fish and chicken in checked luggage. I don't think they mean Pop Tarts, energy bars or Doritos.

 

[debden]

I usually use one piece of luggage just for food and snacks.All dry goods nothing perishable.We have never had a problem.They did search the bag but other than that no biggie.They must have loved searching my suitcase full of food because we stuff every single nook and cranny with newpaper so it won't move around too much.... We wait until we get to Orlando to buy milk,eggs,fish,chicken,exc..exc....
You shouldn't have any problems just as long as you don't pack anything combustable or flammable...We packed 'Pam' oil spray and 'Bug' Spray and they confiscated both of them siting they were both.
Debbie

 

[tmt martins]

WE do the Chips and so forth as well this give room on the way home for souvies as well.

 

[Goofy22]

So it is ok to do this as long as I watch what I pack?
I was thinking like granola bars, bagged chips,cereal,mac n cheese, fruit snacks etc... stuff like that!

 

[NotUrsula]

The primary concern about food being packed (other than the obvious of what will happen to perishables if the bag gets misrouted - blech) is that "dense" foods tend to have a simalar x-ray profile as plastic explosives. That means that the bag WILL be searched, and not necessarily in a gentle way. (I'd hazard a guess that it would be seriously foolish to pack things like battery chargers in the same suitcase.)

The sorts of things that will really cause problems are foods that fit this density profile; large slabs of chocolate or packages of cocoa and/or ground coffee, cured meats, etc. Lightweight loosely packed things like pasta or snack foods won't be nearly as suspicious when seen on an x-ray.

BTW, stacks of books/papers are a problem for the same reason; if you pack books, spread them around.

 

[twotoohappy]

We pack everything. We were told that peanut butter would cause a search because it won't scan. We pack dry cereal, oatmeal, dry pudding and jello, mac&cheese, etc. This trip we're also bringing microwave soup and ravioli. Hope it won't be a problem. I've heard of people packing waters, but we just get that down there.

I just looked on their site and couldn't find what you were referring to. The only thing I saw was no styrofoam coolers and perishable foods were at your own risk

 

[Goofy22]

It's under the travel center and I think security or tsa.

We pack everything. We were told that peanut butter would cause a search because it won't scan. We pack dry cereal, oatmeal, dry pudding and jello, mac&cheese, etc. This trip we're also bringing microwave soup and ravioli. Hope it won't be a problem. I've heard of people packing waters, but we just get that down there.

I just looked on their site and couldn't find what you were referring to. The only thing I saw was no styrofoam coolers and perishable foods were at your own risk