(Seth asked about taking methyl cellulose on an airplane.) On 8/30/14, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Assume nothing. > Ask the specific carrier whenever you have a question on any substance.
This is usually great advice (though in the past I *have* been given conflicting or mistaken advice by the airline customer service folks... Nothing, it seems, is carved in stone when it comes to airline travel.) But I do wonder how such a conversation would go, given the relative obscurity of the question. (Expect to spend a lot of time spelling/explaining.) Another way to approach the problem is to treat it like any other liquid: put the MC in a TSA-approved (< 3 ounce) container, and put that in a clear 1 quart baggie, and be prepared to pull it out for the security check. On an X-ray, I cannot imagine that it looks any different from anything else of a similar density or consistency (cream, shampoo) so it's hard to think it'll set off any alarms. And you'd think the worst that would happen is they'd confiscate the container. (Well, OK, the worst might be they surround you with drawn guns and such ruckus, which would be un-fun for sure.) I have been "lucky" enough to be randomly selected for chemical swabbing of my carry-on luggage, where they look, I gather, for traces of bomb-making chemicals and other Bad Things. Don't know if MC would trigger an alert in such a search. As others have noted, it's used as an additive in food and other products, so it seems unlikely... But while I know lots of weird things, I know exactly nothing about building gel-based (or, for that matter, any other kinds of) explosives. Or are you talking about bringing a bag of MC powder on in your checked baggage? If so, a labelled bag from the supply company seems safest. And surely the chemical signature wouldn't smell interesting to the drug-sniffer dogs. Unless it's used to hide other things... for that, we'd need some rather specialized knowledge, also outside my experience. Do we have any TSA staffers on the list? Or DEA agents? If you're really worried about it, perhaps contacting them directly (as they're the agencies in question, not any specific airline) would be productive? Anne
