I didn’t read the page (unacceptable cookie policy) but I did have a recent (last Friday) entertaining encounter with the Mexican security leaving Mexico City. So I have a Dexcom sensor (lower abdomen), an Omnipod Dash (upper right pectoral) and a big, long, piece of titanium (upper right collarbone) and I’m TSA prechecked (something which Mexico, curiously, acknowledges; the UK certainly doesn’t).
The metal detector goes off.
I’d been through SFO before with the same amount of attachments and, indeed, when I got back to SFO and went through the metal detector again, without any changes to anything, there was no alarm.
So I flashed my pod, causing curious looks along the lines of WTF and the guy at the end of the conveyor belt has me stand, arms akimbo, while he checks me almost everywhere (not quite the G6, which I hadn’t pointed out). The titanium is fairly obvious if you feel my collarbones and it is weakly ferromagnetic (but there is a lot of it).
No problems.
The only other time a metal detector has gone off is in a Josephine County courthouse (twice, reliably), but in that case they were looking at my feet; weird. Ok, I’m a brit, but I wasn’t wearing sneakers, rather the same Clarkes shoes as in Mexico. They were pretty assertive about it being something about my feet.
T1D, don’t worry.
I’ll go with you @jbowler on digressing into travel stories. Like many of you, I’m sure, I have my share of travel stories, which manage to bore everyone I try to tell them to. The only people interested in hearing your travel stories are those who have other travel stories that they are dying to tell someone - it’s a quid pro quo.
Yours is pretty good. Makes me want to ask why you have a large amount of titanium in your collarbone, but I’ll forebear… (broken collarbone?).
So here’s mine - this one even related to diabetic travel tips: I was flying from US to Bordeaux via Lisbon to begin a long bike trip. Arriving In Lisbon after one of those overnight flights, I had to go through security to make my transfer. I was wearing my tandem pump, and it set off the metal detector. So I took it off, put it in a little container and went back through the metal detector, and then continued on my way - without picking up the pump!
I realized my mistake about 5 minutes later, and swam back against the crowds to get to the security checkpoint, where they were holding the pump for me.
Of course, if I had continued on my connecting flight without picking up the pump, my trip would have been over before it started. Since then, I always take my pump off and put it in another bag before I go through security. That way, if I forget about it for some reason, it’s still with me. And I don’t set off the metal detector.
Just one more related tip - and maybe this is obvious (and I’ve probably written it before): I always have a low tech backup! I bring along a blood glucose meter and a couple of pens and peripherals just in case. On that europe trip, I did end up having to use the backup when I ran out of Tandem supplies (another long story about the failures of various European postal services - use DHL!).
That travel tips page misses some important things. They give an example of how for a 10 day trip you should pack 10 pods. That seems like overkill, but they kind of gloss over the fact that you might only have one PDM.
The do mention vials of both rapid and basal insulin’s, but the important thing is to have a BACKUP OF EVERYTHING.
And that does not mean you need 2 PDM’s or 2 vials of Lantus!
You bring pods and a PDM. But you also bring a vial of Lantus and syringes. That way if any of those 4 things gets destroyed or lost, you are still okay with basal.
You bring a vial of rapid, syringes, and a pen w/ needles. So if your pen breaks, you are still okay. If your vial breaks, you are still okay.
A backup for things like meters are not as important because unless you are in a jungle, you can pretty much buy one at any Walmart or Target or pharmacy without a script.
@bostrav59, @jbowler, thanks for contributing your stories!
@Eric, excellent advice!
Let’s hear more travel stories and real-world “lessons learned”!
Turn off your Dexcom before going through security! The TSA does not like when stuff is beeping in your baggage!
Put your pod on your arm. That makes it much easier when it gets flagged and they do the explosive check. If it’s on your butt, you gotta go into a private room to do it.
That’s not my experience; they need to touch the item through the clothing, it really doesn’t matter where it is. I’ve had my pod fondled several times going through MFO; it wasn’t the pod, it was simple fact that I didn’t know not to touch the sides of the metal detector (I’m TSA Pre, so I go through the detector, not the scanner).
As for the remote devices, Dexcom, Omnipod PDM or the tubed pump, I don’t stash those in my carry on while going through or while on the 'plane; IMNSHO that is a really bad idea. Want to end up in a lifeboat watching your PDM descend into the Atlantic inside one of Boeing’s contraptions? Keep them in a pocket, buy a dress with pockets; take them out and put them in the plastic bin while you go through the scanner. If they start beeping it’s going to be obvious to everyone, including the experienced TSA staff (they are actually getting better).
I should add that if you are not TSA-pre in the US you might care not to be because the scanner simply shows you have a welk attached to your anatomy and they’ve seen enough of them by now. On the other hand, metal detectors can go off at any time in my experience, so better get used to being fondled.
Going through the detector is not a problem. It generally does not get picked up.
But going through the scanner, it will get picked up. At that point they make you touch it and then check your fingers for explosive residue. If the pod is on your butt, most likely they will take you back to a private area.
I put it on my arm, and pull my sleeve up so it is visible. This removes any problems. They see it on the scanner, they see it on my arm. They ask me to touch it, they check my fingers, and that is all.
Wearing it on your arm and visible will never create a problem. It may remove a problem. Or the problem may never occur. But it will never create a problem. So that is why I suggested it.
Strongly disagree.
I don’t keep them in my carry-on the whole time I am on the plane. They are in my pocket when I am in the plane.
But when going through security, they are in my carry on. Much safer to put them INSIDE your carry-on and put it on the x-ray conveyor belt, than to put it loose in a plastic bin. Certainly less likely to get lost when it is zipped inside your carry-on than loose in a plastic bin that everyone is handling.
When your bag is finished getting x-ray, you only have one thing to grab, and everything is inside it. Rather than getting your bag and then also trying find your dexcom, PDM, test strips, or whatever else is loose in the bin.
Once I have cleared security, I have my backpack and I can put stuff back in my pocket.
That’s my plan for our trip to Portland next month: Pod on one arm, Dex on the other. 
Okay, today is the start day of our next trip - about 10 days to spain and portugal. I packed all the stuff we’ve been discussing above - refills, pens, blood glucose meter. I keep it all in one bag - my diabetes bag.
International travel is always a little more challenging than domestic.
Does anyone have any recommendations on adjusting to the different timezone w/r/t blood sugars?
Does anyone bring glucagon on trips??
Whenever I travel more than a couple hours away from home I bring a small kit that has insulin, syringes, and glucagon. Because if I need it and don’t have it…
Yes, I bring my bracelet.
I’d forgotten about that project! Your ingenuity is awesome! 
A quick update on my current trip -
Why am I writing this? Because I was supposed to be in Europe, but was turned away at the gate due to lack of covid test. So we’re going to try again tonight. (No where in all the voluminous check in material did I see a covid test requirement).
In addition to that, before I was turned away at the gate, we arrived at the airport (thanks to my son who kindly drove us) and I realized that I’d left my pump at home - so he had to come back to the airport with the pump. And then he had to come back again to take us home.
So - one obvious travel tip - Take your pump with you when you go!
We are still waiting for covid test results.
Double Ouch. That is really frustrating. I still vividly remember the time my wife and I got the AM/PM wrong on a trip. Unfortunately we thought we were flying PM, and the flight left in the AM.
I have never thought to bring glucagon with me; at least not in recent years. But we were in Mexico last week and did a little excursion into the jungle and I had all of my supplies with me and mentos, which I’ve been using for lows. But as we were losing cell phone signal and bumping into the jungle I really did get nervous bc if I had gone low and needed more help than what my husband and our guides could have provided, I would have been in a lot of trouble. I will definitely pack glucagon from now on.
@bostrav59 - hoping you made it into Spain and are having a great time! Let us know how the trip goes!
Look into Baqsimi. Much easier than Glucagon.
It doesn’t make any difference for me; I use a flat basal. The problem I have is with 11 hours on a plane; the inactivity is tricky to deal with and the availability (or not) of reasonable food is a big issue. We generally buy salads in the airport departure lounge to eat on the flight; airline food is just plain bad for T1Ds.
There can also be a jet lag issue, it depends on how often you fly. The first trans-ocean flights I did in my youth had a pretty terrible effect. For me going from the US to Europe is the bad direction and going to sleep in the afternoon just sends my BG up because of the inactivity.
At this time there seems to be a general rule for travel of having both a COVID-19 test and evidence of COVID-19 vaccination. Different countries may drop one or other for different people (e.g. US residents don’t require a vaccination to enter the US, non-residents do.)
The rules are changing very often and the timing of the COVID-19 test may vary. If you transit through a third country tests may be required (e.g. the US does, the UK does not.) The UK changed entry rules just a couple of weeks ago, dropping test and vaccine requirements. Costa Rica changed entry rules just a few days ago. For a long time England, Scotland and Wales had different entry requirements. Sometimes, as in the case of the US, you may need a test to actually go between different parts of the same country, so if you have a layover in the US you may need to get two COVID-19 tests, one before the flight to the US, one in the US before the flight to a different state!
In some ways there’s nothing new here. Individual country entry requirements with respect to vaccinations have always been different, for example whether yellow fever vaccination is required. It’s just that COVID-19 has affected travel everywhere on the planet, not just to specific places.