Denied Air Travel

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Permalink Reply by marty peters on November 13, 2009 at 1:09pm

I received a reply from the DOJ who indicated they have forward my complaint onward to AA for their repsonse with a copy to the DOJ and myself. The DOJ will conduct their own investigation upon getting AA's response. Unfortantely, with the feds it could take some time to complete.

I am hoping that Insulet really gets in front of this issue and uses their power as a corporation to get the airlines onboard with their device.

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Permalink Reply by Dee on November 13, 2009 at 11:09am

When I fly I will not say anything and make sure I don't have any reason to beep....Thanks for the heads up. OH, I'm not flying AA.

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Permalink Reply by Jay on November 13, 2009 at 7:51pm

Marty. A couple of things. The pod/ PDM transmits about 3 feet max. It transmits at 13.56 MHz. Well below many frequencies out there. The PDM is technically off untill powered on. You can walk away from the PDM and the pod will continue to function normally. The PDM has an internal battery, so if the battery is removed or power dies, you will not lose your pod/settings. If you do receive an error your data is still safe.

I've flown thousands of miles, on many different airlines yhroughout different countries on flights as long as 18 hours and never had an issue.

It's a medical device and will definitely not interfere with the plane electrnics at any altitude. If it happens again. Take the batteries out until the attent walks away.

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Permalink Reply by Knox's Dad on November 16, 2009 at 10:18am

Marty -

I have never heard this and am shocked! MY first call would have been to the ADA and the the FAA. The FAA has clearly written instructions/expectations for anyone traveling with diabetes. Pretty good considering they are a government body!
This is rediculous and the device itself has to be approved by the FDA for medical use. Whomever you spoke with was way out of line and tremendously underskilled at their job.
I wish you luck on this........
Knoxs dad

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Permalink Reply by Bradley Ringer on November 16, 2009 at 3:13pm

I flew on Continental Express from Newark to Indianapolis yesterday. I had no problems at security. Based on your experience, I kept my PDA stashed where it couldn't be seen. I had my CGM (Dexcom) on me. To avoid problems I changed all my alarms on the CGM to vibrate only and I didn't look at the receiver when the flight attendant was around. Good thing it wasn't today. In the space of one and a half hours, I had three pods occlude and my Dexcom sensor ended its 7 days. I was a beeping fool! I still haven't got them up and running.

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Permalink Reply by marty peters on November 17, 2009 at 12:05am

Well I had my return flight Monday morning from Chicago to Tampa. For the most part it was uneventful but when I arrived at the gate, there was an announcement for myself to come to the desk. I was thinking the worst. Turns out I was flagged as needing special assistance in the AA system. The person asked if I needed helping boarding or early boarding. I stated not really other than I wear an insulin pump. She said OK and was going to update the system for future flights.

The eventful portion was about 5 minutes before boarding starting I feel my BG dropping. It went from 132 to 58 in about 30 mins after eating a biscuit from McD's. Don't know why. I took my emergency sugar, boarded the plane and took some additonal sugar. After reaching 10,000 feet I took my sugar, out of sight of attendants, and it returned to 144.

I am still pressing my case with the Department of Justice.Airline Consumer Service Division. The FAA doesn't handle these type of requests. AA needs to approve the use of the Omnipod on their planes so we don't need to keep it a secret from them during flights. This will set the standards for all the airlines.

The curious thing that got me thinking. For all purchases on their flights that only take credit cards. They use a device that communicates wirelessly with the ground to process these requests. This should cause more interfence than my omnipod. I need to research this further.

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Permalink Reply by marty peters on November 17, 2009 at 12:17am

Here is the statement from AA's website on using credit cards for purchases on their flights.

"Onboard flights within the U.S. and between the U.S. and Canada, for in-flight purchases, we accept most major credit or debit cards. Our flight attendants use wireless handheld devices to quickly swipe your card and provide receipts upon request."

Do you notice the term "wireless"? To me knowing this says there is no rvalid eason why they can't approve the use of the Omnipod insulin system as along as they are using this technology already on-board.

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Permalink Reply by Bradford on November 17, 2009 at 6:14am

I don't want to necessarily play devil's advocate here, other than to say they don't pass out drinks until they are above 10K ft...which is the rule for electronic devices. Once you can use your CD/mp3 player again, they can use their CC swipers too.
I don't really know when the transactions are processed regarding CCs and drinks, but I assumed that your information was stored (encrypted I would imagine) on the swiper machine until they reach the ground, at which time the transactions would be processed. But that's just my assumption...
I think others have already mentioned it, but in the future I would just call the PDM your 'glucometer', and tell anyone who asks that you're checking your glucose (even if you're just silencing an alarm). If they question you further, use a strip and test (I think it would be worth the $1 that the strip costs). If your pod is not within sight I would not mention the wireless comm part. If they see the pod and question it with your PDM out, tell them you're powering it down and just turn it off w/ the off button. If they still don't believe you, remove the batteries like Jay mentioned. If it's only for a few minutes, your basal data, etc, will not be lost.
Keep us posted about any further news from the DOJ or from AA!

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Permalink Reply by Andy Mayshar on November 17, 2009 at 12:18pm

I've followed this post with interest. first "Do you notice the term "wireless"? To me knowing this says there is no rvalid eason why they can't approve the use of the Omnipod insulin system as along as they are using this technology already on-board. statements like this will get you nowhere as they are using a tested system verses an unknown Insulet system. I have been on the OmniPod over 4 years and have flown a lot both domestically and overseas. Never had one problem. In reading the posts, I thimk Marty shot himself in the foot by not just turning the PDM off with the switch. When the PDM is in that off state I believe it is quite off. It does not receive alarms from the Pod until you turn it on and it does a Status Check. I have never hidden my PDM from the TSA and don't plan on it. I also test my BG out in the open. When you put an Apple iPhone in Airplane mode it does not turn the entrire device off. It only turns the WiFi and cell phones portion of the device off. Andy

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Permalink Reply by Bradford on November 17, 2009 at 1:56pm

This is true about the iPhone. But having recently flown on American, they want all electronic devices completely off (not just in airplane mode). I had my head phones in and the attendant actually came by and made me power my phone completely off even when I showed him it was on airplane mode. I know that's irrelevant to the omnipod front, but some of the attendants are super-hardcore about their 'no electronics' rule, wireless or not.
I agree that when the PDM is 'off', it's off. It's not communicating, or even trying to communicate with the pod. I also would never let a rule like the 10K 'no electronics' rule ever dictate when I may or may not test my glucose. If I start feeling low, or if I think I'm high, and I want to test to verify, I'm going to test. End of story. So Andy I agree with you, and I test out in the open regardless of the situation, and I plan to continue to do so, should the situation arise...even on the airplane.

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Permalink Reply by marty peters on November 17, 2009 at 8:55pm

I respectfully disagree as I think you are missing the point.......my stance with AA is that I shouldn't have to 'hide' my activity with the PDM from the flight crew for any reason at anytime. It's unfortantely when you get one flight crew member who doesn't understand the concept of an insulin pump especially like the Omnipod.

This concept of an 'off' switch with your PDM is misunderstood. You are only disabling the display. It contin ues to function as it should. But that is not my issue with AA. It;s their attitude to not approving based upon soley it has wireless technology.

Yes I could go thru the hassle of removing the batteries and so on but why should we have to? Let's fight for the exemption to avoid this situation on any airline.

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