Travelling with Medicine (especially flying)

[MJCM]

We just flew home from a Hospital visit from DMK airport, and as we went through the security section and after our bags were scanned one of our bags was swapped with a tissue and was scanned another 2-3 times and when asked what was wrong they said "special bag". And when asked anything wrong? they just asked to see the boarding pass and said "nothing wrong"

 

I guess it was because that bag had .... loads of medicine in it both from me and my wife (and just done a Hospital visit so got a supply of Medicine) . But this was the first time ever that this happened to us.

 

Next time (in 3 months) I will have the daughter send the medicine to us via Courier instead of taking it on a plane.

 

Anyone the same experience?

[ThailandRyan]

Maybe they saw it on the x-ray scan, and thought it might contain Cocaine, so they wiped the outside of the bag to detect and residue of such.  When I fly with my medicines, I always carry them with the doctors paperwork and pharmacy information. Your lucky they did not make you open the bag and show them the medicine.  I do not understand why they would scan your bags as you left the baggage claim unless they were already waiting for you to pick it up and move to exit.

[ukrules]

When they do a swab test like this at an airport I believe they're testing for traces of explosives but perhaps also some other things - however it's mainly an anti terrorist thing.

 

It's certainly nothing to do with medications

Edited July 20, 2022 by ukrules

[Dan O]

They were probably alerted to the scan due to the medicine showing up in the scan as a lot on illegal stuff comes in that way. They have 2 types of wipes, 1 for explosives and one for drugs.  No need to worry if they are prescriptions, at worse they would open your bag and inspect it and see it was legal 

[MJCM]

21 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Maybe they saw it on the x-ray scan, and thought it might contain Cocaine, so they wiped the outside of the bag to detect and residue of such.  When I fly with my medicines, I always carry them with the doctors paperwork and pharmacy information. Your lucky they did not make you open the bag and show them the medicine.  I do not understand why they would scan your bags as you left the baggage claim unless they were already waiting for you to pick it up and move to exit.

Thx. let me clarify.

 

We had No checked bags and this was after you check-in and go through the Boarding Pass control and then onwards the area where you have take of your belt etc etc and put everything to go through the X-Ray.

 

We had 3 bags, 2 bags were fine, but the 3rd with the Medicine was scanned again 2-3 times and then wiped.

 

All of the Medicine of my Wife is OTC but my Medicine (which I got from the Hospital) is prescription only.

 

My Medicine was in the original package from the Hospital.

 

Edit: They did not ask to look inside of the bag, they only wiped it and then we were let go (after asking for the Boarding Pass)

Edited July 20, 2022 by MJCM

[peterfranks]

25 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Next time (in 3 months) I will have the daughter send the medicine to us via Courier instead of taking it on a plane.

I assume you can show them the receipts from the hospitals/pharmacies, so there should not be an issue.

 

Sending it by courier could be more problematic if the parcel gets tagged, since you aren't there to answer any questions

[ukrules]

36 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Next time (in 3 months) I will have the daughter send the medicine to us via Courier instead of taking it on a plane.

The possible reasons they did the swab has been explained multiple times to you already - it was absolutely nothing to do with your medications.

 

There's no reason to change anything you did as you did nothing wrong.

Edited July 20, 2022 by ukrules

[MJCM]

12 minutes ago, peterfranks said:

I assume you can show them the receipts from the hospitals/pharmacies, so there should not be an issue

My medicine yes, but wife's no because it's all over the OTC but thx for the tip will save them for next visits

 

12 minutes ago, peterfranks said:

Sending it by courier could be more problematic if the parcel gets tagged, since you aren't there to answer any questions

Daughter is sending OTC medicine all the time to my wife's and no issues sending those. Bangkok pharmacies are a lot (and I mean a lot) cheaper then here in Buriram (and some medicine isn't even available here).

 

If anyone can recommend a good pharmacy in Buriram / Surin then  please let me know

Edited July 20, 2022 by MJCM

[peterfranks]

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

If anyone can recommend a good pharmacy in Buriram / Surin then  please let me know

I don't know if there are pharmacies in Bangkok that are cheaper than Fascino, but they have an online ordering service

[bkk6060]

Not sure about here, but some countries have a quota for doing things like searches and swabs.

Could be just a random thing.

Edited July 20, 2022 by bkk6060

[StayinThailand2much]

I once brought a few bottles of paracetamol with me. It must have raised eyebrows, because, even though it was in my checked luggage, it was still checked by someone along the way.

Edited July 20, 2022 by StayinThailand2much

[FriendlyFarang]

They check for explosives, had nothing to do with your medicine.

Recently when flying from Phuket they swiped my laptop bag.