The question of what constitutes a liquid had, physicists and the TSA thought, long been settled, that is until now. The case of a podcaster, Patrick Neve, who complained about having to surrender his jar of Jif triggered a wave of sympathy as well as numerous complaints, including a cheeky reply from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
Neve was en route to a speaking engagement with a jar of Jif peanut butter in his carry-on bag when he was forced to surrender it.
“I tried to take peanut butter through airport security,” he wrote. “TSA.: ‘Sorry, no liquids, gels, or aerosols.’ Me: ‘I want you to tell me which of those things you think peanut butter is,’” he continued.
Another Patrick, Patrick Turner, responded: “I think it’s nuts that they banned peanuts on flights because of allergies, but you can buy a pack of peanuts at the concession stands after you go through security.”
As far as TSA rules are concerned, a humble jar of peanut butter – surprisingly even the crunchy kind – falls under its liquids rule and is allowed in carry-on bags only in amounts 3.4 ounces or less. Hence, a typical jar of the tasty treat must go in the hold.
Even the TSA responded in kind: “You may not be nuts about it,” the administration’s social media team wrote on Instagram, “but TSA considers your PB a liquid. In carry-on, it needs to be 3.4 oz. or less.”
In addition, the TSA took time to remind travelers to include the textbook definition of a liquid: something that “has no definite shape and takes a shape dictated by its container.”
Several pundits replied that, by that definition, neither cats nor cranberry sauce should be allowed onboard.
The Travelist and Frequent Business Traveler double-checked with the TSA, just to be sure we weren’t nuts.
Peanut butter is generally considered to be “spreadable,” so it therefore falls under the rule for liquids, gels and aerosols, TSA spokesman R. Carter Langston said in an email.
“As we frequently seek to remind travelers: If you can spill it, spray it, spread it, pump it or pour it, then it’s subject to the 3.4-ounce limitation,” he said.
In January, the TSA found a disassembled .22 caliber handgun – including a loaded magazine – in a jar of Jif after a man hid them in the purportedly liquid substance, the TSA said separately in January of this year. Security officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport found themselves in a nutty situation.
“The gun parts were artfully concealed in two smooth creamy jars of peanut butter, but there was certainly nothing smooth about the way the man went about trying to smuggle his gun,” John Essig, the TSA’s federal security director for JFK, said in a statement.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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