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miapeters

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  1. Incontinent
Hello all, I'm just curious but has anyone worn diapers while traveling via airlines? I have only gone on domestic flights and it had been impossible to change in that crazy small toilet. I have had to sit and wait in a soaked and bm filled diaper until I can change at the airport. How do you deal with this normally? And how are international flights compared to this.
 
I travel all of the time. I have rarely tried to change the in lav as most of my travel is domestic. I have used all of the major players for diapers and most hold up ok. I have found some tricks over the years. I wear layers to help with things. A diaper with a booster, then a pair of control top panties, sometimes I add a cloth diaper to catch any leaks on long flights and then a plastic cover. A onesie over that helps support things. I can tell I am padded when I look in the windows and see my reflection or in the mirror. However, I have learned most people never care. Those that do, well that is there problem. As a man, I have found I sometime wind up with my penis pointed to the side and I end up having a problem with leakage due to the angle. This sounds odd, but I thought to try something new recently. I put the old boy in a small sock before I diaper up. This seems to absorb and spread the flow so that the diaper absorbs it more evenly. It can feel odd, but honestly it works.

As for the TSA, I gave up a long time ago caring what they say. It is about a 20-30% chance of getting a freedom pat. If they do, they for sure feel the padding and look odd at me. At that point I just tell them we need to do it in private. They take you aside and usually do the pat down again more aggressively. Sometimes a cop will be asked to come in since they have no powers of arrest. They have told me they worry about drug smugglers. From that point I have had everything from just do nothing more than the pat down and explanation, all the way to stripping down and changing my diaper in front of them. They want to check the first for drugs or such.

At this point I usually wear some fancy print plastic pants just to make it awkward for everyone if it happens. Give yourself an extra 30 min for the fun.

The few times I did change in the lav, getting a used adult diaper in that 6x4 opening for hand towels was fun. I had to shove that thing in!

Hope you safe travels and worry free times.
 
I've flown tons of domestic flights cross country (so like 5 hours straight through, 7-8 if there's a layover somewhere), but then I'm not IC so I'm not sure how much advice I can give specific to your situation. I also agree that an aircraft lavatory would be really hard to change in. Space issue aside, a lot of the wastebins don't seem like they'd be big enough to fit a used diaper, and I'm not sure how I'd even get one discretely from my seat and into the lavatory without worrying I'd freak someone out about why I was carrying a backpack in there with me.

Since I'm not IC, my general strategy is a thin, inexpensive diaper to wear from my house and through security (in case I get hassled about the one I'm wearing, which I never have been). Then I'll have 2-3 of my normal diapers in my carryon. One for changing before my flight, one for during the layover (if there is one), and then the last for when I'm at the destination airport. One thing you might try is finding flights that are shorter with multiple legs. It would be less efficient getting wherever you're going, but it would minimize the time sitting on an aircraft and maximize your opportunities to change.
 
Usually my abena m4's hold up alright, someone had suggested Abu simple and I might try that out for day and night to see whether it might be a better option with my sever incontinence. Usually any decent diaper can handle a bm, sometimes I have two in the night which I don't wake up for, maybe that's something to worry about. But the m4's are best for my urinary incontinence. There was only one time I had to get a private patdown and all because before I passed the scanner I realized that my diaper was filled with a bm so I requested one and they were pretty professional about it. All other times I've not had a problem going past tsa
 
Like Joemama, I fly all of the time diapered, including as recently as yesterday, and I have had a wide variety of experiences. I agree that changing in most airplane lavs could be difficult. On some of the bigger aircraft on some airlines, (A380/340/330, and the Boeing 747 & 777) there are bigger lavatories that are sometimes marked with the handicapped symbol, so be sure to look for those.

My general MO is to do what others here have recommended. I wear a thin (hopefully dry) diaper through security, and then change into bigger thicker diapers after security. I have lounge access, so I usually change in either the shower rooms or bathrooms of the lounge. I generally will wear 2 or 3 Abena's with baby diaper stuffers in each diaper, and a Large Attends diaper over that. I usually change into my pajamas on the overnight flights once on-board. I'm sure its super obvious that I am diapered at this point, but I don't really care.

Thick diapers are the key to not having to change them onboard. Hope this helps!
 
bambinobaby said:
I generally will wear 2 or 3 Abena's with baby diaper stuffers in each diaper, and a Large Attends diaper over that.
Wait... are you saying you actually wear 3 abenas, with stuffers, at the same time? I'm assuming that's just for the feel or something? I'm having trouble imagining how that would actually provide any practical benefit as far as increase absorbency, especially for something like an Abena with minimal press-out.
 
Yeah I don't see how having three abena's works physics wise, anyway no judgement. A thinner diaper through security is kind of scary, what if I have a bm and it can't hold it or it leaks? I know that happened only once but my bm's are not on a schedule....... Plus I've gone through those body scan machines and they haven't pulled me up, I check if my diaper is wet or whether I had a bm, if not I go through, otherwise I ask one of the tsa for a private check or whatever.

- - - Updated - - -

Wait a minute!! joemama, change in front of them!!!??? is that true???
 
Hey Mia, yes, I've been flying in diapers pretty regularly, both on short and long haul flights, and I have always been changing in the airplane toilets no problem. I usually put my spares and wipes in an inconspicuous black bag like the one you put shoes in and grab that from my backpack in the overhead locker before heading to the lavatory. It's not the roomiest place to perform a change but it works for me, the upside being that it breaks the monotony of the flight, and it saves me time at the airport. As joemama mentioned, it can be tricky to dispose of the used diaper in the lavatory trash bin, if it's not badly soiled it's easier to slip it in there without rolling it up.

As for security checks, I never went great lengths to avoid being found out, as wearing diapers is not illegal in any way. Full body scanners like you have in the U.S. aren't that revealing in my experience, I went through them once with a pretty wet diaper (I think it was a boosted 24/7, so nothing lightweight) and the only thing the scanner highlighted was the sweat spot on the back of my t-shirt from carrying a backpack. The only time I was given a patdown was in Berlin, when I went through the metal detector wearing my plastic pants with metal snaps (which I avoided since then on). The security agent definitely felt my diaper but not a word was said and no weird looks were had, as that was probably far from being the first time he inspected somebody wearing a diaper. Bottom line, even if they have to pat you down or request you to show them your padding, you bet it is going to be an awkward moment for them too, and a tricky one at that because they're basically asking you to expose your disability, and if they did anything in a less than professional, courteous and polite manner it would take very little for you to sue them and get them fired.
 
miapeters said:
A thinner diaper through security is kind of scary, what if I have a bm and it can't hold it or it leaks?
Yeah, it probably doesn't make a ton of sense to do it that way in your situation now that I think about it. My thinking in doing it that way is that then I don't have to "waste" a more expensive diaper if I have to change it before it's anywhere near used up; Either to not have a wet one going through security (that will set off the body scanner) or because security for some reason makes me (though to date I've flown ~20 times and haven't once seen experienced any issues).
 
While I think the idea of flying diapered it is really appealing, I have never actually found it terribly practical are good. Of course this is coming from someone who is not incontinent. Unlike some I have a true choice.

I guess maybe because of this I find the TSA checks to be stressful and unnerving. While I like to wear in public, I prefer to be as discreet as possible about it. One time in the Denver airport I got stopped and received the freedom pat down. That cured me of wanting to do it again.

As for changing on a plane, I have essentially found using the lavatories for this purpose to be impossible. Maybe for some people who are of a smaller frame size than me it works, but I am a fairly big guy and I hardly fit in those bathrooms just to do normal business without diapers let alone trying to change one.

It sounds kind of like the OP needs to wear them for medical reasons and for that experience I truly empathize. More often than not when I think about traveling while diapered I opt we're just changing once I am at my location. It's nice to have that freedom.


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cm90210 unfortunately I am incontinent, both bladder and bowel. I don't think anyone would voluntarily have a bowel movement while sitting thousands of feet in the air with a tiny cubical for a toilet. Even though I've been dealing with bm's in my diaper since I was very small I'm still a little grossed out by it. Until I was in high school my mom would have to clean up because to be honest I found it so disgusting and nausiating, especially as a girl people expect you to be clean and smelling nice all the time. I'm glad I've come to a point where I'm finally independent, attending college, managing my living........ went a bit off topic there... anyway I've never been able to get advice about managing incontinence and diapers from anyone other than my doctor until I found this forum.
quattrus I'll definitely try and see of changing is possible when I hopefully go home for Christmas this time :) i am quite small made although changing a diaper after a bowel accident which is very frequent in my case might be an issue,
Thanks for the advice guys.... sorry if this post was too long or boring
 
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