Period and Potty Products What you wear down there can show up on the scanner. Using period products such as tampons and period panties while traveling may be unavoidable, but be sure not to shove excess toilet paper or tissues in your pants or pockets.

Menstrual pads and tampons do not typically "trigger" airport security in the sense of setting off a metal detector, but they can occasionally appear as an "anomaly" on the highly sensitive Millimeter Wave Scanners (the full-body scanners where you raise your arms). These scanners detect objects that break the natural contour of the body; therefore, a thick, highly absorbent pad or a menstrual cup can sometimes show up as a "yellow box" on the security officer's screen, indicating a need for a manual pat-down of that area. While this can be an embarrassing or frustrating experience, it is a standard part of modern security protocols. In 2026, many airports are using updated software designed to better distinguish between biological tissue and external objects to reduce these "false positives." If you are flagged, a female TSA officer will typically perform a brief, professional pat-down of the waistband or groin area. To minimize the chance of a scan anomaly, some travelers choose to wear thinner liners during the flight and switch to more absorbent products once they have cleared the security checkpoint.