Exclusive: Ellen Pompeo on the Snack That Got Her Flagged by TSA—'I Almost Missed the Flight'

Travel + Leisure

2 days ago

Even though she is one of the biggest television stars of our time, Ellen Pompeo is just like us when she travels. The Grey's Anatomy star said she brings the 'usual stuff' when she flies. 'Mints, glasses, water, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes. I have to do the Naomi Campbell thing and wipe down the entire seat,' she told Travel + Leisure earlier this month. And like many of us, she also brings her own snacks. However, on a flight in March, what seemed like an innocent healthy snack landed her in a room with the bomb squad.
While going through TSA, she set off the alarms for carrying—of all things—sunflower seeds. 'I had a bag of sunflower seeds, like organic sunflower seeds from Erewhon, so they were probably the most expensive sunflower seeds money can buy. They literally held me for an hour, and they brought the bomb squad in. And I was like, what is happening? Is this a joke? They said it was most likely a chemical on the packaging of these super expensive, fancy, organic, clean sunflower seeds. My protein on the plane!' She asked if she could just throw them away, but they needed her to stay and wait for the bomb squad to assess this unopened bag of sunflower seeds. 'I almost missed the flight. It was really like no one would ever believe this! I was texting my publicist saying, 'I might not get on this plane, and you're never gonna guess why.''
TSA sunflower seed debacle aside, Pompeo does love to travel, even if it throws off her typical morning routine of doing a sauna followed by a cold plunge as she does at her home in Los Angeles. 'I'll try to look for hotels with saunas. Not everybody has a cold plunge. Cold plunges are a relatively, you know, sort of bougie, new thing. I think most of these older hotels don't have it, but a cold shower, I think, does the same.' She also likes a hotel with a good pool. 'I do love to wake up and swim.' She loves the pools at The Greenwich Hotel and Bristol Plaza, both in New York City.
Another part of her travel wellness routine is the Youth Activating Melon Serum Advanced Formula from Meaningful Beauty, for which Pompeo is a brand ambassador and a longtime fan. The skincare brand just had its 20th anniversary in 2024. 'That's always been my go-to in this line. And I put the melon serum on first, and then I put oil over it when I travel. I'm really big into serums and oils at this age,' she said.
Aisle or window?
A single seat. Delta One is my preferred airline. Usually just a single seat, but if I'm sitting with someone, it's usually one of my kids, so I don't care. Whatever they want.
What is your plane uniform?
You want to be comfy. Planes are so disgusting. I just usually have a hat on, and I don't speak. People recognize my voice, so I try not to talk. I try to use sign language with my kids. The minute I open my mouth, everybody turns.
Go-to plane activity?
I usually watch a show, either something that I've been dying to watch, which I download on my computer, or I read a book. Also, lots of deep breathing now.
Dream trip?
I think Japan is definitely on our list. That's one place that they all really are excited to go, and we haven't gone yet.
Grey's Anatomy co-star you would travel with?
Definitely T.R. [Knight]. Or Katie [Katherine] Heigl, because she'd be like, 'Oh, it's gonna be fine.' I took a helicopter once with [Patrick] Dempsey, from the city out to the Hamptons, and I had only been in a helicopter once before in the south of France. I really don't like helicopters at all. Dempsey was pretty good with me on the helicopter. He calmed me down.
But her favorite thing about travel is being with her family. Pompeo has three children—Stella Luna, 15, Sienna May, 10, and Eli Christopher, 8—with husband Chris Ivery. Pompeo said she is a bit of a nervous flier, especially lately, and though she appreciates that pilots are coming out and trying to speak more to passengers about expected turbulence, she still loves having her family there as her main form of support. 'I like to hold my kids' hands when I take off, which is probably a little selfish, and they're probably feeling my anxiety, which probably isn't the best thing to do,' she said. Ellen Pompeo with two of her kids, Stella Luna Ivery and Eli Ivery, and her husband Chris Ivery.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
And once they get to the destination, Pompeo is a happy camper. 'I love any kind of trip as long as my kids are with me. I get a little bit anxious when I travel for work without my kids, but when we're all together, we try to do it all and give them a good mix [of types of trips]. It's a privilege to be able to travel with these kids and bring them places, so I try to just have a lot of gratitude for that and show them as much as I can.' The whole family went to Hawaii for Stella's 15th birthday, and when Pompeo was doing press for her new Hulu miniseries Good American Family, she took her daughters to London and Paris. 'If you're lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel with kids, it's the best education there is, because I don't know who's using algebra in their daily lives.'
Traveling with family can take more organization, so Pompeo's strategy is to be a minimal packer. She says her husband, who she says is usually the best dressed in the room, often tells her she needs to pack more for trips. 'And I'm like, 'No, no, I want fewer options!' And he's like, 'You need more options.' And so I'm always trying to get him to pack less, and he's always trying to get me to pack more.'