Advice requested: Packing scuba gear for air travel?

[Darnold9999]

I packed the reg in checked suitcase (clothing around it, etc.). But, interesting thought about misdirected luggage.
I've heard some have worn their BC onto the plane to save luggage space. They charge an arm & a leg for everything nowadays.

Have lost luggage twice now - always showed up, but several days into a trip. one of the reasons I try to do a few days of land based diving before a liveaboard. Allows luggage to catch up and I get to recover from jet lag. I carry the things I can’t live without in carryon plus one change of clothes. What that means is different for everyone.

 

[tursiops]

I agree, that's what TSA rules say. Funny thing coming back from Cozumel last month: one of my buddies had a small bag of alkaline batteries in his carryon. The security people confiscated it, said that no batteries of any kind were allowed in the carryon.

My first instinct was to try to explain to them that they were confused, and that the rule is no lithium batteries allowed in checked luggage. But of course I resisted. The only universal rule is that the rules are whatever the security people think the rules are.

Mexico is an anomaly.
Leaving Mexico with batteries
Coz Outbound Flying & Batteries
Cozumel Batteries checked or carry on?
Lithium batteries for DEPARTING COZ flights

AeroMexico says about Li-Ion rechargables and Primary cell non-rechargables:

 

[yle]

Mexico is an anomaly.
Leaving Mexico with batteries
Coz Outbound Flying & Batteries
Cozumel Batteries checked or carry on?
Lithium batteries for DEPARTING COZ flights

AeroMexico says about Li-Ion rechargables and Primary cell non-rechargables:
View attachment 661565

Ohhh... thank you. Twenty lashes for me, and my apologies to the security people in Coz. I guess if I bothered to take the few minutes to educate myself, I would have known better.

But I still hope they were able to use the batteries and not just throw them away.

 

[agilis]

I know you're joking, but I'd much rather the confiscated items get used somehow instead of being thrown in the trash.

It was the misunderstanding of their own rules that bothered me, much more than losing the batteries.

Believe me, having lived in a couple of third world countries, those batteries will not go to waste. When I lived in rural Jamaica, I asked friends to affix a big red "URINE SAMPLE" sticker to any items they might send me. OTOH, I once saw a young American in front of me on the customs clearance line in Jamaica asked if he had any vegetables or fruit. He admitted he did, opening his carry-on. I watched the Jamaican customs inspector remove 6 large grapefruit from the bag, while looking at the slim clean-cut lad with a mixture of scorn and disbelief while slowly tossing them one by one into a trash bin. I couldn't restrain my own annoyance, and had to ask him why he was bringing such things from NJ to a lush tropical garden like Jamaica. "I need them for my health diet", he said, "and I didn't know if I'd be able to get them here". Contempt for Americans has, at times, its justifications.

 

[Centrals]

But I still hope they were able to use the batteries and not just throw them away.

Honestly do you really believe all those confiscated items would be ending in the land field?
But I have seen report in USA that brand new ventilators were dumped!

Tourists need to be educated one way or another!
Ignorance is NOT an excuse.

Laura Plummer: Jailed Briton in Egypt 'released'
Over counter pain killer!

Prohibited and restricted items
Hefty fine for fruit!!!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

All of my gear goes in a roller back pack. Mask, regs, computer, and BPW broken down. I can get that plus a 3 mil and my boots inside. Fins strapped to outside of backpack and they can get shoved under the seat. Short enough that they don't stick out. Camera in my personal item. I can fit a couple t shirts and shorts stuffed in as well.
If my checked bag gets lost I can buy those 3 for 10 buck T shirts and a pair or two of throwaway shorts, but I won't miss any dives.
I also have a photographers vest that will hold a lot of stuff.

 

[TMHeimer]

Batteries, electronics (dive computer?), alarm clock, elec. toothbrush, cigarette lighters.... Anything like that I was told last year here in Canada it goes in your carry-on. Up until that time those things were required to go only in checked luggage. That change make any sense? I know they'd have an explanation if I asked (well, no employee in the airport had any idea and some agreed it was insane). Think about it-- a cigarette lighter safer in the carry-on where you can get your hands on it?
Then at another airport they didn't even ask if I had any of that stuff in the wrong bag.
Yes, ask for specifics before you pack to fly.

 

[lairdb]

Lithiums/rechargeable MUST be in carryon.

I agree, that's what TSA rules say.

Not precisely, in the USA.

FAA recommends, but does not require, that devices containing lithium primary or rechargeable be in carry-on. They can be checked provided they are "turned completely off, protected from accidental activation and packed so they are protected from damage". I check my 18650 flashlights, but undo them a full turn before packing (and on one where that doesn't reliably work, I also slip in a piece of paper over the battery terminal.)

When reading this (or TSA, or DOT, or individual airlines, or etc.) watch out for the word "spare" -- important distinction.

Funny thing coming back from Cozumel last month: one of my buddies had a small bag of alkaline batteries in his carryon. The security people confiscated it, said that no batteries of any kind were allowed in the carryon.

MX, and every other nation, have their own rules, and they are not at all harmonized when you get to the fine print. I have some information that suggests each airport in MX has their own slightly different set of rules on batteries. Generally, there's language about "exceeding standard requirements" -- which means judgement call. (Also, note that corkscrews are forbidden in carry-on, even without a foil cutter. I've left more corkscrews in Mexico...)

The only universal rule is that the rules are whatever the security people think the rules are.

Indeed. An option.

 

[tursiops]

Not precisely, in the USA.

FAA recommends, but does not require, that devices containing lithium primary or rechargeable be in carry-on. They can be checked provided they are "turned completely off, protected from accidental activation and packed so they are protected from damage". I check my 18650 flashlights, but undo them a full turn before packing (and on one where that doesn't reliably work, I also slip in a piece of paper over the battery terminal.)

When reading this (or TSA, or DOT, or individual airlines, or etc.) watch out for the word "spare" -- important distinction.



MX, and every other nation, have their own rules, and they are not at all harmonized when you get to the fine print. I have some information that suggests each airport in MX has their own slightly different set of rules on batteries. Generally, there's language about "exceeding standard requirements" -- which means judgement call. (Also, note that corkscrews are forbidden in carry-on, even without a foil cutter. I've left more corkscrews in Mexico...)



Indeed. An option.

My input concerned spare batteries.

 

[Centrals]

My strategy:
1. Diving and separated travel insurance.
2. Anything that is irreplaceable or difficult stay close with me eg. passport, money, plastic card, dive computer and mask.
3. No camera so never an issue.
4. Soft check bag never ever weight over 1kg.
5. All the rest go to the check bag!!!
6. Never in my life that I have to pay excess luggage or overstuffed myself with anything else. I knew how much they(hand carry or check) weight before I load them on the scale on check-in.
7. What really irritated me most is the person who tried to talk his/her way from not paying the excess luggage charges.