First time traveler - airline rules

[CWMurf]

Hello everyone,

I am planning for my first airline trip with dive gear. I intend to take everything carry-on. I am unclear about the regulations on cutters. Is my safety cutter on my harness considered as something that can only go in checked luggage?

Thanks in advance for the clarifications.

 

[northernone]

Scissors

This might help. Other counties do have their own regulations as well. Enforcement and interpretation is also a wild card.

Cameron

 

[CWMurf]

Thanks for the link. I had already seen that one though. This is the cutter I have on my harness:
EEZYCUT Trilobite Line Cutter

I'm not sure where it falls under the rules but I suspect they might call it a box cutter.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I’m going to say that you may have an issue with it and it arguably isn’t ‘essential’ kit, so I would risk it getting lost in my checked luggage over risking it getting taken away by screening security...

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

And I ALWAYS wear my BCD in the airport and onto the plane

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I may have misread that wrong, by ‘i Intend to take everything carry on’ do you mean just your dive gear or that you don’t intend to take any separate checked baggage at all for your other stuff? If so, forget my point about putting it in checked luggage...as you won’t have any...

 

[drrich2]

In Grand Cayman at the airport I once 'sacrificed' a scuba tool they took issue with in a carry on; my option was to go back to where I checked in and try to put it in checked baggage (which I'd already turned in), and I wouldn't do that.

Apparently, I might've taken the plane apart from inside the cockpit if I had a tool set.

So that's one more example of something that might be problematic. Not everyone carries a scuba tool, but after one of my hoses popped off a 1st stage at a shore site in Bonaire, I like having one around sometimes.

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

Once while in the airport in Milan, Italy the Security Staff confiscated my fingernail clipper. One of the Guards opened it and snapped off the file and then handed it back to me and let me go on my way.

Don't you feel safer knowing that you are protected from being attacked with such a lethal weapon?

 

[divinh]

I've had trouble with lithium batteries. I had 11 of them, probably too much, but it was my first time carrying gear for a liveaboard and I brought every battery I had. In the end, it was fine, but it took a really long time to clear at check-in and thankfully they had airline staff that could escort me through security.

I left my line cutter in check-in baggage, so worries there.

If you're flying a puddle jumper anywhere along the way, you will have to check-in gear, as overhead bin space is really small, about 1/2 to 1/3 of normal height.

Some airlines have carry-on weight limits that they will enforce at gate and if you exceed, they will force check-in, though some people have said it's better odds of getting on the same flight than checking in at the counters. U.S. airlines seem to only care about size, so once you pass security and if it fits in the overhead, you're good to go. Asian airlines enforce both weight and size.

 

[Damselfish]

Appears no one has asked yet, but why do you feel compelled to carry on all your gear? Some people talk about this but few actually do it - and depending where and what you're flying the rules can make it not an option.

If you're worried about lost or delayed luggage, it really does not happen much and there are ways to minimize this possibility further. If you're just trying to save a checked bag fee, it's really not worth it in the grand scheme of a dive trip.