Battery warning for overseas travel!

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I returned from Europe recently and when I started unpacking I was in for a rude awakening! My 2 spare drone batteries had been removed and held by the Swiss authorities, along with my professional ENG camera battery!? I have been flying all over the world for 20 years with professional equipment and the same kinds of batteries and never an issue until now.

The drone batteries are cheap compared to the $700 Anton Bauer broadcast battery. They won't ship them back, they will store them up to a month until someone pick them up in person. Just plain nuts. They were in a professional case that is designed to fly batteries and pro equipment. Now the battery in the drone was still there. So here are the "rules":

1) Batteries can fly IF they are attached to the equipment.
2) Lose batteries cannot fly in checked luggage, even in approved cases.
3) They can fly loose or attached as carry on.

Now what sense does that possibly make? Well, this is about a $1,000 loss it appears. To go back and get them costs more than the batteries and I don't have anyone close enough to pick them up for me. Grrrr....

I flew twice earlier in the same configuration in and out of London with NO issues as usual. So be forewarned.
Carry your batteries on board with you!
 
Ugh... I hope you find someone who could pick it up in Europe. When I went to Florida, I boarded the plane a bit late and there was no room in the overhead bins. My P4 had to get checked in so I was a bit worried the same thing would happen to me. Anyway, this probably sounds a bit stupid but maybe you can post an ad for people near the airport and offer them some cash if they could pick it up? But then someone might steal + sell the batteries...
 
I returned from Europe recently and when I started unpacking I was in for a rude awakening! My 2 spare drone batteries had been removed and held by the Swiss authorities, along with my professional ENG camera battery!? I have been flying all over the world for 20 years with professional equipment and the same kinds of batteries and never an issue until now.

The drone batteries are cheap compared to the $700 Anton Bauer broadcast battery. They won't ship them back, they will store them up to a month until someone pick them up in person. Just plain nuts. They were in a professional case that is designed to fly batteries and pro equipment. Now the battery in the drone was still there. So here are the "rules":

1) Batteries can fly IF they are attached to the equipment.
2) Lose batteries cannot fly in checked luggage, even in approved cases.
3) They can fly loose or attached as carry on.

Now what sense does that possibly make? Well, this is about a $1,000 loss it appears. To go back and get them costs more than the batteries and I don't have anyone close enough to pick them up for me. Grrrr....

I flew twice earlier in the same configuration in and out of London with NO issues as usual. So be forewarned.
Carry your batteries on board with you!

It's not just overseas travel. Domestic travel as well. Every airline has a battery policy. 2 per person in carry-on only is typical. Luggage compartments are not pressurized and temperature controlled like passenger cabin. There's an elevated risk of fire caused by batteries. There's an increased risk that someone will pack them such that they can short out together or come into contact with other metals as they bounce around.

Although I suspect the actual risk is extremely low, I don't want my life to depend on good packing habits from others. Even if extremely rare, the consequences of an event would be devastating. Always research before traveling by air with anything out of the ordinary.

Pack Safe – Lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, spare (uninstalled)
 
Not only by Air.I had a laptop replacement battery shipping in its original packaging destroyed by the UK Royal Mail services. No recovery, no indemnity and no explanations . As usual, give an ignorant a power he doesn't understand and here we go!. Add to this that it is quite impossible to trace and educate the one who decided it since no individual can be found and held responsible, your property is at the disposal of minions with no clue of costs nor the damage they can do to a business in terms of image and loss of income.
 
Well... thats based on "Dangerous goods" by IATA.

You can not put lithium batteries in the hold of the aircraft, it always has to be in the carry-on luggage.
 
Y'all ought to try to get Lithion ion / polymer batteries shipped to Alaska. Somehow, B&H manages it but pretty much everybody else freaks. I've gone to sending stuff to the barge in Seattle and have it float up here. Slowly.

Funny, that's what it was like in Ye Olden Days before commercial air freight. It's always a circle....
 
I just flew too and from Dubai this week and had no issue although I was stopped each end.
I used lipo case covers which were a few $ each.
I confirmed with customs that you can not travel with batteries in your checked luggage and so MUST take them on board with you and they MUST be in protective cases and then all is fine.
 
Luggage compartment is pressurized on a normal passenger jet and the thin floor between the passengers and the luggage compartment leaks heat. I doubt that they would let it to go below freezing in that compartment, the outside air is around -50°C.

/hakan
 
Anyone have trouble flying in the US? Checked or carry on? What's the rules?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
You can't fly to the US with the battery in checked luggage. You need to carry them on you and in a lipo bag if you want a trouble free checkin
 

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