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Inflatable life vest & Air Travel - OK or not OK?


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Heading away to Fiji in a few weeks via water and returning via air (better VMG)

Was wanting to take my own safety gear but it occurred to me that pressurized inflation cannisters may not be welcome on a plane.  Anyone had any experience with this?

Was really only planning on having carry on - no checked baggage.

Thanks

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6 minutes ago, Y88 5241 said:

Have done it no issues, always take it as carry on, it's allowed under the law if 33g or under. The security are pretty good about it all and understand. 

Thanks mate

I figured they want that kind of thing in the pressurized part of the plane.

I figured worse case scenario, just leave cartridge on the boat.

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23 minutes ago, eruptn said:

The ones under your seat have cartridges in them?

The bar in business class probably has big bottles of rum in it - I can't see me being able to bring my own one of those 😉

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Check with the Airline as they have each have different rules but generally all OK with them. Even if you had to remove the canister and throw in the bin at the airport, it wouldn't be the end of the world. 

Safe travels mate!

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I have taken mine and a spare cannister in my packed baggage and carry on baggage multiple times on Air NZ, Qantas, Fijian Airways, Emirates and Lan Chile

It has the same cannister that they have under every seat on the plane.

I once found a search form in the bag, saying my bag was searched, they had not unzipped the vest to get to the actual cannister, so must of been happy when they realized it was a life jacket.

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18 hours ago, funlovincriminal said:

Thanks mate

I figured they want that kind of thing in the pressurized part of the plane.

I figured worse case scenario, just leave cartridge on the boat.

The cargo hold and the passenger deck are at equal pressure, your cartridge will always be in a pressurized part of the plane, Indeed As a passenger you are surrounded by pressure vessels such as portable oxygen, Fire Extinguishers, Under seat life Vest cartridges and these days even the emergency drop down oxygen is stored in small high pressure bottles overhead each seat row (on the Dream Liner) 

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12 hours ago, Black Panther said:

How does that help? Do they mistake it for a suppository? 

The scanner cant detect it there, its an old trick :-) (I mean in the bag)

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Thanks all.

I'm aware of the existence of other pressurized cylinders in the plane, my question was more to find out the smoothest way of getting mine home. Having done plenty of air miles I've been in and seen some ridiculous situations and attitudes at check in counters.

I was flying home from racing in the UK just after 9/11, have Olive skin, Dark hair, a biggish nose and was carrying a set of Roadracing Leathers as Carty-on baggage. Needless to say my stop over at L.A and subsequent check-in scarred me for life, and the Carbon/Kevlar body Armour that they cut out of my suit never quite fitted back in the same. 😉

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Pretty sure you need to remove the cannister. They are usually more worried about it inflating in an overhead locker and blowing the locker apart! 

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The rules are different everywhere and not adhered to / known anyway.

Therefore it's all about making your life easier and not having to deal with both the differing rules imposed by each airline, and the various whims of airport reception staff. Plus if you have removed the canister it is not technically an inflatable lifejacket, and as it is only 33gm and looks like a deodorant can / toothpaste tube etc there is nothing to get stressed about in Xray.

I just took a PFD on a Tasman flight and QLD regional flight this way over Easter and absolutely no issues.

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Its a fair point, if in doubt put it in your check-in bag, back in the late 90's I travelled back from the US with a manager, he had purchased die cast six shooters for his grandson, these were half the size of the real thing and clearly toys. All the US people we were meeting with assured him they could go in his cabin bag and there would be no issues at security... WRONG !

As the bag went through the scanner he saw the operators expression freeze to immobility and the conveyor was stopped, he tried to speak but was politely told not to three times, all spoken tersely and ending in a malevolent "Sir"  What followed proceeded with excruciating slowness, all the people in line were re-routed to other queues , he was told not to move or speak and slowly surrounded by officers with large sidearms,  questioned at the scene with a stunned and appalled audience  then escorted away for three hours of "processing" he was eventually allowed to continue his journey, I don't know what happened to the guns.

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