Flying with batteries

BigJohn

BigJohn

Messages
1,410
Name
John
Edit My Images
Yes
Has anyone flown with camera batteries?
I'm going away and plan to take my eos m as I don't want to cart my 5d mkiii around on holiday.

I know there's strict rules around batteries. I've checked my allowance and I'm all good there.
This issue is I have some 3rd party ones that don't have terminal covers.
They are in small plastic bags so the terminals are protected from shorting, but will this be good enough?

If not, will some electrical tape over them surfice?

I just wondered if anyone else had experienced this.
 
Hand baggage. The ones without proper covers get a strip of insulating tape over the terminals and are put in individual ziploc bags. Never been any problem at security.
 
BigJohn said:
Has anyone flown with camera batteries?
I'm going away and plan to take my eos m as I don't want to cart my 5d mkiii around on holiday.

I know there's strict rules around batteries. I've checked my allowance and I'm all good there.
This issue is I have some 3rd party ones that don't have terminal covers.
They are in small plastic bags so the terminals are protected from shorting, but will this be good enough?

If not, will some electrical tape over them surfice?

I just wondered if anyone else had experienced this.
Click to expand...
Probably a bit late at this stage of planning, but terminal covers are easy enough to obtain (and cheap) through various fleabay sellers.
 
Nod said:
Hand baggage. The ones without proper covers get a strip of insulating tape over the terminals and are put in individual ziploc bags. Never been any problem at security.
Click to expand...

+1
 
We fly several times a year, I use terminal covers (if I have enough) and other batteries are kept ‘sensibly’, ie, I’m not careful to the point of paranoid, but nor do I keep them in a loose bag with coins and keys.

I’ve never even been asked a question.

However; the security folks do like a ‘gotcha’, so will go out of their way to look for asthma inhalers, Bluetooth speakers etc that haven’t been removed from a bag.

It’s almost like they don’t care about actual risks, but like to give a slap on the wrist for minor transgressions that are simple to understand.
 
Phil V said:
We fly several times a year, I use terminal covers (if I have enough) and other batteries are kept ‘sensibly’, ie, I’m not careful to the point of paranoid, but nor do I keep them in a loose bag with coins and keys.

I’ve never even been asked a question.

However; the security folks do like a ‘gotcha’, so will go out of their way to look for asthma inhalers, Bluetooth speakers etc that haven’t been removed from a bag.

It’s almost like they don’t care about actual risks, but like to give a slap on the wrist for minor transgressions that are simple to understand.
Click to expand...
That is exactly where my OH got treated like a 'criminal' ~ "ok madam tell me where the scissors are or I will have to search myself"

She had inadvertently left her very old and almost heirloom like (given to her by grandmother) sewing kit in her handbag. It was usually always in the checked bags.

Suffice to say, the scissors in question had blades of approx. 1/2 inch long......no way were they going to be allowed on the flight, though oddly IIRC the few needles in the kit were not considered a risk. She, somewhat, reluctantly gave up the scissors.....not being given the option of e.g. posting them to herself.
 
Box Brownie said:
That is exactly where my OH got treated like a 'criminal' ~ "ok madam tell me where the scissors are or I will have to search myself"
Click to expand...
The problem for security, I think, are the "little bit pregnant" situations like this.

If you watch many of those fly-on-the-wall programmes, which abound on daytime television, you can see for yourself the pressures on customs and security staff around the world. Every time there's an incident, no matter how minor, the system starts to back up and that affects scheduling, which at many airports is extremely tight. This means that anything out of the ordinary is subject to only a few seconds consideration and is handled on the "if in doubt, leave it out" principle.
 
I think there's some judgement applied to scissors - if they're pointed, they could (possibly) be used to stab, so the 1/2" scissors MIGHT be seen as a 3" stabby weapon. I have a TSA approved Leatherman which has a pair of rounded end scissors and that has been allowed through (with it out of the case and all tools open for east examination.)
 
Nod said:
I think there's some judgement applied to scissors - if they're pointed, they could (possibly) be used to stab, so the 1/2" scissors MIGHT be seen as a 3" stabby weapon. I have a TSA approved Leatherman which has a pair of rounded end scissors and that has been allowed through (with it out of the case and all tools open for east examination.)
Click to expand...
Go through Edinburgh, Swiss army pen-knives are ok but if you have a cork-screw on the knife it gets confiscated...
 
 
I looked up the Style PS model and though the scissors section are not 'stabby' pointed they still look relatively 'pointed'.
 
I don't make the rules!

Just remembered that the residents at the care home where Mrs Nod's Mum lives aren't allowed sharp pointed scissors but are allowed kiddy friendly ones. To prevent self harm by the dementia sufferers.
 
Nod said:
As Lewis says, it's the Style PS. The scissors on mine work fine though!
Click to expand...
I also have the Style CS, which has bigger scissors, instead of the pliers and a knife blade - and it not TSA compliant. I prefer it to the PS, but the sweet spot for me would be the pliers from the PS and the knife from the CS, one day I will get around to stripping them down and making one good one.
 
I have flown with camera batteries in my hand luggage many times and no problem,...except Beijing international airport on a stop over to Australia.

Me, 2 Dutch guys and a German couple arguing with the chinse security were trying to confiscate all batteries. There was a lot of shouting and I did believe at one point it would end in a bawl !
Fortunately one of the chinse security guards did calm the whole situation down telling us foreigners it was a mis understanding !
 
My only problem similarly has been with Chinese security and a tiny phone battery pack that didn't have it's (very small) capacity marked on it clearly.
 
Craikeybaby said:
I also have the Style CS, which has bigger scissors, instead of the pliers and a knife blade - and it not TSA compliant. I prefer it to the PS, but the sweet spot for me would be the pliers from the PS and the knife from the CS, one day I will get around to stripping them down and making one good one.
Click to expand...


I have an old Micra (or is it a Micro?!) as well as a few larger Leathermans. I bought the StylePS for the pliers, to pull broken tees out of the holders in winter mats.
 
I've flown with batteries and never had an issue - all either in the cameras or in their own plastic cases. One of the airlines put a limit of 6 I think it was, and it counted power banks as batteries. Check with the airline as they may have specific rules.
 
The only time I ever had a problem was ages ago. I was flying back from Germany and had about 26 ni-cads in my bag. At the German airport (Wildenrath) they decided to tape the batteries together rather like a belt of bullets "for safety" (I'd been carrying them around for years with no issues) Anyway fast forward to Gatwick and they had a heart attack at x-ray after I got off a military flight.
Fair do they were fine when they saw it was just batteries.
Mind it distracted they from the several bottles of wine and fags in my case and the 2 bottles of Schnaps in my jacket pockets under my Belstaff jacket. I was sweating like a marine at a spelling test though....
 
to be safe - one in the camera, a spare in your hand baggage and the rest in a plastic box with thr terminals covered in your check in bag - really dead simple - no point in taking any chances - always worked for me
 
Nod said:
NO!

All batteries must be in carry on bags rather than in the hold.

Click to expand...

Thanks - never knew that and have always put them in my checked bags for some years, but still not sure I trust these "inspect your carry-on bag" guys not to confiscate them as once they confiscated my "rubber air blower" as they said it looked like a grenade ........
 
Sorry, Bill - didn't mean to shout like that.

I wonder if airlines carry the new fire extinguishers that can deal with Lithium based battery fires?
 
Nod said:
Sorry, Bill - didn't mean to shout like that.

I wonder if airlines carry the new fire extinguishers that can deal with Lithium based battery fires?
Click to expand...
I’d guess they do, as the latest safety instructions put a lot of time into dealing with batteries. Telling you to only charge where you can see them etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nod
Nod said:
Sorry, Bill - didn't mean to shout like that.

I wonder if airlines carry the new fire extinguishers that can deal with Lithium based battery fires?
Click to expand...

That's no problem Nod - I didn't notice - but it's good to shout sometimes ........... were will I put the batteries on the next flight, (I have just read and article that said do not put stuff on your check in case, (i.e. ribbons), or put "wrong" stuff in the case as bags are automatically scanned and if anything is spotted they are pulled out and manually scanned again thus delaying it being put on the conveyor belt to be collected - they mentioned marzipan as it has the same consistency as semtex!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nod
The airline’s resistance to ‘batteries’ is mind boggling in 2024.

At the very minimum, everyone gets on a plane with a phone containing a ‘dangerous’ lithium battery

I’d consider myself fairly unremarkable, and I regularly fly with
Phone
Watch
Power Bank
Kindle
Camera w spare batteties
Bluetooth speaker
Headphones
Batteries for speedlight
 
Definitely hand baggage only, not in the hold. We're away just now and lots of messages etc telling us not to check them in.....
 
The only Battery I have had that "went" was on my MacBookPro

TP_MPB_Battery.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top