TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

[TheCotMan]

I was recently complaining about the lack of stock for batteries for my laptop in "chat," and explained the new batteries will be nice when on long flights.

Someone mentioned that TSA has been less restrictive with laptop batteries lately, but I was not aware they were denying laptop batteries.

Anyway, from this web site:
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...batteries.shtm

Travel Alert!: Effective January 1, 2008, the Department of Transportation will prohibit loose lithium batteries in checked baggage.

I read that as including extra laptop batteries (fully charged or not) that are not "docked" in the the laptop.

Anyway, I thought you should know about this in case you didn't know about it. I've bought a "media-bay" battery and plan to have my DVD-R/RW drive be a "loose" item while two batteries are "docked" in the laptop.

Additionally, later in the same page they include the following text:

Lithium Batteries: Safety and Security

Image of a lithium ion battery.Lithium-ion batteries, often found in laptop computers, differ from primary lithium batteries, which are often used in cameras. Some newer AA-size batteries are also primary lithium.

While there is no explosion hazard associated with either kind of battery, the Federal Aviation Administration has studied fire hazards associated with both primary and lithium-ion cells, and their extensive research is publicly available. As a result of this research, the FAA no longer allows large, palletized shipments of these batteries to be transported as cargo on passenger aircraft.

The research also shows that an explosion will not result from shorting or damaging either lithium-ion or primary lithium batteries. Both are, however, extremely flammable. Primary lithium batteries cannot be extinguished with firefighting agents normally carried on aircraft, whereas lithium-ion batteries are easily extinguished by most common extinguishing agents, including those carried on board commercial aircraft.

TSA has and will continue to work closely with the FAA on potential aviation safety and security issues, and TSA security officers are thoroughly and continually trained to find explosive threats. TSA does not have plans to change security regulations for electronic devices powered by lithium batteries.

[DaKahuna]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

Yes - I have not heard of them taking any out of anyones check baggage thus far but only time will tell. To me this means that any extra battery I carry will be in my carry on vice checked baggage.

[[Syntax]]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

I had heard something about this before, but it had totally slipped my mind. I was getting ready to go out and get another battery, my laptop drains them pretty fast. I did carry a dozen AA batteries thru security 2 years ago. They were rather curious about it.

I usually do carry on for all my electronics anyway. Watching those guys load the plane is like a replay of the scene where Ace Ventura kicks the box down the hall like a soccer ball..

Hmm... Sounds broken.
Most likely sir, but I'll bet it was something really nice.

[TheCotMan]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

I had heard something about this before, but it had totally slipped my mind.

Yep. It may have even come up a few months ago here on the forums, but 2 google searches and a forum search didn't show me what I was looking for.

I was getting ready to go out and get another battery, my laptop drains them pretty fast. I did carry a dozen AA batteries thru security 2 years ago. They were rather curious about it.

On the plus side, the site seems to only have specific concern for Lithium Ion batteries.

I usually do carry on for all my electronics anyway. Watching those guys load the plane is like a replay of the scene where Ace Ventura kicks the box down the hall like a soccer ball..

Yep. Expensive stuff gets carry-on support, or mostly stays home. There is something to be said for being able to protect your own stuff in-person, and of course the huge time advantage of packing light and not using checked luggage at all.

Related to this, they say that screwdrivers, wrenches and similar tools longer than 7 inches are not allowed in carry-on. THey really make it tough to avoid using checked luggage.

[astcell]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

On some puddle jumper flights the Delta crew was saying no extra laptop batteries, no extra video batteries, and so on. So the one you have in your computer is safe, at least until TSA check YouTube for the Dell battery fire.

If they do not want lithium on board since it cannot be extinguished with regular firefighting gear, then why allow titanium on board? That too burns oddly, not quite like magnesium but it is a PITA to work with.

And the they say only one checked bag or you pay more. Gah. NOW I see their racket!

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

when flying out here to LayerOne it turns out i had a loose laptop battery in my bag from a teach at the school who was asking me to get a replacement for her. heh, so not only was i carrying a damaged battery that i didnt declare, it was one that didn't have the ability to fit into the laptop i was carrying.

three guesses whether or not security noticed it.

[[Syntax]]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

For those who haven't already seen this.. I found it rather entertaining... and it somewhat fit the thread..
George Carlin - Airline Announcements

[DJ Jackalope]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

three guesses whether or not security noticed it.

Maybe you had the x-ray screener I got while leaving Layer One via LAX. While my bag was going through the x-ray right in front of him, he didn't even look at the screen, he just looked at me and smiled.

As for transport: this might be OT, or dead on... the Post office has some flat rate boxes that you just by the box and they don't care how much weight you throw in them. I asked if they would ship a brick of gold for the flat rate and they said, "sure!". Now that I'm typing this, this might be an idea on how to get the LosT boxes through security at Hoover dam. :P

[Thorn]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

Maybe you had the x-ray screener I got while leaving Layer One via LAX. While my bag was going through the x-ray right in front of him, he didn't even look at the screen, he just looked at me and smiled.

Jeez, that's straight out of a cheesy movie producer's brainstorming session: "In this scene, the pretty young lady has the contraband. The guard is so enthralled that he ignores everything but the girl. "

It's a good thing you don't have nefarious purposes, Ms. 'Lope. Of course, should you develop some bad notions in the future, you've already had the dry run.

[[Syntax]]

Re: TSA, DOT, Airline Travel, and Lithium Ion batteries for Laptops...

Update to the thread, I found several pages for those wondering about batteries
http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html
http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/batteries.html

The just of it is, no lithium batteries in checked luggage but you can carry lithium batteries onboard. Spare batteries need to be seperated individually in ziplocks or have the contacts taped over with electrical tape. There is no restriction on number of batteries to carry on or pack, no restriction on spare cellphone, camera, or laptop batteries.

Only restrictions apply to huge oversized batteries.