Air travel with gear...Batteries?

John Foundas

John Foundas

Well-known member
Any restrictions with Np970 batteries as carry on? Been a while since I've air travelled with gear.
Any scan/mag issues with cards and drives I should be aware of?


Anybody? TY
 
New restrictions have been introduced for Lithium batteries

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Pages/lithium-batteries.aspx
http://safetravel.dot.gov/larger_batt.html

NP970s are fine, however they have to go in hand luggage (not in the hold), and it's worth taping over the end to cover the terminals.

There was a recent case where a couple of cameramen (BBC British if I remember correctly) were recently fined a significant amount (thousands) by an airline for not complying.

Restrictions vary from country to country, and of course Arline's have the choice to impose their own more stringent, so best to check with them.
 
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Best move is to put them into individual ziplok baggies. better than taping contacts as there's no residue and you can reuse them.
 
What is quite clear is that even following the airline's specific advice on their website does not guarantee anything whatsoever. Potential safety issues are up to the Captain, so he is the final door stop - BUT - the security services are interested in anything unusual. Arriving in the UAE, after the flight - I had to open my case and show them the source of the unusual cables and boxes. I did wonder if they would check on frequencies etc, but oddly no - they just wanted to see what they were. Any battery with Lithium written on them is suspect - to them. They don't understand capacities or current - just lithium, and nowadays no amount of complaining will persuade a person who is unsure to say yes, so no is the default response. Somebody who understands batteries will realise they are within the limits and let them through. Somebody else, when faced with a plane full of people potentially on their shoulders will say no. I can understand that.
 
paulears said:
What is quite clear is that even following the airline's specific advice on their website does not guarantee anything whatsoever. Potential safety issues are up to the Captain, so he is the final door stop - BUT - the security services are interested in anything unusual. Arriving in the UAE, after the flight - I had to open my case and show them the source of the unusual cables and boxes. I did wonder if they would check on frequencies etc, but oddly no - they just wanted to see what they were. Any battery with Lithium written on them is suspect - to them. They don't understand capacities or current - just lithium, and nowadays no amount of complaining will persuade a person who is unsure to say yes, so no is the default response. Somebody who understands batteries will realise they are within the limits and let them through. Somebody else, when faced with a plane full of people potentially on their shoulders will say no. I can understand that.
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When travelling with gear, I like to print out the page from the various countries' websites on these regulations. I keep them in the bag with the gear so it is easy to show to the officials at security checks should there be any questions. They're just trying to do their jobs and if you make it easier for them they are appreciative.
 
What is quite clear is that even following the airline's specific advice on their website does not guarantee anything whatsoever.
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This is very true. A friend had his flash power pack confiscated in Tokyo Narita with just minutes before boarding. Turns out it was actually not subject to the ban, but without documentation and time it was too late to argue so he's out a few hundred bucks.
Mitch Gross said:
When travelling with gear, I like to print out the page from the various countries' websites on these regulations. I keep them in the bag with the gear so it is easy to show to the officials at security checks should there be any questions. They're just trying to do their jobs and if you make it easier for them they are appreciative.
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Good idea. Bringing along the printed camera manual that shows the battery specs would help too.

To the OP's question… NP970s shouldn't be any problem as long as they're carried on and not checked. Some airlines have a size limit for lithium batteries, but these should fall well below any limit so they probably wouldn't even be noticed. Laptops, cameras, cell phones and all sorts of other electronics use these types of batteries too and those get flown all over the world, so it's not like you're the first person to ever bring these on a plane.
 
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