Are you planning to fly to a start/end point of a voyage with your self-inflating life jacket?
Inside your life jacket is a CO2 cylinder. Are these ‘dangerous items’ according to flight regulations?
Normally compressed gas cylinders would be classed as a dangerous item, but according to IATA (International Air Transport Association) regulations, they are exempted – with the permission of the individual airline.
Best to get everything in writing and carry that documentation with you (don’t just show up at the check-in counter and try to ‘wing it’). Apparently these rules are a bit of a grey area and not every security checker knows about these exemptions.
So what to do?
- Call your airline’s customer service at least a week or more ahead of time, and explain what you want to do.
- Ask for an email confirming they know who you are, what flight you are on and that they approve your carrying a life jacket (and replacement cylinder) on board.
- It’s better to carry the life jacket and spare cylinder with you in the cabin which you know will be pressurized (versus checking it into the hold which may or may not be pressurized…)
- Then print out and carry with you:
- IATA regulations (scroll down to Passenger Information 2012) on carrying Self-Inflating Life Jackets on Planes and
- the email from your airline’s customer service.
- When you check in, let the check-in counter know what you are carrying and show the documentation above (as in 3).
- The airport security checkers can still refuse to let you take it on board even with all these steps done. Leave yourself enough time to go back and check it into the hold if you have to.
That’s what the Can Opener and I will be doing when we head down to Spain for the boat delivery. It’s about as prepared as we can get.
- RYA/CAA Guidance
- Yachting and Boating World Forum (Note – discussion has a UK/European focus)
The Cruising Kitty 