Battery restrictions at San Pedro Sula Airport (Honduras)

[weinerr]

Just a heads up. Just returned from an outstanding week aboard the Utila Aggressor II. Flying out of San Pedro Sula I had my carry on bags searched twice. At security everything, and I mean everything, was removed from backpack and Pelican box containing my UW video gear. While I didn't have anything confiscated, I did see others have their regular AA batteries taken away. At the gate there was a second security check, my bags were checked again and my AA rechargeable batteries were confiscated. Bottom-line batteries are not allowed in your carry on flying out of San Pedro Sula. Note I had a ton of AA's in my checked bag. As an aside, if you buy a drink after main security you will not be allowed to take it on the plane. Do you feel any safer?

 

[Doc]

Pelican cases are an immediate red flag for the Critters of the TSA (and foreign counterparts). They are a hermetically sealed box that inhibit explosive sniffers. So- if a Pelican is seen in a country even too poor to buy sniffers... well, you do the math. Additionally, carrying a Pellican on-board as carry-on raises other issues.

Battery confiscation is unfortunately nothing new in Central American locales. It goes back to a TSA (like) dictate that (specific certain batteries) were prohibited from air transport, unfortunately the meaning was lost in translation and various locales still believe that the prohibition applies against any and all battery.

I agree that whatever way you look at it, this makes no sense, just thought you might be interested in the cause. The same goofy mis-application will cause them to confiscate your bug spray, but again I gotta ask... why not just leave it with your DM's?

I usually leave all of my (non-rechargable) new batteries behind- they are 2 to 3 times more expensive in Central America, so why not give them away? Carry the dead ones home with you, why dump them where all they can do is toss them in 3000 feet of ocean? (Same with Czyalume sticks)

Their TSA get paid nothing, maybe this mis-reading of the regs is part of their pay structure- I am sure they do a brisk business with their neighbors selling batteries.

Welcome to the third world.

 

[RTBDiver]

I have had them mess with my batteries in Roatan as well, never took the aa or aaa but they take them out of the neat pack protecting them from contacting conductive things and haphazardly spread them around the bag, They did want to take a Sam's Club sized pack of 9 volt bateries so i had them get Orlando and donted them to him rather than the TSA Variety store that must ezist somewhere.
Of course none of it makes a lot of sense, In the US they never inspect my strobes and lights full of circuitry and batteries and while I can carry on my somewhat heavyweight monopod which could easilly work as a 6 foot metal club, I had my pliers taken as the tool limit is 7 inches and these were 7.25, I tried to explain they were for the thick shells on the King Crab but it didn't matter

 

[georoc01]

The USA rule is that you can't have lithium batteries in your check in bags, only in your carry on. So if you are using these, you will need to move them from your checked bags to your carry on upon passing through immigration/customs in the USA if you are rechecking in for a domestic flight.

 

[Doc]

The USA rule is that you can't have lithium batteries in your check in bags, only in your carry on. So if you are using these, you will need to move them from your checked bags to your carry on upon passing through immigration/customs in the USA if you are rechecking in for a domestic flight.

Since these rules are subject to wide interpretation (by TSA!), good enough.

The immigration/customs could care less, but remember that "foreign TSA" is the Frankenstein monster of our FAA and TSA. US Federal money is flowing offshore to support the perversions of the rules that are being discussed here. As always, it's "our" show.

The Lithium prohibition? Only because the incident that caused this ban evolved from commercial shipments going terribly wrong.

Government gibberish:

Equivalent Lithium Content (ELC). ELC is a measure by which lithium ion batteries are classified. 8 grams of equivalent lithium content are equal to about 100 watt-hours. 25 grams of equivalent lithium content are equal to about 300 watt-hours.

You can arrive at the number of watt-hours your battery provides if you know how many milliamp hours and volts your battery provides:
mAh/1000 x V = wh

Most lithium ion batteries marketed to consumers are below 100 watt-hours (8 grams ELC). If you are unsure of the watt-hour rating of your lithium ion battery, contact the manufacturer.

Lithium Batteries. When you see this term alone on SafeTravel pages, it refers to both lithium ion batteries and lithium metal batteries. Lithium polymer batteries are a kind of lithium ion battery, and so are also included in this term.

Lithium Ion Batteries. These are rechargeable lithium batteries, like the ones found in cameras, cell phones, laptop computers, and radio-controlled toys. Lithium polymer batteries are a kind of lithium ion battery.

Larger Lithium Ion Batteries contain between 8 and 25 grams Equivalent Lithium Content (ELC). Some very large after-market laptop computer batteries, and some batteries used for professional audio-visual application, fall within this definition.

Smaller Lithium Ion Batteries contain up to 8 grams Equivalent Lithium Content. Cell phone batteries and most laptop computer batteries fall below the 8 gram threshold.
Lithium Ion Batteries with over 25 grams ELC are forbidden in air travel.
Lithium Metal Batteries. These are lithium batteries which can not be recharged. They are designed to be discarded once their initial charge is used up.
Larger Lithium Metal Batteries contain over two grams of lithium, and are forbidden in air travel. (No common consumer lithium metal batteries are in the "larger" category.)

Spare Batteries. Spare batteries, also called "loose" batteries, are batteries which are not installed in equipment. A lithium ion battery inside your computer is an installed battery. A battery you carry separately in case that battery runs low is a spare battery.
Watt-hour. For the purposes of this page, the watt-hour serves as an indirect measure of Equivalent Lithium Content (ELC). 8 grams ELC are about equal to 100 watt-hours.

And, thus a flashlight:

If you must carry a battery-powered device in your checked baggage, take steps to prevent inadvertent activation. Cordless power tools, for instance, should be packed in a protective case, with a trigger lock engaged.

Regular "Alkaline" Batteries, you say?

And it gets more contradictory here: http://safetravel.dot.gov/tips.html

And here from the FAA.... http://www.airsafe.com/issues/security/faa_batteries.pdf

Remember, it is the mind of a US Bureaucrat, who listened to the story of a transportation problem, came up with these conflicting and imprecise statements. If you wish to blame the security agent for their training in the understanding and application, ok, have at it.

In a "third world country", try to understand that someone probably got paid to translate the English Gibberish into the local tongue.

Chinese Whispers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Chinese whispers[1] game begins with the first player whispering a phrase or sentence to the next player. Each player successively whispers what that player believes he or she heard to the next. The last player announces the statement to the entire group. Errors typically accumulate in the retellings, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly, and often amusingly, from the one uttered by the first. Some players also deliberately alter what is being said in order to guarantee a changed message by the end of it.

The game is often played by children (or in this case, TSA) as a party game or in the playground. It is often invoked as a metaphor for cumulative error, especially the inaccuracies as rumours or gossip spread,[2] or, more generally, for the unreliability of human recollection.

Hilarity ensues. Read more on this subject here: Engrish.com

 

[laurenceh]

carry on bags are always searched again before boarding at san pedro sula, standard procedure.

 

[waxawa3074]

Weird. I didn't have that problem in August, twice. Maybe having fancy red passport made the difference.

 

[DandyDon]

The USA rule is that you can't have lithium batteries in your check in bags, only in your carry on. So if you are using these, you will need to move them from your checked bags to your carry on upon passing through immigration/customs in the USA if you are rechecking in for a domestic flight.

From TSA: Safe Travel with Batteries and Devices

As of January 1, 2008, the Department of Transportation (DOT) through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) no longer allows loose lithium batteries in checked baggage.

Central America is not the only place where one will lose batteries from carry-on luggage. I put mine in secure holders like below and stick them in checked bag...