Update me on the battery rules!

[keepdivin]

Does anybody have a picture of the "Not allowed items in carry on" laminated information card? I'm referring to the information card passengers are shown when checking into departing Cozumel flights.

I've never departed out of Cancun before. It will be interesting to see if passengers flying out of the Cancun airport are shown the same information as the Cozumel airport.

 

[Rred]

I would check--and then recheck a day before flying--online with the TSA and your airline. If there's any ambiguity, email them and ask for a written clarification. The regulations about lithium batteries are in flux, and what you have are "lithium ion" batteries, which are not entirely the same. Both the TSA and the airline should be able to give you a contact point for the Mexican aviation authority.

PRINT OUT the rules and put a copy of that in your bag, in case you just meet a gung-ho idiot at the checkpoint.

You might also look online, there are "fireproof" battery charging bags used a lot in the RC flying community for the express purpose of holding these batteries while they are being charged, or stored. I'm not sure that they are fireproof, but they will certainly retard any fires that occur. Which isn't entirely a bad concept, if you're planning to be in the same airplane as the batteries, hour after hour.

 

[BRT]

A correction from the email conversation...

“Camera’s and lights are considered PED’s (Personal Electronic Device) and technically are allowed in checked baggage. SWA only recommends PED’s be in carryon, but if unable, the device must be turned completely off. Are the lights “heat producing”? if so, the battery must be removed, protected from short circuit and transported in carryon baggage.”

I also learned that loose and spare batteries in carryon only are no longer just airline policy. It’s now part of airline regulations.

I’m copied in on the emails to the International and Cancun teams. They are looking to make sure Mexican Security are on the same page with airline policies and regulations. More follow up to come as I hear back.

Please tell us when it gets changed. I lost a bunch of lithium AA's leaving Cancun one year so always put them in checked baggage leaving Mexico.

 

[ReefHound]

But the FAA doesn't control Mexico's laws. They are the ones that are saying batteries can't be carried on.

FAA can control whether or not a plane lands in the US depending on the security protocols of the country it departed.

 

[Jack Hammer]

FAA can control whether or not a plane lands in the US depending on the security protocols of the country it departed.

Unfortunately telling another country planes coming from them won't be allowed to land will more likely result in a larger ban on items allowed anywhere on the planes.

 

[ReefHound]

Unfortunately telling another country planes coming from them won't be allowed to land will more likely result in a larger ban on items allowed anywhere on the planes.

It has happened quite a few times where the FAA has blacklisted certain airports or countries based on unacceptable security procedures. As far as I know, what has happened every single time is the target country/airport gets it resolved lickety-split. Cozumel already suffers from diminished air service (United only flying one route on Saturdays after August). If all US airlines terminated service to CZM because of incompatible battery policies, I predict it would take about 48 hours for the policy to be changed to be compatible.

 

[tursiops]

Cozumel already suffers from diminished air service (United only flying one route on Saturdays after August). If all US airlines terminated service to CZM because of incompatible battery policies, I predict it would take about 48 hours for the policy to be changed to be compatible.

Are you actually suggesting the current flight terminations are because of batter policies?

 

[kmarks]

I think this conversation is getting too much into what should be and not what is. What SW Airlines, Cancun International, or the FAA thinks about where batteries should go means absolutely nothing to anyone going through the security checkpoint leaving Cozumel. What matters at that moment is what the policy is at the Cozumel airport, and that policy seems to be in flux lately.

Real Italian food is really good and tastes like more than salt, but that is meaningless inside of an Olive Garden.

 

[keepdivin]

Kmarks,

I agree with your last post except that Cancun international should be included in this conversation.

Could someone please post a picture of the, "Not allowed items in carry on" laminated information card? I'm referring to the information card passengers are shown when checking into departing Cozumel flights.

This would prepare travelers and answer the original question what is allowed on flights leaving from Cozumel and possibly Cancun.

Still waiting to hear back if flying through Cancun passengers are shown the same information.

 

[ReefHound]

Are you actually suggesting the current flight terminations are because of batter policies?

Absolutely not.