billt1970 wrote:
I had a very similar problem yesterday when flying from Chicago to Little Rock, AK on a smaller plane after getting to Chicago from Baltimore on a 737.
I have a Think Tank airport bag that handles all my gear plus a laptop. As I was getting ready to board I noticed the gate agent tagging passenger’s larger carry-on bag. My problem with that was two fold: First the security of my gear; and second the significant risk of danger from all of the LiOn batteries that may NOT be placed in aircraft holds for fear of them starting a fire. Curiosly the gate attendant hadn’t even thought of that problem! So, since it was physically impossible to carry the bag onboard, I set about collecting and removing the LiOn batteries.
The three batteries for my DSLR were obvious, as was the laptop battery (I took the whole laptop with me). Then, the more I thought about it, there were others to be dealt with. I ended up removing three small specialty cameras (with built-in batteries) plus three batteries used for charging my electronic suite. In all it was about a dozen battery devices. Better safe than sorry that I might have left something behind that could have caught fire and caused my plane to crash!
I will be planning ahead for my return trip, where the outgoing flight will have similar carry-on restrictions. This is what btbg noted in his/her post. The suggestion is that we bring our bags to the gate, but be prepared to remove all potentially dangerous batteries and carry them on the aircraft. I believe that the theft risk in this scenario is minimal.
My real concern is the apparent lack of awareness of the potential problem by the gate attendant. I will be writing to United to have them be more careful in the future raking into consideration the issue of LiOn batteries when gate checking passenger bags.
Best Regards,
Bill Taylor
Gambrills, MD
I had a very similar problem yesterday when flying... (
show quote)
You are correct with the batteries. Failed to mention that. I get around that problem by having them already in my little personal carry on bag. That way no matter whether they make me check my carry on or not I have already separated them out.