CPAP and TSA screening

I fly quite a bit and have become pretty casual about how I carry my CPAP. There was a time when I used a case and kept all the components in it separate from other luggage, but now I take one carry-on bag and simply toss the machine, hose, mask, and power supply in with everything else. Clothes provide plenty of padding. It has been years now since any TSA inspector took the slightest interest. I assume that these days they are familiar with the appearance of the popular models when scanned.

Going forward, all CPAPs must be removed and sent through the scanner in a bin.

Little Wing wrote:Going forward, all CPAPs must be removed and sent through the scanner in a bin.

I had this experience on Saturday at a smallish airport (Ontario, Calif) - they required me to open the bag and put just the CPAP in a bin. On the previous flight (two days earlier from San Jose, CA), the whole bag went through the scanner with no questions asked.

I had a couple hours between connections at Chicago O'Hare one time, and I spent it in an airport coffee shop, looking out the window. There was a plane pulled up outside with a sloping luggage ramp on a wheeled flatbed pulled up next to it.

There was one guy up in the plane, in the hatch-opening, and another guy - his partner - at the foot of the ramp. And notionally, the job of the guy on the plane was to dutifully place the checked luggage onto the now moving ramp, and for his buddy at the bottom to dutifully take the items off and load them onto a transfer vehicle.

Only the luggage wasn't 'placed' - it was thrown. At the moving ramp. And, as often as not, the item missed.

In the time I watched - and I had nothing else to do, so I saw the whole thing - only one in two cases from that plane's hold made it onto the luggage ramp.

Every other case missed the ramp. And fell the 20 feet. Onto the hard tarmac.

The guy throwing your luggage - he didn't care. And if that's what you hadta do, for low money, 10 hours a day, every day, maybe you wouldn't care either.

But just ask yourself this: do you think your equipment will be helped by a 20 foot drop?

I always carry my machine and supplies in its own case, never in my carry-on bag. I've seen what can happen to carry-on bags checked at the gate - they can still be thrown and dropped. If the plane is too small for my (tiny) carry-on bag, purse and CPAP, I will keep just the purse and CPAP with me.

As for TSA, I use the pre-check lane and I place the case (still closed) into a separate bin. I have the machine and all the supplies in zip top bags. Even if the case is opened, they're protected. As mentioned, if a TSA agent wanted to inspect my machine, I would request clean gloves be used. I also pack a couple of hand wipes in case I need to wipe it down after it's been handled, but I've never needed them.

I always carry on my XPAP, but not only that - I have learned to never check anything that either would be difficult to replace, or I would need the day of arrival!

My ResMed machine came with a carry bag with a ResMed logo on the front. I do not have any sort of medical device label on the bag. I have never been asked about the bag and have probably flown at least ten times since owning the device.

I usually carry my Cpap as a carry on item because it does not count as an item. Recently though I took two trips with my puppy as a carry on and I packed it in my checked luggage. I had no problems whatsoever. I knew I was taking a risk but with no stopovers I was confident it would not go astray and it did not. I have traveled with it to Europe, the Caribbean, all over the US and have not had any problem except in Istanbul where they swabbed it and took it all out of the case and examined it piece by piece. It has never been an issue. As someone else said the security people see thousands of these things.

As already stated, never put your CPAP or essential medications in check-in luggage!

Also, you should have a permanent CPAP packing list that you keep in your CPAP bag. This is not only for travel, but also in case of an unplanned hospitalization, especially if someone else needs to pack the bag for you.

Put the machine in a see through plastic zip-lock bag to keep it clean when you place it in the bin.

I'm quite sure I've read many times that nowadays, 1st-world airlines lose or misroute a vanishingly small fraction of the baggage they handle. All those bar codes and code readers have transformed the job.
The threat to our belongings continues to be baggage impacts.

International travel may be different.
Out of 21 bags, our family only had one damaged bag.
(slashed, with profanities in Sharpie--nothing missing)