is CPAP machine ok inside my checked bag?

[jonny515]

Every single damn time I fly Southwest they seem unable to keep send the checked luggage on the same plane that I fly on. Seems like that would be inconvenient if it were to happen to your CPAP. Fortunately each time I did actually get my luggage, but did take them 24 hours to get it to me unless I like hanging around the airport.

Just my 2¢.

[oncomingspork]

This is why I spend more for nonstop, and if it's super important, it goes in my carryon.

My Dreamstation came with its own little zipper case, so that makes things easy.

[cant_sleep_in_nj]

i take 2 flights a week and always check my bag with my cpap in it. never a single issue. dont sweat it

[GettingBetter]

I will be flying to Florida in the near future on Southwest Airlines. I will have enough space to stuff my CPAP machine in my checked luggage. I was wondering if anyone has done this and was it ok? I would like to carry less thru the TSA's check points and I will already have a cell phone and an iPad.

I really like different patterned luggage. It is distinguishable from the ho-hum basic black carry on bags and catches the eye so you won't lose track of it.

I think any medical equipment should be in a "checked" or uniquely patterned bag so you don't lose rack of it when carrying it on the plane. I would not release possession of the checked or checkered bag to the luggage handlers because, frankly handlers are mostly machines anymore and they won't pay attention to your lovely patterned luggage.

One of the best patterns isn't checked; it's something like this:

[BlackSpinner]

i take 2 flights a week and always check my bag with my cpap in it. never a single issue. dont sweat it

Asking for trouble. Even the airlines on their websites say never put electronics in your checked baggage.

Have you ever watched baggage being loaded or unloaded? I have had seats right over that cargo door - That baggage literally flies through the air between handllers. Sometimes it makes it onto the cart, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it makes it onto the ramp and sometimes it doesn't , sometimes it falls off from the top of the ramp, whoops.

I have had luggage go all over the place. There is nothing quite like sitting at your customers site for 2 days waiting for your equipment to get there from LA when you were flying to Toronto from Montreal.

[Drowsy Dancer]

I didn't know about the FAA rule there, good to know, anyone know if that is common on international flights

The FAA determinations apply to all international flights to and from the USA, but have no currency beyond that.

For international flights which do not involve the USA, you need to ask the airline(s) concerned about their specific policies. From my recent direct experiences - QANTAS, British Airways and Garuda all have reasonable policies regarding xPAP carry-on and use in flight as long as you advise them beforehand

Bill is, as always, correct, but do check to see if FAA rules apply to your flight, because their reach is quite broad.

I traveled on United on international flights in October and November 2015 and found them to be similarly reasonable, although my giving them advance notice of the xPAP use meant I couldn't use my iPhone for a boarding pass. Mysterious.

Note that there are some differences in the rules (that only a rule geek could love) between simply carrying your xPAP onto the airplane (really, very little any airline can do to stop you) and *using* your xPAP on the airplane. They can require you to give 48 hours' advance notice that you intend to use your xPAP inflight. They can require you to show that you have sufficient battery capacity to operate the machine for some ridiculous amount of time longer than the flight duration to do so, but they're never challenged my on my calculations.

That having been said, I always use SeatGuru.com to check on the inflight power supplied to my seat, and I will try to use it if available in preference to my battery backup, but I now always travel with the battery anyway to stay in compliance with allll the federal regulations.

Also, if FAA rules apply, your equipment has priority for storage space (in almost all planes, there are small old planes to which the rules do not apply) over everything but foldable wheelchairs. I think the FAs like to use that space but DME has priority over the stews, and xPAP trumps everything but the wheelchairs.

NEVER CHECK YOUR xPAP.

[LinkC]

i take 2 flights a week and always check my bag with my cpap in it. never a single issue. dont sweat it

You won't after the first time it's lost/delayed.

[chunkyfrog]

According to Wikipedia, approximately one in 150 airline passengers loses luggage.
--or the airline does it for them.
If you feel lucky, fine.
Oh, by the way, congratulations on winning the big jackpot.

[rick blaine]

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 in the plane hatch and another guy - his partner - at the foot of the ramp, and notionally, the job of the guy on the plane was to place - and in reality, throw - the cases onto the now moving ramp, and for his buddy to take them off at the bottom and load them onto a transfer vehicle.

But in the time I watched - and I had nothing else to do, so I saw the whole thing - only one in two cases made it onto the luggage ramp. Every other case missed the ramp and fell the 20 feet ... onto the hard tarmac.

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

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

[englandsf]

I had no issues with Cathay, JAL or LAN Chile either.

[chunkyfrog]

I can only repeat, "Well, do you feel lucky?"
And if you can get the airline to replace your destroyed machine,
they won't pay one dime more, and your wait could be quite long.
At least you will have a cool story to tell . . . We will listen.

[sc0ttt]

I hate people who try to bring on too much carry-on. But that doesn't apply to me.

[jonny515]

So far, knock on wood...
OTOH my several times with the bag that doesn't make the flight has made me wary. I actually think about EVERYTHING I place into a checked bag, if I care if I would lose that. Of course that makes me too paranoid for my own good.

According to Wikipedia, approximately one in 150 airline passengers loses luggage.
--or the airline does it for them.
If you feel lucky, fine.
Oh, by the way, congratulations on winning the big jackpot.

[englandsf]

Haven't checked a bag for 20 years

[RestlessSleeper]

What is the protocol for carrying it on a flight? Do you just put it on the conveyor belt for the x-ray machine with the rest of your luggage or do you give it directly to one of the attendants?