Air travel with cpap, first time. Yikes!

[JasonK94Z]

Lucky me! 4 days into using my first cpap ever, and I find out I have to travel next Tuesday. I've traveled all over the world, but never with a cpap machine.

What am I in for? I have the travel bag and everything. Can I carry the cpap and another small piece of carry on luggage?

This will be a short direct flight. I guess I'm just worried about the clowns that work in security...I'll leave it at that about those people.

[BlackSpinner]

Relax - if it is leaving from the USA you are allowed an extra carry on that is your cpap bag.

Last week I didn't even have to take my machine out of the bag (mind you this was a tiny airport up in the Yukon but even them two knew what a cpap machine was)

I prefer to pack everything in to my back pack PC, cpap machine & accessories, tablet, meds and spare clothes to pad the machine. My hand bag has all the papers, knitting, lunch, and other stuff.

DO NOT PUT IT IN TO LUGGAGE! EVER!!!!

(after 3 hours between flights in the rain my luggage was wet and squashed looking)

ETA: You can use any drinking quality water in your humidifier - just clean it well when you get home - the issue is lime scale build up NOT health.

[Pugsy]

For travel within the US...the second bag containing the machine does NOT count as extra carry on item.
It will need to fit either under the seat or in the overhead bin. I put mine under the seat in front of me as there is room for it and my purse (not a small purse either). I never do the other suitcase carry on because I just don't want to mess with the added weight (bad back and neck).

TSA security people are quite familiar with cpap equipment and what they will want you to do is probably up to what they had for breakfast or whether they got laid the night before. I have had them range from taking everything out of the bag to simply unzipping the bag and leave it open through the x ray machine to wiping it down for explosives.
If you can put each item (especially mask and hose) into a separate ziplock baggie that will keep grubby little hands off your equipment should they start poking around or touch something. You can even put the machine in a big baggie too.
It's not a big deal and really doesn't add much to the TSA checkpoint procedure. It's really a non issue nowadays.

Now airports and airlines outside of the US....whole different ball game in terms of how it is handled both as carry on item and/or how TSA treats it.

Overall it is so common now that most often they just give it a brief glance and nothing else.
Last time when I was checking in I had the cpap bag over one shoulder and purse over the other...check in attendant just glanced up and said "cpap" and I said yep..and that was it. I didn't have to open it to prove it and no special sticker was needed.
At the gate...no one said anything but remember the captain and flight crew have ultimate decision and that's why it's nice if you can say it goes under the seat in front of you just in case the overhead bins are packed full.

[JasonK94Z]

Relax - if it is leaving from the USA you are allowed an extra carry on that is your cpap bag.

Last week I didn't even have to take my machine out of the bag (mind you this was a tiny airport up in the Yukon but even them two knew what a cpap machine was)

I prefer to pack everything in to my back pack PC, cpap machine & accessories, tablet, meds and spare clothes to pad the machine. My hand bag has all the papers, knitting, lunch, and other stuff.

DO NOT PUT IT IN TO LUGGAGE! EVER!!!!

(after 3 hours between flights in the rain my luggage was wet and squashed looking)

ETA: You can use any drinking quality water in your humidifier - just clean it well when you get home - the issue is lime scale build up NOT health.

This will be a domestic flight only. Oklahoma City to Houston TX.

[JasonK94Z]

For travel within the US...the second bag containing the machine does NOT count as extra carry on item.
It will need to fit either under the seat or in the overhead bin. I put mine under the seat in front of me as there is room for it and my purse (not a small purse either). I never do the other suitcase carry on because I just don't want to mess with the added weight (bad back and neck).

TSA security people are quite familiar with cpap equipment and what they will want you to do is probably up to what they had for breakfast or whether they got laid the night before. I have had them range from taking everything out of the bag to simply unzipping the bag and leave it open through the x ray machine to wiping it down for explosives.
If you can put each item (especially mask and hose) into a separate ziplock baggie that will keep grubby little hands off your equipment should they start poking around or touch something. You can even put the machine in a big baggie too.
It's not a big deal and really doesn't add much to the TSA checkpoint procedure. It's really a non issue nowadays.

Now airports and airlines outside of the US....whole different ball game in terms of how it is handled both as carry on item and/or how TSA treats it.

Overall it is so common now that most often they just give it a brief glance and nothing else.
Last time when I was checking in I had the cpap bag over one shoulder and purse over the other...check in attendant just glanced up and said "cpap" and I said yep..and that was it. I didn't have to open it to prove it and no special sticker was needed.
At the gate...no one said anything but remember the captain and flight crew have ultimate decision and that's why it's nice if you can say it goes under the seat in front of you just in case the overhead bins are packed full.

Sounds easy enough then. I'm going to try to cram all my clothes in my laptop backpack. Will be fun to remove shoes, open cpap, pull out laptop...

[Pugsy]

Hand carry the laptop through security or put it in a shopping bag so you can get to it easily enough to put it in its separate bin.
Security doesn't make the decision about the number of carry on bags.
Once through TSA security...then pack the laptop in the backpack. That way you don't have to unpack everything and the backpack can go through quickly.
TSA doesn't police the number of carry ons...that's the check in and gate attendant for the airline.

[kevin.may.186]

This will be a domestic flight only. Oklahoma City to Houston TX.

I live in Oklahoma and have flown out of Will Rogers more times than I can count. The TSA there will want you to remove the motor (but not the humidifier) and put it in a separate tub. That's all there is to it. Easy peasy.

[JasonK94Z]

This will be a domestic flight only. Oklahoma City to Houston TX.

I live in Oklahoma and have flown out of Will Rogers more times than I can count. The TSA there will want you to remove the motor (but not the humidifier) and put it in a separate tub. That's all there is to it. Easy peasy.

Thanks Kevin!

[jim22]

I just traveled from Hartford to Seattle and return. I had to take out the cpap to scan it separately, and they swabbed it on the way out, but not on the way back. They recognized it from the travel case. It struck me how friendly the TSA agents were in both airports. I slept much better than I used to when I traveled before I had it. I didn't try a third carry-on bag. I think I'm going to try to get pre-screened to simplify the process.
Jim