Packing canister light for flights?

[damianb]

Hi guys. Last night we took a totally spare of the moment decision to book a few days (4 days) out in Malta covering the Easter weekend. Haven't been out to Malta for at least 8 years. V excited.

Anyway I have a couple of questions, I have a 21W HID light and want to take it with me. What's the regulations on packing light heads, batteries etc? I usually take all my regs in my hand luggage and was thinking of taking the light head as well but leaving the 10.4ah battery canister in the main luggage along with backplate, dry suit etc. Can I take the light head on the aircraft (flying BA) and what do you guys tend to do with the canister?

Whilst I'm at it - I'm diving with the other half who prefers dives within the 25 - 35M range (any ideas on the best options dive site wise?) Um El Faroud looks like a good potential site but any other ideas are welcome. I will then be having a day or two getting on the HMS Stubborn and of course the Le Polynesian. Whooo hooooo!

Cheers
Damo

[Garf]

I tend to take the head in the cabin and leave the canister and battery in the luggage. The one time I took the battery through security it caused all sorts of mayhem, won't be doing that again. That was the old style salvo that basically looks like a big stick of plastic explosive with detonator connectors coming out the top - oops.

[MikeF]

I've taken an F2 battery pack in hand luggage quite a few times. they always get excited and want to take a closer look. if you do have it in hand luggage having the head there as well to plug in and show them helps.

[damianb]

Cool, thanks G.
OK, so light head in the cabin, canister/battery in the hold. They don't get suspicious re the light head (HID) being a long ass piece of glass, potential weapon etc in the cabin though right?


I tend to take the head in the cabin and leave the canister and battery in the luggage. The one time I took the battery through security it caused all sorts of mayhem, won't be doing that again. That was the old style salvo that basically looks like a big stick of plastic explosive with detonator connectors coming out the top - oops.

[Davwardo]

Last year, I traveled to Malta with my 21W Light Monkey in hand luggage and basically shut down a whole security lane for 20 min! After they had finally worked out it wasnt going to go bang, I asked security what they preferred ( hand or hold ). They were pretty clear that it should be in hand luggage BUT when you go through security, put it in a box ( like you do with your laptop ) and TELL them that it is a dive light. I just flew to Malta and back and did this both ways with no problems at all.

[flyingfisheye]

Took mine all the way to Truk (twice), eight flights in total each time with rtn, including the scrutiny at Manila and Guam. Left canister in hold luggage, head and battery in hand luggage on way out. As Garf said the battery caused lots of interest in security leading to extended checks! If you take in hand luggage the take it out of bag and place in tray so security can see it. On way home placed lot in hold luggage much better nothing was mentioned. Enjoy malta for your wife the chickawa area up near Gozo ferry be good for her. And Gozo inland sea and blue hole etc. but four days not enough!

[Piriform]

Last year, I traveled to Malta with my 21W Light Monkey in hand luggage and basically shut down a whole security lane for 20 min! After they had finally worked out it wasnt going to go bang, I asked security what they preferred ( hand or hold ). They were pretty clear that it should be in hand luggage BUT when you go through security, put it in a box ( like you do with your laptop ) and TELL them that it is a dive light. I just flew to Malta and back and did this both ways with no problems at all.

+1

Hand luggage, in its own pelicase-a-like. I had to explain at security that it was a dive light with a big battery, smiled sweetly at security and said I was only too happy then inspect the contents of the case, and all was well.

Second trip to Malta, second time I've been through Gatwick with no problems.

[timmyg]

Hand luggage. I'm off to Malta Tuesday so we'll see how it goes


TG

Sent from my iPhone using Timmytalk (hopefully)

[GJones]

Damian, same torch as you from what I recall, off to Portugal next week and to be mega safe I ended up calling ba who made a note on my flight card and said hand luggage or hold. According to their online list thing it is something I should tell them about tho they didn't ask me anything about it other than size when I spoke to them.

When I took it to Egypt a few years ago I had no issues even at security so down to luck mostly.

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[MattJ]

I took my 12W LED LM in my hand luggage to Mexico (head and battery) As soon as I got to the security folks I just said I had diving gear including a torch and should I put it in a separate tray. They were fine although they did check it quite thoroughly.

To be honest in future I will just stick the whole thing in the hold. They are pretty tough and I doubt a baggage handler will break it. The worry is someone at security having a bad day and deciding I can't take it.

Matt

[MattJ]

Oh, yeah, I enjoyed the Rozi and P29 wrecks; reasonable amount of life. I got properly tangled up round a light fitting in the P29, fun times! The El Faroud is great; loads of big barracuda and plenty of swim throughs. I also dived the x129 (?) in Valleta, vis was a bit shite but was an interesting enough dive.

I hear the Imperial Eagle is a good dive as is the wreck with the nice stair case (may be on Gozo that one though, the Xlendi or something...)

[gaius]

I emailed Air Malta and got a letter from them confirming my Light Monkey was safe. But I never got asked for it at the airport.

[Steve Clark]

I've found the simplest way to deal with torches and batteries is to pack them in the hold baggage. We normally use duffel-type bags that you need to take over to the manned security scanner at the end of check-in. If you tell them it contains diving gear before you hand it over, they normally just ask if it contains any cylinders and throw it in the scanner.

If you deliberately hang around the scanner until you've seen it loaded on the belt, as if expecting them to query stuff then they rarely actually do. My logic being that if you were trying to pack something dodgy in the hold, you would be unlikely to hang around whilst they found the evidence, so they assume you have nothing to hide.

Steve

[damianb]

Good advice guys. Reading your suggestion I think I'll stick the canister in the hold but tell BA it's there and take my light monkey HID head in my hand luggage. Hand luggage is gonna weigh a ton. Twinset regs, two stage regs, light head and all my other crap for the flight.

Really looking forward to Malta. Looks like we have a day on the Um El Faroud then I'm getting on the HMS Stubborn and the Le Polynesian. Will take my GoPro although it might go bang on the Le Polynesian due to depth. I've had it down a bit beyond the 'max' depth rating and so far it's still in one piece. :)

[gobey]

I put my light to checked bag and wrap with the print of manufacturer s booklet. Never had a problem