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Traveling and flying with oxygen
I saw a post on someone flying with oxygen, through a little surfing took me to this site
http://www.aeromedic.com/news/uncategorized/3-steps-fly-portable-oxygen-concentrator/
so it looks like tanks are out of the question, and ONLY concentrators are allowed. There's a little preparing to do before you fly, so I'd suggest you start early. Just thought you'd like to know.
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Waterboy, thanks for the new information. It has, in fact, been 2.5 years. So I have 6 months to make other plans.
It is five years long. You would now have to find a supplier that would accept 6 months pay for 3 years of service. This was the problem when my sister moved out of state.... luckily UW was her supplier and made arrangements to keep her supplied.
Check with airline you are using to see what they require.
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1 ReactionI have a " fit to fly" test where you breath lower oxygen content for twenty minutes, equivalent to ox at 8000 feet, which is what you get in a commercial airplane.
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1 Reactionmedicare will not cover portable concentrators, they consider it luxury but will cover inhome units and tanks and every 36 months they will renew the contract, was just told this at beginning of the week as i need to replace my innogen unit
A lot of insurance doesn't cover the portable units. You need to have equipment covered in order for them to pay. It can be part of a medical deduction on your taxes though.
My wife has ILD....not true, in her case. Our supplier has issued her a portable OC, covered thru Medicare. Perhaps the rules vary from supplier to supplier.....but we were given one, without even asking.
I too have heard that Medicare will cover portable units. I would check again
Well, I’ve been flying with Portable Oxygen Concentrators (POCs) since 2008. Now, I’ve just read that FAA has published rules about the power of lithium ion batteries.
https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/lithium-batteries
This appears to have a hard ban on batteries over 160 watt hours. The larger batteries I have for my POC are 94.4 + 94.4 watt hours. The smaller battery I have is 46.1 + 46.1 watt hours. I told both United and Hawaiian I will be flying with my POC in March and July. They didn’t ask me anything about what batteries I’m bringing but I really don’t want headaches when I check in and someone looks at the new FAA rules and sees that my batteries are >160 watt hours. I have a test to my O2 supplier and will see what he has to say. Argh!
My supplier is sending me an additional 3 small batteries, so I will have 4 small batteries to take on my flights for a total of 4 small batteries. I’m glad I will fit within the new FAA rules and won’t have to argue with anyone at the airport or risk having to find alternative methods of getting from one place to the next.