UKH

Anyone any experience of taking an ABS rucsac on a flight as either cabin or hold baggage?

In reply to Tim Davies:

I'd go with it being a no, but here says otherwise depending on the operator.

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=72233

In reply to chrisjacks:

Really not a problem in Europe if you follow the rules and guidelines, I've dome 3 flights with mine this winter, one with Thompsons and two with Easyjet

Useful guidance here
http://shop.snowshepherd.co.uk/epages/es122028.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/...
And the Snowheads forum linked above gives more info

In reply to Tim Davies:

just back from India with an ABS bag and no problems really. I took the Data sheet and IATA info with me, which you can download from the ABS website. On the way out Swiss Air insisted I took the bag and disconnected cylinder and trigger as hand luggage. Indigo in India let me do the same outbound but insisted that the bag with connected cylinder (!) was checked as hold baggage on the way back. Return with Swiss I left the cylinder and trigger in hold baggage and used the bag as hand luggage, which is what I'd do again in the future. I was part of a group of 6 and we all had ABS or Snowpulse 'sacks, and no real problems flying.

In reply to Tim Davies:

Thanks everyone.

So far: the uk caa (who make the dangerous goods laws) permit them in hold or hand baggage, Ryanair specifically do (Irish CAA) easyjet don't permit any compressed gas cylinders (from their website)

In reply to Tim Davies:

bear in mind it can be airport as well as airline dependent - if you search through the ski forums there are plenty of horror stories. One of my friends, replete with IATA regs etc, was given the choice of leaving his ABS cylinder behind or not getting his flight at Geneva (Geneva FFS!) just a couple of years ago and had to lose the cylinder - referee's decision is final and that flight is going to leave on time with or without you. I've travelled by air in Europe more than a dozen times with mine and almost invariably had some hassle and delay at check in but (touch wood) no catastrophic failure yet. People have been saying for years that it's getting better but I'm yet to be convinced. I always email the airline so that I have something from them saying it's kosher as well as the iATA regs which have not always seemed to carry much weight at check in - without wishing to be mean you're not generally dealing with people capable of thinking outside the box and their script is written by their employer. Some recommend emailing the specific airport security as well - I'm going to this for a forthcoming trip via Chambery as it appears to be something of a blackspot with lots of people reporting trouble there - somebody has even been kind enough to leave a template letter in French on Snowheads

hope that's of some help - and good luck!

P

In reply to Paul Atkinson:

Paul you really are scare mongering. Things have improved massively over the last 2 years. Just make sure you have a copy of the IATA table (downloadable from Snowshepherd and elsewhere) and advise the airlines in advance. For Easyjet just call the call centre (very well briefed)answer their simple questions and no problems. As I said above I've flown with my ABS three times this winter and no problems at all

In reply to kevin stephens:

Hi Kevin - I'm really not intending to scaremonger, just giving my own first hand experience which matches that of my friends and of many strangers on the websites . The last time I took my ABS to Europe was March 13 and I had hassles in and out Manchester Geneva despite having an email from Easyjet as well as the IATA. It comes down to airport culture, individual staff, whatever low grade line management is there at 6am on Sunday etc. I'm glad you're finding it easy now and hope I do too but still stand by everything I said above

Cheers, Paul

In reply to Paul Atkinson:

I'd agree it's airport dependent - put mine in my bag, flying with EJ from Manchester, didn't mention it at check-in - happy days. flown twice from Leeds with it, both times lengthy teeth sucking from check-in and security, allowed through eventually - neither had ever seen one before (these were both last year) and were amazed when I showed her the IATA rules (which I have attached to the cylinder). On all occasions I'd called the airline beforehand (and have an email from Easyjet that I have printed out).

No worries at either Geneva or Innsbruck coming home.

Of the low cost airlines I've called FlyBE were bloody clueless - Indian call centre by the sound of it, and involved lots of messing about at 10p per minute (and this was this year).

In reply to Paul Atkinson:

So I'm waiting for my Chambery flight. I came to Manchester airport armed with the IATA regs and a letter from Jet 2 giving me explicit permission to carry an ABS on hold or cabin. At check in they looked at the ABS like it was a fresh dinosaur turd and ran off with my paper work bringing one and then two other staff in for a conflab. Eventually they checked me in. The whole process was repeated at security and my right to have it in the cabin challenged until a supervisor sorted it out. Am not looking forward to the return leg!

Always carry a letter from the airline AND the IATA regs and allow an extra hour over when you would usually plan to arrive

P

In reply to Paul Atkinson: My experience has always been that foreign airports are fine, it's just UK ones that I assume get new staff on every single shift - by the law of averages you'd expect that one of them would have seen one before, but they never have.

Good luck at Chambery coming home - it was utterly awful last weekend. Never, ever again...

In reply to andy:



Oh joy!

In reply to andy:

Last time I was at Chambery it was like the black hole of Calcutta.