Airline Travel with Portable Oxygen
Posted by admin - 02/04/09 at 11:04 amPortable Oxygen Concentrators for Air Travel have been Approved by the FAA
The FAA has approved some portable oxygen concentrators for passengers and this is very good news, and I speak from experience.
Oxygen concentrators extract oxygen from the surrounding air and portable ones are both battery operated and can be plugged in. So for your travel needs, and remember times can be longer than projected, make sure you have sufficient battery power available. You should take into account:
- Getting to the airport
- Arrive at least two hours before the flight
- Before the flight -baggage check and security process; delays prior to boarding.
- During the flight -Is it a direct flight or with stops? Delays once you have boarded or prior to landing.
- Post flight – Baggage recovery, in airport transit time.
- Reaching your destination
Just recently we suffered delays when the security people checked my Dad’s POC. Apparently they hadn’t seen one before. Unfortunately my Dad got nervous, which in turn provoked the security people and we all began to get stressed out. We got through eventually and made the flight but the tension produced shortage of breath. So keep calm at all times.
Advise the airline when you make your reservations and again at least two days before your flight that you will be traveling with oxygen. Just in case, take your prescription with you.
The Portable Oxygen Generators (POC’s) that have been approved are:
Inogen One, AirSep Lifestyle, AirSep Freestyle, SeQual Eclipse and Respironics EverGo.
Airlines do not allow you to carry on any other types of oxygen supply units and you cannot take filled oxygen tanks (liquid or compressed) as baggage. Some do allow you to take empty tanks but you must check with them before.
It all sounds complicated, but with a bit of planning everything should go smoothly and after all it is really good news.
