Flying with Di2 Bicycle
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,659
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1248 Post(s)
Liked 1,323 Times
in
674 Posts
Flying with Di2 Bicycle
I just ran into an issue returning from a road cycling trip in Vietnam. I was asked to go to baggage screening where they pointed out the X-ray has spotted the Di2 battery in my seat post and was asked to remove it and place in my carry on? I was also called out for two small bottles of Stan’s sealant which they also asked me to remove and dispose of.
Has anyone else ran into this issue regarding Di2 Batteries being left in the bike bag when flying?
Has anyone else ran into this issue regarding Di2 Batteries being left in the bike bag when flying?
#2
Senior Member
I don't have Di2, so haven't run specifically into this issue. However it is standard airline protocol to have any kind of batteries carried on so I'm not surprised. How was the riding in Vietnam? I have 200,000 air miles I need to burn soon so was thinking about a cycling (more MTB) trip to Asia in the next year or so.
#3
Senior Member
I just ran into an issue returning from a road cycling trip in Vietnam. I was asked to go to baggage screening where they pointed out the X-ray has spotted the Di2 battery in my seat post and was asked to remove it and place in my carry on? I was also called out for two small bottles of Stan’s sealant which they also asked me to remove and dispose of.
Has anyone else ran into this issue regarding Di2 Batteries being left in the bike bag when flying?
Has anyone else ran into this issue regarding Di2 Batteries being left in the bike bag when flying?
Looking at the TSA and FAA websites, they say that you cannot carry SPARE Lithium ion batteries in luggage but if it's in equipment, then it's ok. Depending on how your bike was set up - if all the Di2 parts were disconnected, then it's sort of like a spare battery since it's not connected to anything. But I know TSA screeners are not that smart so they simply didn't know what to think about a battery in a bike. The cylindrical battery of the Di2 seat tube battery with wires hanging out of it probably really freaked them out and looked like a bomb to them.
The Stans sealant in bottles in your luggage was stupid on their part and wrong. That should have been fine. They probably just didn't know what it was. If it had been cough medicine (for example) they wouldn't have said anything. Once they freaked out over the Di2 battery, then they were on everything like white on rice.
J.
Last edited by JohnJ80; 02-26-19 at 05:32 PM.
#4
Advocatus Diaboli
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Wherever I am
Posts: 8,635
Bikes: Merlin Cyrene, Nashbar steel CX
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4733 Post(s)
Liked 1,532 Times
in
1,003 Posts
So no electric toothbrushes, hr monitors, garmins or beard trimmers in the checked luggage, huh?
#5
Occam's Rotor
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,248
Mentioned: 61 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2366 Post(s)
Liked 2,331 Times
in
1,164 Posts
Another reason to have a steel bike frame. ;-)
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,659
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1248 Post(s)
Liked 1,323 Times
in
674 Posts
I have flown with my Di2 bike a few times and the battery has never been an issue before, both in North America as well as Europe. I assume the Vietnamese were just being overly cautious and literal regarding the rules. I find pulling and reinstalling the battery from inside the seatpost a pain and would prefer to leave it where it is when I fly. Regarding the Sealant, I was not in a position to argue as I was escorted into the bowels of the airport in the oversize luggage screening area with my flight boarding at the time. They also confiscated a small bottle of chain lube.
That minor issue aside the cycling experience was amazing having ridden the Ho Chi Minh Highway from Hanoi to Hoi An.
That minor issue aside the cycling experience was amazing having ridden the Ho Chi Minh Highway from Hanoi to Hoi An.
#7
Senior Member
#8
Banned
If your battery in your carry on catches fire, the cabin crew have probably trained on extinguishing those fires ..
They cannot get to it in the cargo hold, those fires have already killed everyone aboard when the plane went down ...
They cannot get to it in the cargo hold, those fires have already killed everyone aboard when the plane went down ...
#9
Senior Member
That said, the TSA and the FAA both do not prohibit Li-ion batteries from being transported in luggage as long as they are not spare cells. So they have to be inserted in equipment. I presume this is to prevent the contacts inadvertently being shorted and causing a fire, but I'm not sure that is a difference with a distinction. The FAA prohibits spare cells in carryon luggage which I think is a good thing.
At any rate, having this Di2 battery in the hold should have been allowed because it wasn't a "spare cell" and it was in equipment and connected. That said, I do have this image of a TSA inspector putting that bike through an X-ray scanner and seeing this cylindrical object with wires coming out of it.......
J.
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 39,237
Mentioned: 211 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18412 Post(s)
Liked 15,532 Times
in
7,328 Posts
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 39,237
Mentioned: 211 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18412 Post(s)
Liked 15,532 Times
in
7,328 Posts
At any rate, having this Di2 battery in the hold should have been allowed because it wasn't a "spare cell" and it was in equipment and connected. That said, I do have this image of a TSA inspector putting that bike through an X-ray scanner and seeing this cylindrical object with wires coming out of it.......
#12
Senior Member
Ah. I missed the direction of the flight. But that shouldn't matter.
If the flight initiated in Viet Nam and terminated in the (presumably) US, then the security and safety precautions have to meet the FAA in order to land here. That was true for the many flights I've had from Korea to the US so I'm sure that applies to Viet Nam as well. I also got a speech from a security officer in Norway this summer about that exact thing when they were inspecting my carryon bag in Norway on a return flight to the US. He told me why they were doing this was because the US required it. I think because of the volume of air travel into and out of the US, that the US TSA and FAA requirements probably are adopted for a lot of other travel between destination that are not in the US out of convenience and to have one security process flow.
But I guess all of that is subject to override by airline policy too. The airlines can certainly be more restrictive in their policy than the security agencies. I guess what it gets down to is if you have Li-ion batteries you want to take with you, do it in your carryon luggage and keep the size below the max size allowed. I don't think that has ever been a problem. At least it hasn't been for me in more than a million miles.
If the flight initiated in Viet Nam and terminated in the (presumably) US, then the security and safety precautions have to meet the FAA in order to land here. That was true for the many flights I've had from Korea to the US so I'm sure that applies to Viet Nam as well. I also got a speech from a security officer in Norway this summer about that exact thing when they were inspecting my carryon bag in Norway on a return flight to the US. He told me why they were doing this was because the US required it. I think because of the volume of air travel into and out of the US, that the US TSA and FAA requirements probably are adopted for a lot of other travel between destination that are not in the US out of convenience and to have one security process flow.
But I guess all of that is subject to override by airline policy too. The airlines can certainly be more restrictive in their policy than the security agencies. I guess what it gets down to is if you have Li-ion batteries you want to take with you, do it in your carryon luggage and keep the size below the max size allowed. I don't think that has ever been a problem. At least it hasn't been for me in more than a million miles.
#13
Advocatus Diaboli
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Wherever I am
Posts: 8,635
Bikes: Merlin Cyrene, Nashbar steel CX
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4733 Post(s)
Liked 1,532 Times
in
1,003 Posts
hmm.. presumably though it also has to meet the security and safety precautions of the host country in order to LEAVE there.
#14
Senior Member
You should have just said, "But then the bomb wont go off". Just to see what would have happened.
#16
Senior Member
sure. That makes sense. I guess I had presumed US security and regs were pretty strict because everywhere I’ve gone, other countries complain about them.
#17
Senior Member
#18
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: Southeast TX
Posts: 614
Bikes: Several
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 207 Post(s)
Liked 1,042 Times
in
322 Posts
#19
Senior Member
This, but in a Vietnamese jail: https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...ed/2880691002/
“It’s very easy to die there,” said Doan Trang, an independent journalist in Hanoi who has written extensively about state-led repression in the country.