December, 2007

This got a little bit more difficult starting 2008.

Thom Hogan says:

Short version: in your checked luggage, all lithium or lithium-ion batteries need to be in the device they power and that device needs to be turned off. Any spare batteries you might wish to bring need to be in your carry-on luggage. There are limits to capacities that can be carried, but only laptop batteries come close to those limits–Nikon camera batteries are well within the limits. And remember this only applies to lithium-based batteries.

However, there’s going to be a lot of hassle and confusion on this one, I think. The limits are expressed in grams (which is grossly translated into watt hours), which is not how most of these batteries are marked. Make sure you know how to calculate watt hours (amp hours * voltage; an EN-EL3e battery is 1500mAh and 7.4 volts, so it is 11 watt hours, well under the limits). Second, make sure that the terminals for any extra battery are covered, either by using the cover supplied by the maker, taping over the terminals, or by putting each battery in a separate plastic bag. The rules are also confusing over the number of spare batteries you can carry. It appears that you can carry many under 100-watt hour spare batteries, but only two over 100-watt hour spares. I’m sure there’s going to be confusion on this, too. Finally, make sure you know which of your batteries are lithium-based and which are not. And yes, it will be the TSA that is doing the enforcing.

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