Feature - December 2006 Sea Kayaker Magazine

Know before you go
First and foremost, plan ahead and, as best you can, know what is allowed and not allowed before you travel. Different rules and regulations apply for air taxi services and for flying outside of the United States. While the specifics I list here are U.S.-commercial-airline focused, the general information about what questions to ask and alternatives to consider should be useful for paddlers flying outside of the U.S.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulate what gear can and cannot be taken onboard commercial airlines in checked and carry-on luggage. These two federal agencies each have their own list of prohibited items. The FAA has a website about prohibited items, such as flammable and hazardous materials. The TSA has a different set of regulations (see the travel tips in the Resources list, p. 43).
And it’s not just government agencies that have regulations about airline luggage. Individual airlines have their own sets of rules. They may choose to allow or prohibit items that are different from FAA or TSA. In fact, different agents of the same airline may have different rules. A kayaker I know of was flying to Kodiak, Alaska, and was told that the bear spray he’d brought with him was OK as long as it was packed in checked luggage. Upon checking in for his return flight after his paddling trip, he was told it was prohibited and couldn’t be transported even if packed. Since he couldn’t take it on the plane, he went out into the parking lot and practiced spraying it before disposing of the can. Luckily, he’d had the spray with him on his trip in bear country. The air taxis the paddler had flown aboard in Alaska had no problem with bear spray, flares, ammunition and so on, as long as it was carried in the float and not in the cabin.
Regulations change. For example, until recently you couldn’t pack a butane lighter, but you could carry one on board a plane. Now you can’t carry butane lighters on a plane or packed in your checked luggage. The regulations are not all-encompassing. Their vagaries are subject to interpretation by airline employees, and their interpretations are final even if not always sensible. Last year, Sea Kayaker‘s publisher tried to take a disassembled four-piece carbon-fiber paddle with him as carry-on luggage. The TSA had no listing for paddles and classified it as a hockey stick. It was sent back to be put in checked luggage, while several passengers with stout walking sticks and aluminum-tube fishing rod cases were allowed through.
So, the first task is to review the most recent regulations and guidelines of the FAA and TSA, as well as the air carriers, to determine what is permitted or not. All of that information has to be tempered by the discretion that individual agents of the airline and TSA have. It doesn’t matter what the regulations say if the agent says no.