Going to see my grandson in Canada in December, out with one airline and back with another because of the dates. I've flown with my POC plenty of times before but always with the same carrier, so I sort of thought I had it down.
Turns out not. Airline one wants their own medical form signed by my consultant and battery for 150 percent of the flight. Airline two wants a different form, a copy of the device's approval label, AND says I need enough battery for the flight plus three hours. My consultant's secretary is already sick of me.
Is it normal for every airline to want something different, or have I misunderstood one of them? Anyone else juggled two carriers on one trip?
Not oxygen, but my powerchair battery paperwork was different for the two airlines on my last trip too. One wanted the watt hours, the other wanted the battery type and the spec sheet. I think each airline sets its own rules on top of the basic regulations, so you end up doing everything twice.
Sue, ask your consultant's secretary if they can do one letter that covers everything both airlines asked for, and then just attach it to both forms. Mine did that for my insulin and it saved a second appointment.
Work out the battery from the longer requirement and pack to that. If the return airline wants flight plus three hours and the flight is nine hours, that's twelve hours of battery, which is more than 150 percent of nine. Pack for the bigger number on both legs and you only have to think about it once.
Good advice all round. Rang both airlines again and it was correct, they really do just have different rules. Neil, you're right, the return one is stricter. I've hired two extra batteries from the POC supplier rather than buy them, which is about a third of the cost.
Brenda, the secretary is doing one letter. She was much nicer when I said it was to save her a second form.
For anyone who finds this later, the thing I nearly missed: the second airline also wanted the form back at least seven days before departure, not 48 hours like the first. It was in the small print of their email. Read every line.
