Airline Carry On

[Forester]

Here are a few newbie questions for you:
1. What, if any, restrictions are there to carrying a small flashlight on to a commercial airliner?
2. Does the type of light matter?
3. Would the type of batteries matter?
4. Do extra batteries matter?
5. Would the "enhanced self-defense features" found on the Surefire E2D Executive Defender make it a no-go if found on your person or in your carry-on luggage at check in?
The TSA is so squirrely about what can and can't go on the plane; I'm never sure what is acceptable. I would hate to lose a high dollar light to the ever-pleasant TSA folks. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Marduke]

There are absolutely no restrictions on flashlights. If they even attempt to confiscate one, a quick word with their supervisor will get your light back, and probably get the thieving handler fired. But there has never been any reported issues with lights though.

There are some recent developments with lithium batteries however.


Each topic already has an existing thread

 

[DaFABRICATA]

:welcome:

I just flew to florida from michigan with the following and had no problems at all.

Surefire: U2, M6, Kroma, A2, M111D weaponlight, L4, L6, L5, L1, & E1e, as well as my McGizmo AMc Mule. All lights had batteries in them.

I brought a surefire hurricane pack that holds 12 X 123 cells and an SC1 & SC3 spares carriers.

Last year I had about as many but had my E1L with TAD Gear strike bezel in my pocket. The security gaurd/screener picked it up and gave me a strange look, but that was it.

 

[Gunner12]

:welcome:

I was on a trip to China last summer and no problem with the lights. They didn't even look at the light.

People have also brought their M6(and E2Ds) onto a plane with no problem.

 

[Saiga]

I recently flew back from Honduras to Atlanta with a Surefire and two fenix lights and 6 or 7 loose 123's in my carry-on backpack......no one said diddley.
As stated above, there've been lots of posts on this recently. As i understand,they're mostly concerned about bulk 123's down in the hold, where they can supposedly start an un-observed fire.

 

[xevious]

The only problem I had was with a diving light. Anything packing 8 D-cells should be unloaded to avoid any TSA concern. Thankfully the person I was dealing with was reasonable and let me repack the batteries separately, rather than confiscating them (I've heard of that happening before--the batteries being taken, not the light). So I think with smaller form factor lights you should be fine.