Carrying lights in checked in luggage?

I'm going overseas mid next year. (Very excited). Anyway, just wondering, am I allowed to carry flashlights in my checked in luggage (not carry on). There have been lots of discussions about this but a lot of them people have asked if they can carry their lights with them onto the plane.
I will have to also take my batteries. I only use AW batteries and few energiser lithium's.
Will these be allowed to be carried on? Chances are I'll be taking the lights on my sig below and also by the time I fly off I know I would have purchased few other fenix's :naughty:

Sorry, I might add. Chances are, I would want to carry the E01 with me.

Batteries are required to be in your carry-on. They are not allowed in your checked luggage.

As for keeping your lights in your checked luggage....I would keep them ALL with your carry-on to make sure they remain YOUR property.

You certainly can put them in your checked luggage. You should be aware that lots of stuff is stolen from checked luggage by Airport staff, TSA and otherwise, particularly small, valuable or even just plain interesting things like nice flashlights. I try to not take anything valuable if it can be avoided, and would certainly hand carry anything valuable with me.

If it couldn't be carried on board (e.g. a knife) and was still valuable, I'd either ship it ahead or declare it and insure it for way more than its value so the airlines have a real incentive to not lose it.

Better spend a little more and be safe than sorry later.

Hmm, well that is alright. Carry both lights and batteries with my carry on luggage but keep batteries and lights separate. Interesting..

The problem is that as a group, security "professionals" are more into lights than most people, so the people checking your suitcases are known to be theives, and will probably be into lights. I wouldn't put anything into my checked bags that I valued. I will only cary my camera, flashlights, ipod, etc in my carry on bag. I also don't take my best lights on vacation. I usually just get by with a nice single AAA cell for EDC, and a Mini-Mag w/ LED drop in for whatever the little light can't do. I suppose if I was traveling to a remote location, camping, etc I'd have to bring more, but I am too afraid of losing my good lights. If I absolutely had to check them for some reason, I would disassemble the light and put the head in one suitcase, the body in another and the tail cap in a different one.

Thank you for the replies. So they won't say anything about me carrying about 6 lithium batteries? 4 AW's and probably 2 Energiser lithium's onto the plane in my carry on?
And if they did, what GPB said about dismantling it and putting them all in different bags etc is a very good idea because it makes the light useless to anyone unless they have the parts, and well for fenix you won't be able to buy the head etc separate!

Transport lights in your carry on luggage. I've never had a problem this, but have had them "swabbed" by the TSA- no problem though.

A friend had a gifted LED lantern disappear from checked baggage.

Lithium batteries are NOT allowed in checked baggage, but are allowed in carry on. Never had a problem here either.

unique said:

Thank you for the replies. So they won't say anything about me carrying about 6 lithium batteries? 4 AW's and probably 2 Energiser lithium's onto the plane in my carry on?
And if they did, what GPB said about dismantling it and putting them all in different bags etc is a very good idea because it makes the light useless to anyone unless they have the parts, and well for fenix you won't be able to buy the head etc separate!

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A reasonable amount of spares are allowed. I've carried more & varied Li battery's than you mention here. Except for the light on my person, Li battery's are removed from my lights for travel.

You can carry a light on the plane as long as the security screener does not deem it to be weapons capable, IE, club like. Totally their discretion as to what weapons capable is but the smaller the less hassle. I have not had any problems with a Nuwaii Q3 with the crenellated bezel.

Checked bags are less of a hassle now as many are nuked with strong X-Rays instead of hand checking. My toolkit, which used to get manually inspected each time I flew has not had an internal tag left inside in the past 15 or so trips. They don't tag them when they X-ray or swab the outside, only when they open them. I have a collection of 50+ inspection tags on my wall at work from 2007 and almost no tags from 2008.

If the bag is nuked, the chances are the light will not wander out. TSA has weeded out most of the knuckleheads that were vandalizing or stealing or just too incompetent to properly search a bag without wrecking the contents.

This I know from being a too frequent flyer and having my tool kit vandalized quite a lot by them. In their early days it was trashed 80% of the times I went to an airport. Fortunately now, it has been a long long time since something was damaged or missing. I have been doing field service for 20 years and only since the TSA have I ever had baggage issues. Even when traveling outside the states I have never had issues and I know in some areas my bags had to have been opened at least once or twice each trip.

unique said:

Thank you for the replies. So they won't say anything about me carrying about 6 lithium batteries? 4 AW's and probably 2 Energiser lithium's onto the plane in my carry on?
And if they did, what GPB said about dismantling it and putting them all in different bags etc is a very good idea because it makes the light useless to anyone unless they have the parts, and well for fenix you won't be able to buy the head etc separate!

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I've flown with 5 CR123A lights and 20 replacement CR123As in my carry-on multiple times (some of the lights and CR123A were gifts -- taking advantage of the low Dollar and cheaper CR123As). No problems whatsoever; except a stupid remark by one guy ("Hey, take a look, this guy's prepared!") and a panicked lady at an X-ray machine ("Help, I got a Circuit City in a bag here!").

I would also keep the lights together, and stuffed with batteries, if they can be locked out. To keep them identifiable as light, presentable as working, and to use them as safe battery carriers. That's in the case of carry-on, that is.

For checked, take the batteries out, but keep the lights complete. That is again to keep them identifiable as lights, and not parts of something sinister. Of course, you would like to prevent them from getting swiped. Pack them deep inside the luggage, wrapped in used undies, to keep the impulse thief at bay. That's what I do with knives, which I have to put into checked luggage.

TSA Prohibited Items

The link kinda helps but not exactly to the OP's question per se.

unique said:

Thank you for the replies. So they won't say anything about me carrying about 6 lithium batteries?

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Last time I flew internationally I probably had over 50x123's and a few 18650's in my carry on. They were all nicely packaged and the contacts isolated.

Interestingly enough, the SF spares carriers got taken out of my bag and inspected, but not the cardboard box where the rest of the 123's were.

could be the SF spares carrier looks like a revolver cylinder when all 6 batteries are in there.

DaFABRICATA said:

Batteries are required to be in your carry-on. They are not allowed in your checked luggage.

As for keeping your lights in your checked luggage....I would keep them ALL with your carry-on to make sure they remain YOUR property.

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What he said ^

they want all lithium and li-ion batteries to be WITH you , not stuffed down in a cargo hold that is not as accessable.
that way if something goes wrong they can see it, and do something about it.

they dont want you to have a lot of (lithium) batteries in general, a few needed spares but not a shipment of them (so to speak) so they say that having the battery IN the device is OK. <--- you see why? because they dont want a bunch of loose items that can be shorted out or damaged.

that seems to be the gist of the logic behind the new safety regulations for the batteries. if you follow the base idea of it, and KNOW what THIER problem is, then you will be prepared.
the Safer it is , the better off everything is for you and everyone up there in the sky , whom can come down so quickly if somethng goes wrong so make things Safe, your own life depends on it, reguardless of some regulations.

proper holders for bats, or in sealed original packages, no excesses of batteries , no loose batteries, also it wouldnt hurt to do a "lockout" of any lights using paper/plastic inuslators to stop the battery connection when in the light, that way the light does not go ON, and drain the battery.

Unique, you didn't say where you are going, but keep in mind that you are in Aus and most of these answers relate to the TSA, a US authority. If you are not going to the USA these answers may not help much.

well, chances are in america security at the airport will be much tighter. so if american security at airport lets you guys through with them. i see no problem at all with aussie airports!

Should be no issues. Most probably you will be required to demonstrate the light to the security...

would it be ok if i carried my TK11 and 2 RCR123A and 1 18650 on the plane with me to beijing?

My own personal experience, having flown several international flights between the US and the Philippines over the past few years is that I had no issues taking flashlights in my carry on. I even had an E2D and a SF spares carrier in my laptop bag and no one batted an eyelid.

However, I did once, while flying from SFO to MNL, have an SF L1 in my checked luggage (was supposed to be a Christmas gift) and it was not there anymore when I opened my luggage upon my arrival in the Philippines. There was, however, a piece of paper inside my bag stating that it had been checked by the TSA. You can draw your own conclusions as to where that brand new L1 went. :mecry:

Since then, I've traveled on several flights and never had any problems taking a flashlight on a plane with me. I just made sure to keep them in my pockets / carry-on luggage instead of in my checked luggage.

Just my own opinion on the issue. Each airport is different so what worked for me may not work for you.