American Airlines has my tank

[Miscue]

I went to AOAustin with my tank, no problem. But going back home was another story.

I told the turd boy manager what I had, and he said I could not bring it. "You can't bring CO2 cartridges." I told him it wasn't a CO2 cartridge, but an empty compressed air tank. He goes off telling me how it's against the law, how he taught a class and thus 'he should know' and other BS.
I explained to him that I could demonstrate the tank being empty. He said it doesn't have gauges so he can't tell. I showed him the gauges displaying 0 psi. I turned the valve on and off, explaining how it would be venting air if there was any in it.

There's been some confusion, so I'm not sure if my tank has been confiscated or not - I have different information. Gonna have to do some paper work and make phone calls to fix this.

Makes me mad... there's more pressure in this guy's colon than there was in my tank. Grr!

[Animal Mother]

Oh what a bunch of crap!!!!!

I hate theses ignorant lamers.. if you don't get your tank back I say file a report with the police. That is theft if you do not get it back.

What did the dip say when you showed him the 0psi gauge? I really hate stupid people.. what's even worse is ignorant stupid people that are put in charge of stuff like this. Theses are the same people that let 5 Afgans that happened to all be carrying box cutters for some reason onto a plane... heh heh..

Sorry to hear that man... good luck.

[manike]

What I really hate is when they say you can't have compressed air because the change in pressure will cause it to explode at altitude... and that the tank valve must be open.

When you explain the tank is designed to hold 4500psi and be tested in excess of that... and that the pressure difference is around 28psi (IIRC) between sea level and cruising altitude and that you don't think the tank will have much of an issue going from 0 - 28psi for the flight... they don't seem to find the funny side

Ignorant idiots. I don't usually have trouble but it's always a pain having to explain it. I just never loctite my regs on so I can show them the empty tank.

[MarkM]

I'm with Manike on this I have had problems with airline staff trying to "act big" but never had the bottle refused to be flown, come close and even had an airline try to say it can't go in the hold even though I flew out with the same airline ??? but normally a little bit of sticking to my guns and insisting for a security officer to actually come to see me as opposed to a phone call from the check-in works. They (airlines) do seem more concerned with the tanks rather than the markers (yes I always use that term !). American Airlines I have flown with on at least 2 seperate occasions, once with no grief and once with a little, I always allow just a little more time for check-in than they reccomend as getting moved from the line to explain takes that little bit longer. As Manike has said always ensure you can remove your reg so they can look inside the tank (well as best as you can see through that small hole ) I have flown with a regular on/off tap I couldn't remove but proved the valve was open and all was fine, and even removed burst disks to satisfy their fears. I hope you get it all sorted out, for the future you can "help" things along by getting a addition put on your ticket stating that you will be carrying compressed air cylinders and then it is on your notes at check-in and you "should" have pre-approval they do have a term they use but the title escapes me for the moment, but it does speed things up.

[raehl]

Point to DOT number on tank.

Make them look it up.

Or better yet, carry the information with you.


But they do need to be empty, and not because they might explode - the real problem is that if there's a fire, they don't want that much oxygen in one place.


- Chris

[MarkM]

Originally posted by raehl
Point to DOT number on tank.

Make them look it up.

Or better yet, carry the information with you.


But they do need to be empty, and not because they might explode - the real problem is that if there's a fire, they don't want that much oxygen in one place.


- Chris

Oh yeah how to make friends and influence people Chris, ANY attitude like that at check-in and you and your bottle WON'T fly. Have the info ready sure but to try and tell the fool at check-in they are a fool will not get you moving other than to another airline....get their Super to come and see you and/or airport security. Perhaps your post is like a lot of others elsewhere ...IE didn't come out the way you meant it. But chill man, Manike and I have flown and gone through a lot more crap than you currently have. American internal flights are a joke from a security point of view, transatlantic flights are way hotter on the what can and won't go. I have taken internal flights from two different airports on the same trip and what sets off the scanners at one airport doesn't at the other, absolutely no consistency.

[Kevmaster]

yeh, i don't think he ment to put in the inferred "be a butt" the way it came out...

but yeh, carry some documenation for the tank and osha/dot rules

[MarkM]

Kevmaster, Chris has a habit of doing that in a lot of his posts, not here but elsewhere hence the "dig" but also a lot of the time he DOES mean it the way he says it (by his own admission)

[raehl]

Hah...

Yeah, THIS time I glossed over the "and be smooth about it" part, although I've also flown plenty of times with tanks and never had any trouble. I always just right out say to the gate agent "There is sporting equipment in this bag, including empty compressed air tanks."

But yeah, since the pile of to-do stuff is always high, sometimes the posts get written with the short version.


- Chris

[MarkM]

Re: Hah...

Originally posted by raehl
Yeah, THIS time I glossed over the "and be smooth about it" part, although I've also flown plenty of times with tanks and never had any trouble. I always just right out say to the gate agent "There is sporting equipment in this bag, including empty compressed air tanks."

But yeah, since the pile of to-do stuff is always high, sometimes the posts get written with the short version.


- Chris

Fair enough Chris thought you would have realised by now NOT to "gloss over" things as look at the trouble you have gotten into before
Hostilitys are still suspended for the moment, as you have been told. So tread carefully when all the Toulouse disection stuff gets posted (note to any reading this Chris knows where and what I am talking about)

[Muzikman]

With my traveling over seas (not with paintball gear) I have found that across pond trips are actually lacking security. Hell, it was harder to get into Canada last thursday and than any time I have been to the UK, Germany, or Spain.

Anyway, this is the reason I have large plastic lockable containers that I ship my gear to ther destination when I fly.

[SyntaxError]

American Airlines totally sucks!! This seems to be a common complaint now with this airline, although I can understand how they're concerned for their passengers' safety.

I believe Skinny K had a similar situation with American West

[RoadDawg]

I had that problem with Delta about a year ago. They tried to take my 48/3k even though I've flown 4 times previously with it w/o hassle. I even had the tank screwed into a ASA (no macroline) and the guy says nope it'll blow up. He then called and checked the DOT # and said sorry sir for the inconvienence. They were about to fine me and take my tanks for breaking federal laws. He said since it has a pin valve and has a guage displaying 0 (plus he pressed down the pin to make sure) he said it was ok. I've even drawn it out for people to make sure they understood how it works. I even pointed out the burst disk saying that it is a safety of sorts that when it over pressurizes it will pop and leak out. I don't hold it against them though. I mean they are doing there job and making sure everyone is safe. Not always safe and happy but safe.

[BlackVCG]

I think it helps to tell them it's just a small SCUBA tank. They fly SCUBA tanks more often than paintball tanks, so the correlation is better once you say that.

I've also found it better to not mention anything at all. Just put zip ties on your check-in baggage and let it go through.

[Kevmaster]

two things:

most airlines prohibit "paintball co2 tanks"...and most workers don't know the difference between co2 and N2...so calling it a SCUBA tank is a good idea

not mentioning it, is a bad idea. if they find it, which they're allowed to now, most all baggage gets searched now post9-11, they can ***** at you for not declaring it