A newly enforced limit on lithium-ion battery power in carry-on luggage upended Cathy Brown’s holiday travel plans.

“We’re standing at the counter, and it’s becoming clear that I’m not flying,” Brown, of Phoenix, recounts. “I insisted my husband and son go ahead without me, but I was crying my eyes out, knowing I would be spending Christmas Eve alone and most of Christmas Day flying alone, which is scary for me these days.”

Brown’s trouble began when she, her husband Brandon and their 15-year-old son Theo arrived early to check in to their Delta Air Lines flight to upstate New York.

At the ticket counter, a Delta agent asked Brown to fill out a form for her portable oxygen concentrator and to read the serial numbers for two batteries Brown had packed. The agent said the wattage for both batteries were over the FAA limit and she could not board the plane with them.

Brown had rented an Inogen concentrator with a higher oxygen output setting for her trip. The concentrator, which supposedly was FAA-approved, came with a dual battery cell that was more than 160-kilowatts. Brown also rented a second dual battery to meet an FAA requirement that passengers bring enough batteries to provide power for 150% of the expected flight time (e.g., six hours of battery power for a four-hour flight).

Sources of confusion

That FAA regulation for sufficient battery power is designed to ensure people with portable oxygen concentrators maintain medically safe levels of oxygen saturation while flying. Yet, many portable oxygen concentrators on the market use lithium-ion batteries that are over the FAA’s160-kilowatt limit.

In the past few months, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association has learned that some airlines are enforcing the regulations more strictly. As a result, oxygen users face challenges that could threaten their health in air.

Susan Jacobs, research nurse manager at Stanford University’s Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Department, says an airline representative stopped one of her patients when he was trying to return home from Shanghai. The airline prevented the patient from bringing a double battery on board because it was over 160 kilowatts. He intermittently went without oxygen when he needed to recharge a lower-wattage single battery during the long flight. His oxygen levels dropped dangerously low during those recharge periods, Jacobs says.

Many portable oxygen concentrators display “FAA approved” language on their packaging and stamped into the casing. But the batteries for some of those concentrators are over the 160-watt limit, leading to confusion and inconsistencies among airlines. Making things even more confusing, the Transportation Security Administration states that passengers can carry only two spare larger lithium-ion batteries (101-160 WH), with airline approval.

Added stress

Brandon Brown took no chances when he booked his wife a United Airlines flight for Christmas day. During the booking process, he confirmed that United had no limit on battery power that would prevent Brown from bringing her rented concentrator and batteries on board.

Brown joined her family in upstate New York for Christmas, but concerns about returning home to Arizona hung over the family’s holiday visit.

Brown spent hours on the phone. She learned that American Airlines wouldn’t permit her concentrator batteries on the plane for her return flight home. She called the concentrator rental company to see if it could send less powerful batteries before her return flight. That turned out to be another dead end. Meanwhile, Brandon Brown searched alternate travel options. Eventually, they booked another United flight.

“Even though I had notified United I would be flying with a POC, I got worried that they might change their policy by the time I boarded,” Brown says. “So, we worried literally until the minute I got on the plane.”

The last-minute travel changes were costly as well as stressful. The ordeal cost the family an extra $625.

Brown’s travel challenges make her worry about keeping in touch with family. “I’m 61 and all my siblings are older than me.” They live far from her, but she wants to visit them at least once a year.