By SW with a CPap machine

[BillM]

Anyone flown with a CPap machine ? Do you check it with baggage on do you carry it on board ? Would rather check it but if they throw it around they could ruin it.
Bill

 

[yorkshiregirl]

Hi Bill,
My DH has always carried his on board as hand luggage. This is because most CPAP machines are sensitive to atmospspheric pressure and should not go in the hold. It should not count as one of your pieces of hand luggage as it is a medical aid. We have flown with many different airlines and they have been very accommodating. He has had the engineers connect the machine to the planes electrical supply so he could use it on a night flight but it was a bit of a pain so doesn't bother now.
Any more ? please ask away.

 

[SueM in MN]

Hi Bill,
My DH has always carried his on board as hand luggage. This is because most CPAP machines are sensitive to atmospspheric pressure and should not go in the hold. It should not count as one of your pieces of hand luggage as it is a medical aid. We have flown with many different airlines and they have been very accommodating. He has had the engineers connect the machine to the planes electrical supply so he could use it on a night flight but it was a bit of a pain so doesn't bother now.
Any more ? please ask away.

Very good advice.
Any items that are needed for medical reasons don't count toward either your carry on or checked luggage allowance.

Besides the reasons already mentioned for carrying it onboard, I would be concerned about it getting lost. Not that much luggage gets lost out of the total that is sent, but I would not put anything into checked baggage that I have a medical need for.

 

[NJBlackBerry]

What happens if they lose your luggage?

TSA considers CPAP a medical device. They do seem to like to hand check it and scan mine for explosives (and I travel a lot), but it is not a problem.

Never check critical medical equipment!

 

[cmwade77]

I agree never check critical medical equipment, also I have a question, my dad's machine (I think it's a CPAP machine, I know his machine is for sleep apnea) needs Distilled Water, any suggestions on how to get this? We are not renting a car, so somewhere onsite will be needed, I know I could always order from one of the grocery services that deliver, but it seems like such a waste for one bottle of distilled water when most of them charge $10+ for delivery.

 

[yorkshiregirl]

Are you staying on-site? The best places to get distilled water are supermarkets, chemists (pharmacies) or car accessory shops (for topping up batteries). Perhaps some-one who lives over there may have more ideas as I can't think of where you would locate those on-site. Sorry

 

[yellowfish78]

One trip we used Garden Grocer. I know $12 is alot to have them deliver water, but once online, we bought some small breakfast food, PEPSI, and fruit along with our water. It was easier to do this than ship and be afraid it wouldn't show up.
Another time we split a grocery shipment with another guest at the same resort.

I've never done this but you could check at the Boardwalk Store (or any other DVC resort) and see if they stock any distilled water.
Another option that I haven't researched yet was to see if his doctor would write a perscription for distilled water and have a percription label on the bottle of water...thus making it doctors orders...but I'd call the airline on that one first.

 

[NC Belle]

DH got a gallon of distilled water from Everything Pop, but last year he had to ask a food court manager to order it. It took a day and costs around $4.00. You might have luck in contacting the manager before arrival.

 

[BillM]

I am the OP. Thanks for the advice. As to distilled water. I owned a previous Cpap that I used water (keeps your sinus from getting so dry). I use to go to the drugstore and buy it. Depending on how long you stay you won't need to carry a whole lot. Since I'm not a flyer I can't advise how to get it past security or send it thru cargo. In a pinch you can use regular tap water. But not very long. You have to rinse out the "water holder" every few days with dishwasher liquid and hot water to keep it fresh.
If its a big problem just forget it and get some saline spray and use that in the AM.

 

[cmwade77]

I know how to get it in general, we have machines here that dispense it, obviously I could not take a gallon of it on the plane, which is what I am told is how much my dad will need, we are staying onsite, so I think I will try the idea of the food court that was mentioned above, unless anyone else has any ideas, thank you all though.

 

[tmbrea]

Thanks for the thread, my DH has a Bipap and I hadn't even thought about the need for distilled water yet...thanks for the reminder!

 

[welovedisneyx4]

When we flew in 2005 w/ DH's CPAP, we filled 2 emtpy water bottles w/ distilled water and packed them in his CPAP carrier. However, I don't have any idea if that would go over now w/ the liquid restrictions.

We did take it as a carry on.

We should have an interesting trip next time we fly. Not only will we have the CPAP, we'll have all of DS's diabetic supplies!! Maybe he will be on the pump by then!

 

[NJBlackBerry]

The water - even for a medical device - will not make it though security. You should have no issues at all with the diabetic supplies.

 

[welovedisneyx4]

NJBlackBerry,

Thanks for the info. We normally rent a car and make a WalMart stop, so we can get the water there. At least distilled water is cheap, so we wont be wasting much $$ if we don't use it all.

We haven't taken any kind of trip (driving, flying, long or short) since DS was diagnosed last year, so we aren't quite sure what to expect. We will probably take a couple of smaller trips this summer so we will have some experience w/ it before we go to Disney hopefully next summer.

Thanks again!

 

[TheMorgans]

My husband always carries his CPAP. It is always checked for explosives and occasionally he has had to plug it in to verify that it is a medical device. Overall no problems flying with it. I cannot imagine having it in our checked luggage. I would be afraid it would get broken or get lost. That could ruin a vacation. No one can sleep once our favorite "grizzly bear" gets going at night.

As far as the distilled water we usually rent a car and drive to the supermarket to pick it up. However the times we have not had a car we ordered it from the hotel restaurant. We used bottled water until the distilled water arrived and had no problems.

 

[NJBlackBerry]

It is so humid in Florida that I can easily get by without the humidifier attachment!