Air Travel with Your Portable Oxygen Concentrator

If you jump back in time several years you might find that it was difficult to carry a portable oxygen concentrator onto any of the airlines, especially after some of the tragedies we’ve endured as a nation revolving around the airline industry. Naturally, everyone became very cautious of what would be allowed to be carried on an airline.

Airline Travel

Effective May 13, 2009, the DOT officially ruled on “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel”. In the ruling, the DOT lists requirements regarding the use of respiratory assistive devices on aircraft. Essentially, all airlines with a maximum capacity greater than 19 people, must allow the use of FAA-approved Portable Oxygen Concentrator for air travel.

Which Portable Oxygen Concentrators are FAA-Approved?

The majority of portable oxygen concentrators are approved by the FAA for travel on airlines, but it is always safe to be sure. Here is a list of the approved concentrators available on our site and links to both the products and the PDF file from the FAA which outlines the positive testing results.

• DeVilbiss iGo (PDF)
• Inogen G2 (PDF)
• Invacare XPO2 (PDF)
• Invacare Solo 2 (PDF)
• Oxlife Independence (PDF)
• Respironics EverGo (PDF)
• Sequal (PDF)

What About Getting through Airline Security?

It’s a fair question to ask. Having an approved portable oxygen concentrator is one thing, but getting it through security might be another. You don’t have to worry, you aren’t the first one that has ever taken a POC through security and the agents should be prepared to help you through to process.

To prepare you for the task here are the guidelines from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA):

• Inform the Security Officer if your oxygen supply or other respiratory-related equipment cannot be safely disconnected.
• Only you can disconnect yourself to allow for your oxygen canister/system to be X-rayed.
• Check with your Doctor prior to coming to the checkpoint to ensure disconnection can be done safely.
• If your Doctor has indicated that you cannot be disconnected or if you are concerned, ask the Security Officer for an alternate inspection process while you remain connected to your oxygen source.
• Infants will remain connected to their apnea monitors throughout the screening process. Apnea monitors will be screened while remaining connected to the infant.
• Oxygen equipment will either undergo X-ray screening (only disconnected oxygen equipment) or physical inspection, and explosive trace detection inspection.

(Quoted from the TSA Website on Medical Oxygen And Respiratory-Related Equipment)

With the information provided we hope that you will find yourself well prepared to hit the skies with your oxygen concentrator.