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New Restrictions on Flying with Batteries

Since I only found out about this because I'm subscribed to the RSS feed from dpreview.com, I figured I should pass it along. Apologies if your standard news source has already warned you:

US Department of Transport announces restrictions for Li-Ion batteries

Travel Alert Starting January 1, 2008
Spare Lithium Batteries No Longer Allowed in Checked Baggage.


From what I can tell, here is how it affects me:
-I can not put my spare batteries in my checked luggage, especially since I'm not going to check the equipment that uses the batteries.

-I need to check if the batteries I'm using are quantity limited, if they are, my travel companion gets to carry a few.

-Each battery will be carried in its own plastic zip-top bag.

-I'm going to follow the carriage rules for other types of rechargeable batteries as if they were Lithium, to avoid harried baggage checkers pitching innocent batteries. If a few plastic bags save me a few minutes of grief in the security line, I think it is worth it.

Ugh. Yet another hoop to jump through. At least this one is based on actual safety rather than Hollywood safety.

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