Taking a Drone Abroad

[nedcook]

Next month I am flying to England (I'm a Brit living in the USA) to visit my relatives and considering taking my Mavic Air 2. I will be flying from Indianapolis to New York, then from New York to London. Does anyone have any tips or advice for traveling with a drone? What kind of issues am I going to find with TSA, customs, etc.? Will it be a hassle? Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

[360 Guy]

I'm all ears on this post. Listening

 

[Meta4]

Next month I am flying to England (I'm a Brit living in the USA) to visit my relatives and considering taking my Mavic Air 2. I will be flying from Indianapolis to New York, then from New York to London. Does anyone have any tips or advice for traveling with a drone? What kind of issues am I going to find with TSA, customs, etc.? Will it be a hassle? Thanks in advance for any insights.

People do it all the time.
No-one at the airport will even blink an eyelid.
The only thing you have to do is to ensure that your batteries are in your carry-on luggage and not in your checked luggage.

 

[DougMcC]

As far as TSA within USA and domestic flights I’ve never had a problem. The drone itself CAN be in checked luggage (I wouldn’t do it) but all batteries MUST be on carryon. With the Air 2 or 2S I have carried the whole kit in carry on luggage. I carry a battery mounted in the folded drone and three spares. Technically it is best to have the batteries at a storage charge of about 50-60 %. I place a small strip of duct tape over the exposed terminals of the spares to prevent any shorts. TSA has never shown any interest. Now each airline posts their drone policy and you should check that. And finally we have UK members here who well discuss registration and flight restrictions in the UK for your drone weight and your visitor status. Those rules may be your biggest challenge. Have a great trip

 

[Dave Maine]

There hasn’t been any problems for me traveling overseas to either Norway, Sweden, Italy, or UK. Batteries are carry- on, as well as a backpack with the drone and my still camera and lenses. The backpack goes through x-ray, and always get
s hand inspected. Never a problem.

 

[Cymruflyer]

I'm a Welshman living in the US and I've travelled back home to the UK and to Austria (where I also lived for years) and Germany (Pre Covid days) and never had a problem. The security on all ends don't even bat an eyelid to your drone. I usually carry 3-4 batteries and along with my DSLR gear, it is all in hand luggage. It all goes through the x-ray screens with no problems.

Even when drones were a little less common back in 2017, I never had an issue. In fact there was more hassle with them wanting to look inside my DSLR bodies and look through the lenses, than with my Mavic Pro and later M2Pro. You should have no problems either in the US or when leaving the UK.

 

[nedcook]

Thank you so much everyone! This is exactly what I was hoping for! Very useful information.
Thanks again.

 

[twickers14]

Returned from JFK to LHR last week and all good with my MA2. As said above so long as you read up about how to deal with batteries on the airlines you are using-we were on Virgin but used Jet Blue for our internals, you’ll be fine. I dropped the charge in all batteries down to >50% and popped mine in Lipo bags in my cabin luggage-the drone and the RC (carefully placed in the supplied DJI bag) went into my hold luggage. All good and as said above no TSA interest-mind you it helps to have two new hips which set off everything. They are generally very good people and can be engaged in conversation yet are still clearly doing their job very well. Good luck-you we need it.

 

[4006448]

I’m currently in LAX getting a flight home. I purchased a drone here and got through everywhere without issue. Obviously just goes with you as carry on.

 

[Meta4]

I dropped the charge in all batteries down to >50% and popped mine in Lipo bag

Someone always suggests this every time this topic comes up but neither is necessary.
No airline or air safety authority has recommended either and no-one at the airport has heard of, or will check for them.

 

[4006448]

Someone always suggests this every time this topic comes up but neither is necessary.
No airline or air safety authority has recommended either and no-one at the airport has heard of, or will check for them.

I can vouch - never even got queried what it was.

 

[nedcook]

Thank you once again everyone.

Last night I took the test on the CAA web site and got my Operator ID and Flyer ID. I'm pretty excited.

 

[nedcook]

I made the trip to England without incident, as far as going through security is concerned (four times in all). I'm glad I had all three of my batteries fully charged because my charger was in my checked baggage and got delayed, so I was without it for the whole trip (my luggage made it back to Indianapolis airport several days after I had returned to the USA).