People are bringing hospital beds, massage tables, and wagons on American Airlines flights, and expecting to have them checked as luggage for free.
Apparently passengers are seeking baggage fee waivers for items like this as ‘medical devices’ and the airline sent out an update to agents to make clear what counts – and what does not count – as an eligible medical device to fly free.
Any ‘piece of equipment that assists a passenger in coping with the effects of his or her disability’ is a medical device, and to the extend that they assist them “to hear, see, communicate, maneuver, or perform other functions of daily life” they qualify for a bag fee waiver. But that does not include chiropractice tables! It does not include “[d]evices that can also be used recreationally” and it does not include… “lotion or soap”?
I’m perplexed that apparently people are showing up at ticket counters and looking to:
- check a bar of soap, or liquid soap
- and asking to do it for free
Several years ago a reader showed up at an American Airlines ticket counter and asked to check a deoderant as luggage. He had a free baggage allowance with status, so it seemed like a good experiment. Would they let him? Would the deoderant make it?
The deoderant was successfully loaded onto the flight. It was taken off the plane in Newark. But it didn’t make it onto the baggage carousel. He filled out a missing luggage report!
Apparently Charlotte agents will accept deoderant as checked luggage. It’s even free with status (and would qualify for a cobrand credit card checked baggage benefit). But deoderant does not qualify as a medical device for a checked baggage fee waiver.
