Flying with camping stoves
 

Besides getting our tandem to Europe, our other current European touring worry is getting our camping stove to Europe.

We had an unpleasant experience flying domestically with a stove. We called the airline ahead of time and asked what precautions we should take with our Svea gas stove. They referred us to REI for stove travel info, and said just do whatever REI recommended. REI said empty it and let it dry. We did that, plus we rinsed the tank with water and scrubbed the stove, then let it dry.

At the ticket counter they asked about a stove. We said we had one and produced it. The agent sniffed it and said, "no go." We got a supervisor, who also sniffed it and said it smelled like gas. We pointed out that the cap was off the tank and that the whole thing was completely empty and dry. Of course it had a slight odor of old, burned fuel. They were very nasty about it and threatened to bump us from the flight if we complained. So they took our stove away and we flew.

We were able to borrow a stove at our destination and had a good time. After, we wrote the airline (United, IIRC) about the problem and they backed the agent 100%, said they do not allow stoves that have ever been used on their planes.

So now we are justifiably worried about flying to Europe with our stove. We will go BA, which posts the following policy:
This puts us right back in that bad position, where the agent, on a whim, could confiscate our stove. Of course we would fly with empty stove and fuel containers, but again, they would have a slight odor.

Any thoughts, experiences?

We did eventually get our stove back from the airline.

I brought back an alcohol stove last month and had no problems. It was cleaned out very well, and the cap was off of the fuel container. At the airport I thought about mentioning that I had it and making sure it was OK, but instead I just left it in my checked back, taking the risk. It arrived just fine with no problems. Not sure if I was just lucky or what.

Maybe you can mail it ahead? Last year when I headed to France I had the stove mailed to me.

I've taken a couple of stoves on BA flights, they have always been a bit more reasonable than other airlines about this and other unusual baggage items (not that that's saying a whole lot). Part of the problem is that the person at the ticket counter may have never seen or used a backpacking stove and genuinely doesn't know what's safe and what isn't. Another part of the problem is that some airline check-in staff just like to make life difficult for passengers whenever they can get away with it. Call BA, tell them what you're bringing and ask for their guidelines, then get the name of the person you're talking to. If you can get something in writing, so much the better. If you still don't feel comfortable bringing your stove, just leave it at home and plan on buying something cheap in Europe. FWIW, I have seen at least one airline website that says they will only accept unused stoves in the manufacturer's container as checked baggage. It's a stupid policy, but at least they tell you before you buy a ticket from them.

Way back in the '80s I flew People Express (remember them?) from CA to Maine and back. I was allowed to bring my well-used Svea stove on the eastbound flight, but on the westbound flight it was taken from me because "we just made a new rule, anything that has ever contained flammable liquids is not allowed". They shipped it air freight to me (LOL), and I wrote a nasty, nasty letter to their main office about the way I had been treated. When they went out of business I laughed all day.

When we did a Europe tour, we changed our cooking stove to a gas one and bought the cylinders in Europe as we went, taking only the top attachment with us. No problems with flying then. The gas stove (screw on attachment) is cheap and the cylinders are available in central Europe. You can buy an adapter to use non-screw-on cylinders to enable you to use these cylinders as well.

The Trangia burner can be bought seperately for $15, so one solution would be to take a brand new burner on the way out, and try to get it through on the way home...

... or buy one on arrival in europe

I have found that both canister stoves and alcohol stoves are pretty trouble free to fly with. Some airlines specifically say in their written policy that canister stoves are OK. Pop can stoves... You really can't tell a new one from a used one. They look and smell the same. I have not had a problem with either.

The problem with the canister stoves is that we have found fuel hard to find when we get to our destination. My most recent solution is to take the canister stove if I think I will find fuel for it, but hedge my bets by also taking a pop can stove. They both use the same pot and windscreen and the weight is not a big penalty since the canister stove is 3 ounces and the pop can stove is about an ounce if you include the pot stand.

There is zero chance that I would even attempt to fly with my venerable svea 123. If I really wanted to take it or another gas or multifuel stove I'd consider mailing it ahead, but doubt that I would ever bother unless maybe for winter camping.

That is all just my personal preference though.

As noted in posts above, the canister stoves are the option that is most odor free since the fuel is in the vapor phase at room temperature and you would leave the fuel tank (canister) behind.

The svea stove has a wick that is probably what still caused it to have a slight odor, rinsing out that wick with water would not be enough to completely remove remaining gasoline from the wick. The human nose can smell gasoline at a level of only a few parts per million level in the vapor phase. For this reason, the svea is the last gasoline stove that I would ever try to travel on an airplane with because it is virtually impossible to make that odor free in only a few days.

There is nothing you can do if you have an overly aggressive airline employee.

The really maddening thing about these policies is that you're expected to respect them as rational anti-terror moves but then they let you walk on the plane with a couple of molotov cocktails in the guise of duty-free liquor. Does that make any sense?

edit, I guess I haven't flown for a while. I just looked into this a little further and I understand you can no longer bring the bottles on with you. My first post and I'm already screwing up...

cheers

maybe this is a sign that you should just make fires?

Thanks for all the responses. I think we'll take a multi-fuel stove. We'll test drive it to make sure we like it, and then clean it up really well. Kero's not explosive like gasoline, and no wick, so that should be OK. Besides, I'd rather have a multi-fuel for Europe. Of course, we'll check this all out with BA in advance, but I think with the multi-fuel there will be less chance of surprises at the airports.

Not a bad idea, but my experience is that you never get a straight answer, rather very polite, non-committal, totally useless "customer service" information.

But saying that, please report back with how it all turned out, and have a great trip! :)

White gas (coleman fuel, crown, etc.) evaporates quite readily and if you leave an empty bottle in the sun for a few hours on a warm day it will become almost odor free. You will never be able to accomplish that with keorsene. Kerosene will have an odor that you can't quickly remove because it does not readily evaporate.

Regarding multi-fuel stoves, I have been quite happy with the Optimus Nova but they are having a recall right now so this is a bad time to buy as you might not be able to find one with good parts. I also am very happy with the Primus OmniFuel. The OmniFuel with proper jetting will operate on both liquid fuels and also on canisters, I believe it is the only stove out there that will run on both. For this reason, if I went to Europe I would bring my OmniFuel. I have not used MSR stoves and have no opinion.

At the time that I write this, you can buy really cheap fuel bottles at this site.
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,...-Aluminum.html
At $3.71 these are so cheap you can leave them behind when you come home again, then only the pump might smell of any fuel.

Hi Eben,
I cannot reply to your personal email since I don't have enough posts yet so I hope you read this answer...

Hi,
the camp stove I have is a Kovea back packing stove, model TKB-9209. It was purchased in Britain on the basis they used the same gas cylinders in Europe. This was found to not be true of France where they use a slightly different cylinder, a clip-on type, not a screw-on type. If you can purchase an adaptor, you are able to use both types of cylinder. We travelled through Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France buying cylinders along the way.

Cheers,
Steve

Fuel bottles for liquid fuel are pretty cheap. It might be worth springing for a new one. Can you put the stove and bottle in a stuff sack, possibly with your skewers and pedals, and store it in your bike box? It might be less noticeable there.