I just found out that American Airlines,
that we are taking to Mendoza to do Aconcagua in November,
now does not allow stoves in carry-on or checked baggage:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInformation/baggage/specialty-sports.jsp

I had been planning on bringing our own, tested, dependable. stoves and bottles as long
as they are clean and don't smell of fuel at all.

Is this the new normal in international travel?
I assume this means having to rent/purchase them at your destination?
And having to depend on this super critical piece of rental gear it the bitter cold at high altitude
with only a basic test as best where ever you get it!
Does anyone have any recent, 2015, experience?

I have previously asked our outfitter in and they do not rent stoves.
I will check with them again to see if they can recommend any gear shops in Mendoza to get good stoves.
Anyone know of a good gear shop in Mendoza to rent reliable stoves?
Preferably white gas stoves, not canister stoves?

Thanks in advance!

It's been standard practice for a few years.

Most airlines have a wavier you can download and sign saying that you've cleaned it and it doesn't contain any fuel etc.

Clean the stove and fuel bottle well enough that there is no scent of fumes. Vinegar helps. You may have to air it for days to a week before it's good to go. Package the fuel bottles with their caps off and in separate ziplock bags to prove that they're empty.

Check in at the desk and mention you have a stove to the agent. They'll probably view the wavier and ask to see the fuel bottles and stove, which you have packed close to the top of your bags, and then send you on your merry way.

It's not standard to disallow stoves and fuel bottles on planes altogether, but it looks like AA has decided to have a more restrictive policy than necessary. I suggest that you write directly to AA about it and see if something can be arranged. Alternatively, you might consider shipping your stove and bottles to your outfitter in Mendoza ahead of time.

Last Sunday I flew from Innsbruck, Austria to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I had an MSR multifuel stove and a fuel bottle with a pump. To make sure there wouldn't be any surprises, I had cleaned my bottle thoroughly; that is, I washed it out with soap several times so there wouldn't be any smell left, both the day before and on the morning before my flight, and, as beean wrote, I put the bottle uncapped in my check in luggage. I didn't have it in a zip lock bag.

Then, at the check in counter, to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong, I asked if it was alright that way, and the girl happily confirmed that it was, in particular having the bottle uncapped to prove that it was empty. I didn't have to sign any waiver. In case some official would get interested further down the line, I had the bottle in a separate compartment on the back of my pack, which would be real easy to open and examine.

As for the stove, it cannot hold fuel itself, but there may reside a very small amount in the fuel line. So, after usage, I first turn off the valve at the fuel bottle and let the remaining fuel in fuel line burn off before closing the valve of the stove itself. There is no smell left after that, so I don't bother cleaning the stove but just put it in my pack.

For the record, I flew with Transavia, a subsidiary of Air France / KLM.

I was curious and do a lot of traveling for international climbing so I called AA and the agent told me you can bring a camping stove and bottle as long as there's no fuel in it. Do as the two above mention, put the cap in separate bag after thoroughly cleaning both the bottle and stove to rid of any smell of fuel.

Thanks all for the input.

kevin trieu wrote:I was curious and do a lot of traveling for international climbing so I called AA and the agent told me you can bring a camping stove and bottle as long as there's no fuel in it. Do as the two above mention, put the cap in separate bag after thoroughly cleaning both the bottle and stove to rid of any smell of fuel.

I called AA too, twice, got 2 different agents.
Both times the agent just read what I found on their web site and said
"Camp Stoves are not allowed in carry-on or checked baggage.
They are now consider dangerous equipment."
They didn't know when this policy went into effect.

Rinsing/cleaning the fuel bottles is one thing.
They can be passed off as food/beverage containers.
I doubt stoves can be disguised that way.

However, this seems to be an AA policy.
Delta Airlines, KLM and British Airways do not say anything about camping gear at all on their baggage policies.

United says:
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/conten ... ports.aspx
Camping equipment
United accepts camping items as checked baggage. Camping items include but are not limited to the following:

Tents
Backpacks or knapsacks
Sleeping bags
Certain items made of cloth, plastic, vinyl or other easily torn material and those having aluminum frames, outside pockets, straps, buckles and other protruding parts will be accepted as fragile items. United is not liable for fragile items. Lanterns, stoves and heating equipment that use liquid fuel, propane, butane or similar fuels will not be accepted as baggage unless they are brand-new, the fuel source is removed or the fuel has been purged. If the fuel has been purged, the equipment must be accompanied by a letter from the company that purged the fuel.

TSA, in the pop-up app at tsa.gov says:
Check or Carry-on
Minimize your chances of having to surrender camping items at the screening checkpoint by packing any sharp items safely in your checked baggage and ensuring all equipment is empty of fuel.
Camp stoves can travel as carry-on or checked luggage only if they are empty of all fuel and then cleaned such that no fuel vapors or residue are noticeable.
First or second checked bag service charges may apply.

MSR has this on their site:
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/blog/ ... ing-stove/
which indicates that stoves CAN be carried in either carry on or checked as long as they are cleaned, etc.
But this is dated 3/13/2013.

I really don't want to be the guinea pig and
tell our team to bring them anyway and risk ~10 of other people's stoves being confiscated.
Then have to scramble down there finding 10-12 good stoves.

Shipping some or all of our stoves to our outfitter may be an option too.
Checking into that too.

Yeah, the guy was not a native English speaker. Maybe an Indian call center.

I've done close to half a dozen international trips with the stove in either my checked luggage or carry-on with no issues. But maybe AA is adopting a new policy.

Maybe just take the stove apart? These people are idiots and wouldn't know what is what.