Pat89339

There was one employee who back in the pre-merger day when they did bring power to your seat, who approved whether or not your medical equipment could be used on in-seat power. He may not be around but if I find his email address I will pass it along through PM. I had to send him the relevant parts of the manual.

ermintrude

Update: GS were useless but in fairness it was a curve ball. I'm going to go with 65-70 Watts typical per socket as that's the range that has most frequently been guestimated here on FT

Xyzzy

I believe that the maximum available at these outlets is 75 watts. If your device attempts to draw mre than the maximum the circuit breaker will trip.

Pat89339

Sorry it took so long to find the email of the person at United. I don’t know whether or not he’s still working there. I will send it to you via PM.

My device had a power requirement (210VAC) and that device was higher than the aircraft in-seat power output (75VAC). I was advised by the Cabin Systems Engineer that I could only use my device with a battery power supply (cannot connect to the in-seat power, it will trip the circuit breaker at the outlet).

ajGoes

I think you mean watts, which is the power consumption. It's independent of voltage ("V") and current type ("AC" or "DC"). Your device may have had a voltage specification of, say, 100-240 VAC, but the numbers above don't work for any consumer electronics.

Pat89339

The text was from an email from United. I see now that he made a typo looking at the info I sent him from the manual.

cyberjet

And, of course, the outlet should be able to recharge a battery, even if you are not running the actual device directly from the outlet

marilyn35406

You need a separate charger for that b/c you usually charge the battery while it's in the POC. If you have one - no problem.

scottemick

My wife who has COPD normally doesn't need supplemental o2, but a few years ago on a flight from Cleveland to Los Angeles, she was short of breath and could have used some supplemental oxygen. So I bought this Respironics mini go for her and a portable nebulizer. The problem is United says you need to have 15 hours of battery, but the standard battery lasts maybe 4.5 hours. I couldn't find any extended batteries anywhere that would arrive in time. The need for the POC is documented on the reservation already. We also have the certificate from united filled out by the physician to carry with us. Are we going to have a problem because we don't have the extended battery? Are they going to be that strict about this? She has flown many times recently without any need, but this is something she could use if an exacerbation occurred. We are supposed to be flying tomorrow.
Any advice welcome

EWR764

The rule of thumb is total travel time plus 3h contingency, but this would be for a passenger requiring full-time O2, and that's only a recommendation. If your wife only requires it on an as-needed basis, then you should be fine. United won't prohibit you from bringing and using a POC unless it is not FAA-approved.

mduell

Regardless of what United enforces, don't travel unless you can do so safely including reasonable margin for en-route delays.

scottemick

United simply asked if we had enough battery life and that was the end of it.

EWR764

United legally cannot "deny boarding" of your POC unless it is not FAA-approved for inflight use. The battery question is for the benefit of the user.

scottemick

It was no hassle at all. They just asked if we had enough battery and we said we did. She didn't need it at all, which was really good...But at least we had 5 hours of supplemental O2 on 2 5 hour flights..

scottemick

Roger that....since I bought the concentrator on short notice, standard and extended batteries were all on back order....We'll have 24 hours worth of battery in the future which is way overkill but better to have more.