I'm flying to a race in Austria this weekend, and want to take some C02 cannisters with me. I know that officially the answer is no, you are not supposed to take anything pressurised on a flight. However there are a lot of overly cautious bollocks airline rules, like making you deflate your tyres (nobody ever asks if you've deflated your forks or shock which have much higher pressures) that can safely be ignored. Am I actually likely to cause a catastrophe by smuggling a Bir Air into my bike box?

No, very very unlikely to cause a problem but equally you may get rubber glove treatment if they think you're doing it deliberately.

Just chuck em in, you'll be fine.

My shock & tyre pressure were not even minutely effected by any air pressurisation when I "forgot" to let them down.

erm.
will a pump not suffice?

[edit] going to a race, fair enough, can you not buy the canisters over there?

I know of one of these which exploded when left in a hot car. It made one hell of a bang and put a hole in the glove box as it fired itself forwards. I guess the plane's hold will be cold though…

I wouldn't. Just buy one at the race.

GB

Is it any worse than taking a can of deodorant. Which I am sure a fair few people pack in their luggage!

Yep, my car was not the same again.

Sadly it wasn't just a CO2 cannister, it was a Seal'n'flate with goo in it too. You'd be surprised at how much stuff's in there!

Probably be fine, but I wouldn't chance it personally! Just buy 2 16g cannisters out there.

I've flown out to races a few times, and I've always bought the C02s at the venue as suggested. I'm just tired of shelling out for cannisters that I generally don't use, so I'm wondering if this is something I can get away with. It's not that I'm ridiculously stingy, but C02s are not always as readily available as you might think, and I'd rather spend the 48 hours before the World Champs resting than trekking around Graz looking for cannisters.

However there is a good chance my luggage will be searched as the discharged fire extinguisher (for pumping up ghetto tubeless) always shows up on the x-ray and causes a stir, so maybe not worth the risk.

Good luck Jenn 🙂

GB

BANG as your plane goes over my house.

atmospheric pressure is 15psi so even if your plane flew into space the relative change in pressure would be negligible. Same goes (as others have said) for air shocks, tyres etc.

If they found em in your hand luggage theyd have a fit (just because) but theyll be fine in the hold.

That's what I needed to know, thanks! I'm only really concerned about blowing up my bag, I'm not too concerned about getting caught with them. If you see a story on BBC news about a suspected bomb threat caused by a cyclist you'll know it didn't go well.

Hey Jenn, I just drop mine in my hold baggage/bike bag, done it countless times and I've not blown a plane up yet! Good luck.

I flew back from Canada and left my phone in the back pack. Shock Horror the plane did not plummet to the ground or get lost and head to Australia.

If there is a pressure drop that causes my inflated tires to explode or the can of CO2 (which is exactly the same as the ones they use to inflate the life jackets) to pop I'm going to be worried about the state of my pants when then pull me out of the sea rather that a blown tube.

Try explaning that to a security agent though and you'll probably end up with a prostate exam.

i sat there once sharing my mp3 and earphones with a pretty young german mädel. soem old german hag next to us asked us tt turn it off as it was dangerous during take off. i laughed and asked her if she really thought the plane would crash. she said it would and i laughed. she then pressed the buttom for attendence and even the stewardess said the warning was bollocks and only their to cover their arse.

if we have to deflate our tyres how come the pilot doesn't have to deflate his?

LOL @ alpin. That's brilliant.

Throw them in your hold luggage. The hold is pressurised. You co2 is no worse than someones deoderant. I actually pump my tyres up before a flight so the baggage handlers don't wreck my rims. By the way, they use similar cartridges for all the life jackets (just in case you need a spare).

The 300 psi of nitrogen behind the floating piston in my rear shock has never gone pop either. I'm sure I did the maths once and the actual change in pressure due to being at 35,000 ft makes surprisingly little difference.

Just don't expect to get them through in hand luggage.