Top 5 Travel Reminders from Our Rental Specialist
Holiday travel can be hectic. Here at Oxygen Butler we want to help you spend more time doing the things you love and less time dealing with the obstacles of traveling with oxygen. This week we gathered advice from Jack Bluni, our Oxygen Butler Rental Specialist, to help you get where you’re going as smooth as possible.
1. What do customers need to prepare ahead of time in order to fly with an oxygen concentrator?
Jack: There are a lot of things to consider when flying with oxygen. What airline are you flying? How long is the flight time? Are you on a pulse setting or continuous flow? Lastly, what is most important to you in a POC; size and weight or cost? If you have answers for all of these questions it will help tremendously when renting a unit. Once you have your concentrator and you are boarding the plane make sure that you have your prescription on hand as well as the Physician Consent form, specific to the airline you are flying, to help prevent any issues.
2. Once a customer is ready to rent a unit what is their next step?
Jack: Once a customer has all the answers to the questions I mentioned above, their next step would be to visit our website and fill out the Rental Order Form. Once that form is filled out I can typically put together a quote and give the customer a call back within 5 minutes.
3. How long does the rental process take?
Jack: With a complete Rental Order Form the customer can get a quote within 5 minutes and we can then typically complete the process in under 15 minutes. We make rentals very easy.
4. What are some tips you can give customers about traveling with portable oxygen concentrators?
Jack:
- Look at your travel plans and estimate how long you will be away from a power source for certain activities.
- Turn off your unit when changing the battery to avoid loud and distracting alarms, especially in cramped spaces like planes and cars.
- If you haven’t used the concentrator before familiarize yourself with the unit before flying.
- Consider your POC like another piece of luggage. Can you handle the POC with the rest of your carry-on luggage or will you need assistance?
- Plan ahead and have a backup plan.
5. Final advice for Rental customers?
Jack: Renting an oxygen concentrator is a fantastic sort term solution for one or two trips but if you travel frequently purchasing a unit can sometimes make better financial sense. If you rent a unit for 2 months you have already paid the equivalent of buying it.
