Narrative:

While performing the inflight service; I noticed that a passenger had a cannula tube in his nose. I asked if he was using oxygen. He said; 'no; it's a portable oxygen concentrator (poc).' per the flight ops manual; a poc can be used inflight if it is FAA approved. I asked if there was a sticker or anything he had to indicate this was an FAA approved device. He was angry at being asked; since he says he used the poc on a connecting flight and he said he already discussed the matter with the agent at the gate. After he looked through his paper work and found nothing indicating FAA approval; I asked him to show me whatever paper work he had shown the agent. At that point; he said he didn't show the agent any paper work. He just asked if he could board early because he had a poc. The passenger never showed me an indication that it was FAA approved. He was able to find a special services handling card from his connecting flight that indicated that he had a poc; but this card only listed poc. It didn't indicate the brand or that it was FAA approved.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Flight Attendant reported on some confusion about whether a Portable Oxygen Concentrator was FAA approved.

Narrative: While performing the inflight service; I noticed that a passenger had a cannula tube in his nose. I asked if he was using oxygen. He said; 'No; it's a Portable Oxygen Concentrator (POC).' Per the Flight Ops Manual; a POC can be used inflight if it is FAA approved. I asked if there was a sticker or anything he had to indicate this was an FAA approved device. He was angry at being asked; since he says he used the POC on a connecting flight and he said he already discussed the matter with the agent at the gate. After he looked through his paper work and found nothing indicating FAA approval; I asked him to show me whatever paper work he had shown the agent. At that point; he said he didn't show the agent any paper work. He just asked if he could board early because he had a POC. The passenger never showed me an indication that it was FAA approved. He was able to find a Special Services Handling card from his connecting flight that indicated that he had a POC; but this card only listed POC. It didn't indicate the brand or that it was FAA approved.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.