Narrative:

Early in the boarding process passenger approached a working flight attendant holding what would later be determined to be a lithium-ion battery for mobility aid; a scooter. It was approximately the size of a shoe box. The passenger verbally asked for some sort of cover to go over the end of the battery and gestured as to where it would go. The flight attendant made a note of his seat assignment and alerted the pilots of the battery presence and the need for guidance; possibly from station staff. A frantic search started in both electronic manuals for any printed guidance; as all involved knew this subject is important and should not be 'poo-pooed.' about half way through the boarding process a manager did appear; however after he listened to us; he identified that he is the wrong manager as he is not at all involved in such things. He communicated such information to the pilots and another manager was called for guidance while we all attempted searching various key words in our electronic books. At the end of boarding; a gate agent appeared; and seemed surprised at the situation as he knew nothing about its presence. He verbally indicated that the battery cannot have exposed ends. The inflight manual is not clear as to what the flight attendant actions are. Do we take a delay? It was jointly reviewed that the agent would stow the battery in an overhead bin or under the customer's seat. The agent wanted none of that. At this point; because we knew that batteries can be very important; and not feeling confident with verbal guidance from the agent or the text (because the agent seemed to be doing nothing of what was printed in the book) it was a joint pilot/flight attendant decision to delay and ask for a manager; again; to be paged to the aircraft to provide guidance. Because we knew that a manager was on the way; the fas returned to normal cabin duties and awaited the appearance of a manager. No further reading in the electronic manuals took place; because a manager was going to come to the aircraft with definitive information. Instead; a few minutes later; the same gate agent appeared and simply told us to simply wrap up the battery in plastic bags and stow. With the concurrence of the pilot; we fas complied. Little did we know that it is the agent's job to remove the battery from the device and prepares the battery for stowage by placing baggage or packing tape over the battery electrical contacts. -- In this [incident] the agent did not touch the battery at any time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Flight Attendant reported proper procedures were not followed when a passenger boarded with a large Lithium-Ion battery.

Narrative: Early in the boarding process passenger approached a working FA holding what would later be determined to be a Lithium-Ion Battery for Mobility Aid; a scooter. It was approximately the size of a shoe box. The passenger verbally asked for some sort of cover to go over the end of the battery and gestured as to where it would go. The FA made a note of his seat assignment and alerted the pilots of the battery presence and the need for guidance; possibly from station staff. A frantic search started in both electronic manuals for any printed guidance; as all involved knew this subject is important and should not be 'poo-pooed.' About half way through the boarding process a manager did appear; however after he listened to us; he identified that he is the wrong manager as he is not at all involved in such things. He communicated such information to the pilots and another manager was called for guidance while we all attempted searching various key words in our electronic books. At the end of boarding; a gate agent appeared; and seemed surprised at the situation as he knew nothing about its presence. He verbally indicated that the battery cannot have exposed ends. The inflight manual is not clear as to what the FA actions are. Do we take a delay? It was jointly reviewed that the agent would stow the battery in an overhead bin or under the customer's seat. The agent wanted none of that. At this point; because we knew that batteries can be very important; and not feeling confident with verbal guidance from the agent or the text (because the agent seemed to be doing nothing of what was printed in the book) it was a joint pilot/FA decision to delay and ask for a manager; again; to be paged to the aircraft to provide guidance. Because we knew that a manager was on the way; the FAs returned to normal cabin duties and awaited the appearance of a manager. No further reading in the electronic manuals took place; because a manager was going to come to the aircraft with definitive information. Instead; a few minutes later; the same gate agent appeared and simply told us to simply wrap up the battery in plastic bags and stow. With the concurrence of the pilot; we FAs complied. Little did we know that it is the agent's job to remove the battery from the device and prepares the battery for stowage by placing baggage or packing tape over the battery electrical contacts. -- In this [incident] the agent did not touch the battery at any time.

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.