Narrative:

While boarding the flight; flight attendant (flight attendant) a notified me that a passenger stated that he had lithium batteries in his carry-on bag; but that the bag wouldn't fit in the overhead bin; and so the passenger had decided to place the bag on the planeside baggage cart. The flight attendant was concerned that the passenger was going to place a bag with lithium batteries in the cargo compartment; so she asked me to talk to the passenger. I approached the passenger and asked him if he had lithium batteries in his bag (which turned out to be a hard-sided case) and he responded that he had lithium batteries installed in cameras inside the case. He did not want to place the item on the cart because they were expensive. I asked a nearby ramp agent to request a supervisor. A man approached and when I asked him if he was a supervisor; he responded yes. We explained the situation to him; and the supervisor said that as long as the lithium batteries were installed inside a camera; laptop; or phone; and not loose in a bag; that the bag could be checked into a cargo bin. This was something I was unsure of; but he said this very confidently; and since we have no guidance in our fom (operating manual) about lithium batteries; I complied with what the supervisor said and the ramp placed the bag into the forward cargo bin. After the flight; flight attendant a said that she had been audited on the flight by inflight management; and when she asked them about the incident; they said that no lithium batteries at all can be in cargo bins. We need to have some kind of guidance on lithium batteries in our fom to help us in situations like these. I do not know if the bag should have been in the cargo bin or not. After the flight; I still could find no guidance on this issue at all on the training app.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported accepting the Ramp Supervisor's incorrect information regarding Lithium Ion batteries were approved for cargo compartment provided they are installed in a device.Flight crew added that the FOM provides not flight crew guidance.

Narrative: While boarding the flight; FA (Flight Attendant) A notified me that a passenger stated that he had lithium batteries in his carry-on bag; but that the bag wouldn't fit in the overhead bin; and so the passenger had decided to place the bag on the planeside baggage cart. The FA was concerned that the passenger was going to place a bag with lithium batteries in the cargo compartment; so she asked me to talk to the passenger. I approached the passenger and asked him if he had lithium batteries in his bag (which turned out to be a hard-sided case) and he responded that he had lithium batteries installed in cameras inside the case. He did not want to place the item on the cart because they were expensive. I asked a nearby ramp agent to request a supervisor. A man approached and when I asked him if he was a supervisor; he responded yes. We explained the situation to him; and the supervisor said that as long as the lithium batteries were installed inside a camera; laptop; or phone; and not loose in a bag; that the bag could be checked into a cargo bin. This was something I was unsure of; but he said this very confidently; and since we have no guidance in our FOM (Operating Manual) about lithium batteries; I complied with what the supervisor said and the ramp placed the bag into the forward cargo bin. After the flight; FA A said that she had been audited on the flight by inflight management; and when she asked them about the incident; they said that no lithium batteries at all can be in cargo bins. We need to have some kind of guidance on lithium batteries in our FOM to help us in situations like these. I do not know if the bag should have been in the cargo bin or not. After the flight; I still could find no guidance on this issue at all on the training app.

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.