Traveling with an LVAD (You Can Go. You Just Pack Like an Expedition.)
The short answer: Yes, you can travel with an LVAD — you just pack like you're preparing for a minor expedition. Every piece of gear (batteries, backup controller, power cables, dressing supplies) rides in your carry-on, never checked. Bring more batteries than you think you need, then one more pair. Bring your LVAD center's contact info and know the nearest VAD-capable hospital at your destination.
Quick note: I'm a patient, not a doctor. This is my experience living with an LVAD — your VAD team runs your setup, not some guy on the internet.
Traveling with an LVAD Is a Logistics Problem, Not a Medical One
The pump doesn't care that you're on vacation. It still needs power every second of every day, the driveline still needs protecting, and the controller still runs the show. So traveling with an LVAD isn't about whether you're allowed to go — once your team clears you, you are — it's about planning so the trip feels like a trip and not a supply-chain crisis.
The mindset that works for me: you're not "a patient traveling." You're a guy with specialized equipment taking it on the road. Musicians tour with fragile gear. Photographers fly with camera cases they won't let out of their sight. Same energy, slightly higher stakes.
The Carry-On Rule: All Gear Flies With You
This is the one rule that doesn't bend: every piece of LVAD gear goes in your carry-on. Never in checked luggage. Batteries, backup controller, power cables, dressing supplies, the wall charger — all of it, on your person or in the bag under the seat in front of you.
Why: if the airline loses your checked bag, you need to be fully operational standing at baggage claim. Not filing a lost-luggage form while your controller beeps at you. Not hoping it shows up tomorrow. Fully operational, right there, gear in hand.
Your carry-on is sacred. It doesn't go in the overhead bin three rows away. It stays with you.
Traveling with an LVAD: The Battery Math
I wrote a whole post on how long LVAD batteries last, but travel changes the math. At home, you're never more than a room away from a charger. On the road, you're one dead battery away from doing math you really don't want to do.
My rule: bring more batteries than you think you need, then bring one more pair. A travel day eats batteries — delays, long walks through terminals, sitting around waiting. Plan for the trip you booked plus the trip you might end up having. Full charges on everything before you leave the house, and always know where your next outlet is.
Road trips make this easy. Flights make it critical. Either way: overpack batteries.
Plan Your Destination Like an Advance Scout
Before you go, two things go in your phone and your travel partner's phone:
- Your LVAD center's contact info. Your VAD team would rather hear from you early than late — that applies double when you're three states away from them.
- The nearest VAD-capable hospital at your destination. Not just any ER — a hospital that knows what an LVAD is and what to do with one. Look it up before you leave, save the address, and tell whoever you're traveling with where it is.
This takes ten minutes and it's the difference between an inconvenience and a crisis. Do the ten minutes.
Road Trips: The Easiest Version of Traveling with an LVAD
If flying is the final boss of LVAD travel, road trips are the tutorial level. My truck is basically a mobile charging station at this point — batteries charge while I drive, spares ride in the cab, and there's no TSA line, no overhead-bin negotiation, no explaining my holster to a stranger with a wand.
Traveling with an LVAD Packing Checklist
The full loadout. Check it before you leave, check it when you get there:
- Batteries: your daily set plus spares — more than you think you need, then one more pair. All fully charged before you walk out the door.
- Battery charger: the home charging setup, so you can recharge at the hotel or wherever you're staying.
- Backup controller: always. It rides in the carry-on, always.
- Power cables: wall power adapter and every cable your setup uses. Assume you'll need wall power at some point on the trip.
- Driveline dressing supplies: enough for the whole trip plus extra, on your team's schedule. A dressing change doesn't wait for you to get home.
- Holster/belt and driveline anchors: spares or backups of whatever holds your gear to your body. Straps wear out — have a backup.
- LVAD center contact info: in your phone and written down somewhere too. Your team, your coordinator, the on-call number.
- Destination hospital info: nearest VAD-capable hospital, address saved, travel partner briefed.
- Medications: your full supply plus a buffer, in the original bottles. Same rule as always — your team and pharmacist know everything you take.
The list is the trip. Run it twice.
My life depends on what's in this bag — here's the bag. Watch the Short here.
The Bottom Line
Traveling with an LVAD is absolutely doable — people in this club go everywhere. The price of admission is planning: gear in the carry-on, batteries overpacked, destination scouted, team on speed dial. Do the work before you leave and the trip itself feels like any other trip. That's the whole goal. Normal, with logistics.
For the airport-specific side — TSA, screening, the cabin — I broke that out into its own post: flying with an LVAD. And for the full living-with-it picture, start at Living with an LVAD: The Complete Guide.
KEEP ON. — and see you out there.
FAQ
Can you travel with an LVAD?
Yes. Traveling with an LVAD is a logistics challenge, not a medical prohibition. Pack all gear — batteries, backup controller, cables, dressing supplies — in your carry-on, bring extra batteries, and save your LVAD center's contact info and the nearest VAD-capable hospital at your destination before you go.
What should you pack when traveling with an LVAD?
Every piece of gear in your carry-on: batteries (more than you think you need, plus one more pair), your charger, backup controller, power cables, driveline dressing supplies, spare holster and anchors, medications, your LVAD center's contact info, and the address of the nearest VAD-capable hospital at your destination.
Can LVAD equipment go in checked luggage?
No — never check your LVAD gear. Batteries, backup controller, power cables, and dressing supplies all ride in your carry-on, on your person. If the airline loses your checked bag, you must be fully operational standing at baggage claim, not waiting on a lost-luggage claim while your controller alarms.
Are road trips easier than flying with an LVAD?
In my experience, yes. Road trips skip TSA screening entirely, your vehicle doubles as a mobile charging station, and forgetting something just means turning around. Flying works fine too — it just needs more planning around screening and battery math. The full airport rundown is in my post on flying with an LVAD.