just got back from two weeks in southeast asia and the battery situation was way more stressful than i expected. flew through like 5 different airports and every single one handled it differently. one gate agent in bangkok made me take all four batts out of my bag and hand check them, another one didnt even look twice. vietnam has its own whole thing with drone registration that i sort of did but not really and just got lucky i think. anyway if anyones planning a similar trip i have some thoughts but also curious what others have run into bc i feel like theres no consistent info anywhere

the battery thing is genuinely all over the place. i always carry mine in a lipo bag in my personal item now and havent had issues in maybe a dozen flights but ive heard horror stories. the real variable is the individual agent not the actual airline policy. what i do is print out the actual IATA wh limits (100wh per battery, up to 2 spare batteries over 100wh with approval etc) and keep it folded in my bag just in case i need to show someone. never had to use it but makes me feel better

vietnam registration is no joke if they actually catch you. a guy in a facebook group i'm in got his drone held at customs for like 3 days. he eventually got it back but had to pay some kind of fee. the rules there changed not that long ago and a lot of the info online is outdated. thailand is way more relaxed in my experience but still technically requires registration