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Technology and new federal regulations are giving people who need supplemental oxygen more options for travel.

Oxygen tanks are banned from flights because of their explosive potential.

But a new generation of portable oxygen generators — coupled with a new federal mandate that all U.S. airlines allow them beginning next year — should help some air travelers breathe easier.

Portable oxygen concentrators are small devices that concentrate oxygen from the air around them. At less than 10 pounds with no tank involved, they enable older people and people with lung diseases to fly on airplanes.

Phyllis Ethridge, 74, bought one of the devices a year ago and was able to fly to Washington, D.C., to accept a Living Legend award from the American Academy of Nursing for her distinguished nursing career.

"I bought it because I was getting tired of driving and I thought I'd like to fly again," said Ethridge, who has emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

She uses it for driving, too. She found it convenient to have when she drove to the National Senior Olympics, where she coached her 75-plus women's softball team, because the device can be plugged in in the car.

The oxygen concentrator also gives her more confidence in golf — she puts the device in the basket on a golf cart.

"I may need it after nine holes, I may not," she said. She likes having options.

The breathing devices were approved by the FAA in 2005 because they fit under a passenger seat and don't use oxygen tanks. Most airlines allow them.

Next year, the Transportation Department will require all airlines to let passengers use portable oxygen concentrators that are approved for use on aircraft. The department is also considering requiring airlines to provide medical oxygen to passengers upon request.

The policy announcement came less than three months after a woman on an American Airlines flight from Haiti to New York died after initially being denied oxygen. American said crews eventually tried to administer oxygen, and they and a doctor who went to the woman's aid said her heart was too weak to get a response from a defibrillator.

"The plane is pressurized to 8,000 to 10,000 feet. It's as if you're on a mountaintop," said Bill Baker, a respiratory therapist and owner of Rx O2 Oxygen & Medical Equipment Supply in Tucson. "Many elderly and patients with lung disease can't tolerate that altitude, so they require supplemental oxygen to fly."

The portable concentrator is "the neatest thing I've seen since I've been in the business," said Larry Johnson, president of Dependable Health Services in Tucson, who's been in the business since 1984.

"I'm quite proud to offer it," he said. "I hope I get to help a grandma or grandpa see their grandkids."

Johnson has been selling them for six months or so, he said.

"Traveling with oxygen is a really big challenge," he said.

If people choose to buy oxygen on the plane, it can cost $50 to $100 per leg of the flight, but the airline doesn't have to sell it. Plus, a person would have to arrange to have oxygen at the destination.

The portable concentrators cost between $3,800 and $5,500 to buy, or $150-$350 a week to rent. The passenger still has to notify the airline that he or she will be bringing the device on board.

The products are gaining in popularity, Baker said.

"They're changing people's lives," he said. "I had a lady a while back who took the unit and went to Denmark. It was kind of her last great adventure."