What is the correct way to pack breakable gifts?
 

We are traveling from DEN to LHR at Christmas and we have a few "fragile" gifts like frames and I was wondering what the correct way to pack them? I know that I do not want to gift wrap them, but is bubble wrap or tissue paper acceptable?

Yes, they are acceptable. I actually would recommend bubble wrapping them seperately and securing each with a bit of tape. That way, if there's a bag check called on your bag, it'll be quicker, easier, and less chance of breakage to clear the item and get you on your way. Generally what we do in this situation is lay out all the packages in a bin or two in a single layer and re-xray them. That way the item that needs to be checked stands out from the others and can be unwrapped for inspection and quickly rewrapped. Of course, even with fragile items you still can't handle anything until it's cleared but you'll want to make sure the screener keeps the item over the table and close to it just in case it slips while being unwrapped. I've never seen it happen with those gloves we wear but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution either. You also can request repacking your own bag once everything is cleared.

hmmm
 

If its extreme fragile, tell the person that is loading the bags about it and they will take extra precautions.

Don't pack them. Ship them
 

There is nothing worse than having your fragile gifts damaged, because someone stuffed a bag into the overhead, or they are dropped when you are juggling all your other belongings. My recommendation is to take them to a packaging store, get them professionally done using bubble wrap and peanuts and ship them to your destination.

IMHO boxes, shopping bags, wrapped souvenirs and even bottles of booze are a problem on airplanes and should be shipped instead of carried. :cool:

Is it better to carry on or check? They are just frames and ornaments (wooden).

if you have just clothes
 

in the suitcase, bubble wrap will do. If they have any sentimental value, ship them ;)

If at all possible, I would definitely carry them on, for the simple reason that you're much more likely to arrive at LHR with the same quantity of gifts you had in Denver.

Good point. Whenever we've sent extremely fragile items through, we have the xray person run the xray until the belt is empty, then we send the fragile item through, then once it's off the belt we start sending bags through normally again.

What is the correct way to pack breakable gifts?
 

In Fedex shipping boxes.

^ ^ I agree completely.

With Fedex, not only is breakage unlikely, but if it does happen, you'll have an accountable, profitable, business to go after, not a government agency pointing fingers at someone else.

When traveling with a gift, whether carry-on or checked baggage do not wrap it since there is a good chance it may be opened when screened. If the gift is very fragile then my suggestion is to pack it well and ship it.

On more than one occasion i've ended up having to unwrap gifts in order to clear a bag. It's usually when someone is bringing leaden crystal as a gift or in one situation a set of butcher knifes. So yeah, in general wrap gifts after you get where your going. Lol, I remember last year a passenger put a big wrapped gift through the machine that I had to re-run because the image was cut off. I didn't have to check the bag but a little kid asked me if I could see what was in the box and if I could tell him what it was. I guess he couldn't wait until christmas. :)