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Traveling with ashes?
My widowed mother is planning a trip to come see me. It will be her first flight in over 10 years, and she's a little freaked. ("Since when do they make you take your shoes off?") She refuses to travel without my father's ashes, which are sealed in a ceramic urn.
Should she expect trouble from TSA? Or from Continental? |
Any problems encountered will be with the TSA. Continental has no restrictions on urns that I know of. The TSA will insist on X-raying the container with the ashes. Important details can be found here:
Passengers are allowed to carry a crematory container as part of their carry-on luggage, but the container must pass through the X-ray machine. If the container is made of a material that generates an opaque image and prevents the security screener from clearly being able to see what is inside, then the container cannot be allowed through the security checkpoint. ...Under no circumstances will a screener open the container even if the passenger requests this be done. Xyzzy CO forum moderator |
I have traveled with ashes to Russia.
The ashes need to be in a non-metallic container. I told the TSA screeners these were ashes and this elicited no response of any kind. The box was screened and I continued my journey. The closest thing I had to a problem was making sure no one put anything too heavy or big on top of the box in the overhead. But everything turned out OK. |
I would be very careful. My uncle traveled with my late grandfather's ashes in October. He passed through AUS (usually a decent TSA operation), and they flipped out. They made him actually open the inside container. If at all possible, I'd recommend she carry a copy of the death certificate. The last thing you want is for them to call for a review of the xray and then start digging. Have her declare to a TSA agent in advance and it may make things easier.
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Originally Posted by jg70124
(Post 9356279)
My widowed mother...refuses to travel without my father's ashes, which are sealed in a ceramic urn.
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Domestically, you should be fine if you declare them to the TSA. IIRC, if there's a problem screening them, placing a coin under the urn ought to give them enough to distinguish what they are.
TSA is NOT supposed to open the container... but keep in mind the phrase "Rules! We don' need no steenken rules" Escalate as necessary. |
If she's overly concerned, she could mail them to you. Note I said "mail" because the USPS is the only service that will knowingly transport ashes. But the Domestic Mail Manual says they have to be sent registered mail. We shipped my FIL home in advance and had no issues from the PO. He was in a metal box with the US Army seal and nameplate. We figured mailing was the easier way than having to keep track of him and dealing with airport security.
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My company ships ashes via UPS every day.
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As long as you tell them, they never ever ever ever ever should open it. ETD is about the worst they'll do it.
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Originally Posted by Iworkhere
(Post 9358187)
As long as you tell them, they never ever ever ever ever should open it. ETD is about the worst they'll do it.
If she could mail them on ahead, it would sure save on some stress. |
Originally Posted by markwtaylor
(Post 9357909)
My company ships ashes via UPS every day.
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"...oh ma gawd, what's dat in dat urn?....its a grey powder....oh ma gawd....close da airport.....we gotta a Code Red....unknown powder... could be ant tracks....could be dat rice stuff....oh ma gawd..."
Nahh, I would not try it. TSA-Protecting America's Ash From Tewowists. |
Originally Posted by PHLbuddy
(Post 9356507)
I would be very careful. My uncle traveled with my late grandfather's ashes in October. He passed through AUS (usually a decent TSA operation), and they flipped out. They made him actually open the inside container. If at all possible, I'd recommend she carry a copy of the death certificate. The last thing you want is for them to call for a review of the xray and then start digging. Have her declare to a TSA agent in advance and it may make things easier.
Originally Posted by Global_Hi_Flyer
(Post 9357181)
Domestically, you should be fine if you declare them to the TSA. IIRC, if there's a problem screening them, placing a coin under the urn ought to give them enough to distinguish what they are.
TSA is NOT supposed to open the container...
Originally Posted by Emeraldcity
(Post 9358230)
Unfortunately, sometimes they do. A friend of mine traveled with ashes and TSA opened the container and actually stuck something in the ashes to sift through them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TSA is just too inconsistent to predict what will happen when your mother gets to the airport. What may work on her way there, doesn't necessarily mean it will work the same on the way home. I have had some urns that were so dense on the checkpoint x-ray (even the quarter trick didn't work), but we were able to run them thru the CTX and see fine. Then we allowed it in as a carry on. |
I just interned my Mother's remains in Florida. TSA rules are specific - if they can't get a clear x-ray of the urn it can't fly. Not as a carry on NOR as checked luggage. If your urn has any lead in it's makeup (whether it's plastic, ceramic or whatever) it won't go. USPS registered priority service delivered the ashes on time for us. Neither Fed Ex or UPS will ship human remains in any form.
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We used Continental a few months ago, taking ashes to their final resting place on the East Coast. The Crematorium packaged them with a TSA-friendly container, we took the Cremation certificate and the death certificate, and there was absolutely no problem.
A big thank you to everyone who has posted on FlyerTalk in the past. A search here gave me all the information I needed, and made the experience much less stressful and miserable than it could have been. |
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