My daughter is moving to New York (from California). How do people move a live fish from one side of the country to the other? Her fish would fit in a water bottle, but I don't know of any liquids exception for live fish.

Check with your airline. If they are unhelpful, check with another airline.

Exceptions to the liquids rule are legion. (It would be faulty logic to conclude "because the rule is so stupid" but...) Live fish are regularly shipped as cargo in specially-designed containers�exotic tropicals sold in North Dakota pet stores probably were not bred there!

Plus, your daughter's particular fish are personal pets now, not commercial goods, so may fit into some special category which allows them in the cabin. Check show dog/cat enthusiast websites for recommendations about which airlines are the most pet-friendly.

There's gotta be a way; she certainly can't drive them that far. Good luck!

In the days before the liquids in carry-on ban, I would bring tropical fish in plastic bags as carry-on luggage. It is still possible to do this but it is so complicated that it is not worthwhile. It involves getting the fish through security out of the water (wrapped in damp paper towels) then dechlorinating and heating some tap water after security, and re-bagging the fish with the newly prepared water.

To transport fish as checked luggage you need a styrofoam insulated box, any pet store will have these on hand as they receive their fish this way. Any pet store could bag the fish with oxygen for you assuming the flight does not leave before the store's opening hours. If you need to bag the fish yourself, fill the bag 1/3 with water then 2/3 with either oxygen (preferred) or air.

You can inquire about the rules for transporting live fish (they will probably demand you pay extra and ship it as freight) or you can pack up an insulated box with the fish in bags inside, then put the whole box inside a duffel bag and the airline won't know or care what is inside the bag. You can add a heat pack to the insulated box to prevent the temperature from dropping too much.

Transporting fish this way is such a hassle that unless the fish are very expensive, you are better off giving the fish away and buying new fish when you get there.

FedEx does not accept fish but UPS does, for Next Day Air shipments:

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/res..._phr=live+fish

...That... is totally not what we do in Huntsville.

The last time something of that nature happened, I carried the plastic bag around the back of the x-ray to the other side (we generally don't like animals going through the x-ray~), gave a good visual inspection to the bag's contents, ETD'd the exterior of the bag, then sent Little Susie and Fluffy on their merry way.

Damp paper towels? What the hell? As YCTTSFM said, the exemptions to the LGA prohibitions are legion.

Water is a "medical necessity" for fish. If the airline will transport the pet fish, then TSA should comply with the medical needs of the fish.

But still, arrive a bit earlier than the 2 hours that TSA recommends for normal "customers" so if you have problems, you can escalate to someone useful.

That's the sensible way. Now would other airports do this ?

Whaaaaaatt??????? Don't you realize fish can swim in explosive liquids!!!!????

Kudos to you for allowing fish, but this is a bit silly. AFAIK the radiation dose from the x-ray machines is extremely low: lower than from medical x-rays, perhaps even lower than from a long flight.

I laugh whenever I read "horror stories" about people who send babies through the x-ray scanner (if that's abuse or neglect, then radiologists are horrible child abusers.) It would not surprise me if it was safer to put a baby through the x-ray scanner than to take the risk of dropping the child when going through the WTMD.

Perhaps like for the first few seconds before it kills them.