coral as a carryon

[CiXeL]

after the devestation of having my entire 60 gal reef die in my cross country move from los angeles to miami im trying to pick up the pieces.

i intend to visit dave's frag swap in encino whenever it happens again. i can save up money, fly out to los angeles buy a bunch of frags and bring them back in a cooler but what i want to know is

what airlines will let me take coral as a carryon or as luggage?

i dont want to spend a whole bunch of money buying frags only to have them taken away from me at the airport. has anyone had any experience with various airlines?

 

[melas]

i doubt it would be the airlines you'd have to worry about. i think its the airport security that would say yes or no. Once you get past security the airlines don't check to see what you are bringing on board (IME). I would be scared to try that without calling both airports you'll be traveling through and verifying. You could always FEDEX the stuff home the day you leave and it would be there the next morning!

-->Regarding carry on - probably not a problem for luggage on any of the airlines if you claim them as living creatures.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Anonymous]

...gonna watch this topic. For local stuff, you're right, a small cooler works great.

~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

i recall an article... pre 9/11.. where the author told of airline security having an interest in his corals and he told them he was a scientist and that the frags were the remains of rare coral specimens that he needed to study or something like that.. he said there was not much discussion after that.. he flew them home.

who knows today though.

 

[sedgro]

While I can't comment on coral, I just returned from Hawaii with several inverts (hermits, starfish, sea hares, cucumbers, urchins) that I collected myself (all perfectly legal - if you doubt me please check the following link -http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/index.html - before jumping to conclusions). Security could have cared less as long as it goes through the x-ray machine. This is the second time I have brought stuff from Hawaii since 9/11. I also brought some fish (from Chip Boyle) and a blue sea star from the Cook Islands post 9/11 (I checked with US Fish and WIldlife before hand - legal as long as the fish were imported for my own personal use and not for re-sale). Security even did a "Special Search" once. They looked at my bagged fish, saw them swimming and put them back. Their job is to look for bombs/weapons, not live animals.

For Hawaii the US Ag inspectors wanted to make sure my inverts weren't fruit and then advised me to tell the airline what I was carrying on. I DID NOT tell the airline because: 1) I have heard tales of airlines refusing to allow fish as carry-ons 2) they never inspect your carry-ons and what they don't know won't hurt them. Yes this is rather dishonest... however, most people couldn't tell the difference between a live coral/cucumber/... and a rock or plant (which they allow to be carried on)... and its not like your coral is going to escape and reap havoc on the plane.

If it were me though, and I was going between two places on the US mainland where FedEx/UPS are options, then I would ship that way. Carrying on live animals is a hassle - the water is heavy, you worry about them the whole trip, and God only knows what all the x-rays will do to your coral.

Just my 2 cents.

Sedgro

 

[Ben1]

There was a recent thread either here or RC where some one called the airline and was told no problem. When he arrived with lots of corals all boxed up they told him the policy was no liquids allowed so he couldnt take them. He had to get a friend to come pick them all up and hold them until he was able to overnight them.

 

[Anonymous]

There was a recent thread either here or RC where some one called the airline and was told no problem. When he arrived with lots of corals all boxed up they told him the policy was no liquids allowed so he couldnt take them. He had to get a friend to come pick them all up and hold them until he was able to overnight them.

I believe he also showed up with three boxes of corals. Several frags in small bags or tupperware in your backpack should be no problem.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are flying domestic they will not bother you. International flights may become a problem if US Agriculture inspects you. Their lack of knowledge may cause problems. Just beware that if you use plastic bags you should double bag and give some extra space in the bag for expansion. The bags will expand from the cabin pressure.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are flying domestic they will not bother you. International flights may become a problem if US Agriculture inspects you. Their lack of knowledge may cause problems. Just beware that if you use plastic bags you should double bag and give some extra space in the bag for expansion. The bags will expand from the cabin pressure.

Got a question about this... I'm going to cozumel, mex., next month. Do ya think it would be a problem to bring back some "sand", that's, er, a little "wet"?


~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

If you are flying domestic they will not bother you. International flights may become a problem if US Agriculture inspects you. Their lack of knowledge may cause problems. Just beware that if you use plastic bags you should double bag and give some extra space in the bag for expansion. The bags will expand from the cabin pressure.

Got a question about this... I'm going to cozumel, mex., next month. Do ya think it would be a problem to bring back some "sand", that's, er, a little "wet"?


~wings~

Put the sand in a plastic soda bottle - no problem with pressure. I brought a bunch of mangroves on a plane that way.

 

[Anonymous]

Great idea with the plastic soda bottle. Do ya think it would get by customs ok?

~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

As long as you have them in a container like a cooler and do not go overboard it should not be a problem.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

I was in LA in January and knocked myself out buying zoos.....
I brought most of them home in a soft sided ice chest. Security at LAX insisted on the Xray, I begged in vain... but no damage done.
I asked the stewardess to put the chest in a closet for me, no problem either (Continental)
Now as for the ones that didn't fit in the ice chest, Eric from Frag Farmer was kind enough to bag them and ship them overnight UPS for me and bam, UPS "misrouted" them. It took persistence and a lot of screaming until I retrieved them 2 days later at the (closed to the public) UPS facility at MIA on a Saturday afternoon at 5pm....
But they all lived after all.
IMO ice chest is the way to go, can't wait to go LFS hopping again in LA next year....