Bringing Corals on an Airplane?

Z

zeuss zoso

New member
I am going to be visiting some relatives in state, and my uncle has an awesome reef setup and offered to give me a ton of frags. The question is, how to get it back down. I am obviosuly flying, and proably with United. I was thinking of wrapping all the frags in salt water paper towels, and putting them in a thermos. It would only be a 6 or 7 hour trip, so I doubt there is a huge problem. If I wanted to check the thermos would it be a problem? What about carrying it on? I looked on the website and it said tropical fish need to have a paperwork thingy filled out, but what does coral fall under? Any input would be appreciated.
Alex
 
call the tsa, they change the rules every so often and it's good to know what they are this week, make sure you get a confirmation from them and you should be ok, I used to take them on carry on and checked baggage all the time, but things have changed a lot since then...
 
Not sure... but I saw an episode of Airline (the show about Southwest) where a guy tried to carry on a bucket with an expensive tropical fish. They denied him under their "no animals in the cabin" policy. I wonder what they'd say about corals!

If it were me, I would try to ship them overnight, or package them up like the online coral sellers do (with a heat pack) and check them in luggage. Others here have shipped corals and can surely answer more fully.
 
I would ship them as well. I know a guy who just went to hawaii, collected some stuff and a local LFS helped him pack it all up to ship.
 
Hmmm...
The whole reason I don't want to ship it is because its a small town and I would end up paying like 60 bucks to ship all of em. I am going to call someone this week and see whats up. I am probably going to use the dry shipping method with papertowels, cus of the whole liquid bomb thingy.
 
Bag them inside 2-4 bag, place them inside a hard cover box, put inside the check in bag. 100% those TSA people will miss it, if they ask just tell them the truth. In worst case, 10-20 tip would hurt in this case. You can't carry liquid onto the plane but I think you can have them check in.

My friend went back to vietnam, carried some beta fishes with him, no problem. He even carried fish back to the us, went thru the x-ray scan manchine, no problem ( I wouldn't do this since it's international, but local within the us, I think it going to be fine )
 
i heard of a guy bringing back coral on the plane from the barrier reef last year!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

apparentely he got it through in a couple of water bottles in his luggage. unfortunately he made it and didnt get caught. #%$*( deserves to be in jail!!!!:mad:
 
I went to Hawaii last year and was able to bring fish on the plane with me however not as carry on. TSA does not allow any liquids on board as a carry on but only as a checked luggage. Corals are easier than fish via checked luggage. If the corals are small then pack them in your luggage. If you packed them seperate from your luggage then pack them in an insulated styrophone box placed inside a cardboard box. I tried to check just the styrophone box but TSA made me put it inside a cardboard box as well. Just let the airlines and TSA know its live animals. That way they will put "Live animals" stickers all over the box. They will open it to inspect the boxes though. When I arrived to the baggage terminal my boxes were the first ones off the plane and the first to arrive in the baggage terminal.

This works for in states flight including Hawaii. International flights are a different story since you have to pass through customs
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9582585#post9582585 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mcain Bwood
Fish on the plane AHHHH. worse then snakes
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol:
 
you should be fine if you put it in containers and check it in with your baggage....speaking from expereince.
 
Here was my plan.

I was planning on taking about 20-40 frags home of SPS, prolly about 1" each. I was going to get thermos or two, and wrap each frag in half a paper towel, wet of course, and just put a ton inside the thermos. Then I would put the thermos inside the baggage, and it should good to go. Would I need to tell them there are live animals, or do you think it won't matter either way? But, since there is no real amount of liquid I should be able to take it on the plane with me right? I could say it was live animals, not dangerous, and not in any liquid.
Thanks for all the input guys.
I appreciate it.
Alex
 
I hate to say it but you shouldnt say anything unless they ask. If you tell them you have live anything in your luggage they will strip it. They took my nose hair trimmer :( bastards
 
Ok, sounds good. It is a VERY small airport I am flying out of, so there is no real intense security, I should be fine. I am going to use the thermos idea with the paper towels in my luggage.
 
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