Flying with the cremated ashes of your loved one can add extra stress to an already stressful situation. By being aware of the rules around traveling with ashes you can be prepared. This guide goes through what you need to do when flying with ashes. You need to follow the TSA’s rules, plus any extra rules from your airline. Read on for what you need to know to make transporting your loved one’s cremated remains stress free.
TSA is responsible for screening luggage to make sure they don’t contain items that may be dangerous. However, with cremated remains the TSA has a policy of not opening the urn or cremation container to inspect what’s inside, even if you allow them. This means they must use an x-ray to scan what is inside the container. To allow for this, the cremation ashes need to be in a container that works with an x-ray machine.
X-rays can pass through some metals, like aluminum, but others like lead will block the rays. To be safe, try to use an urn made from plastic or natural materials like wood when flying. If your urn isn’t suitable for x-ray, you can still check it as luggage. However, be aware that this comes with a higher risk of the urn being lost or damaged.
Here is a summary of the rules for traveling with human ashes for the top domestic airlines in the USA. American Airlines, United, Alaska, Spirit, Frontier, Hawaiian, and Allegiant do not impose further rules beyond what TSA has in place. Delta and JetBlue require you to bring additional documentation such as a death certificate. Southwest and JetBlue do not allow ashes to be taken in checked luggage, only carry-on.
You can carry ashes on board on any airline or in checked luggage with most airlines when you fly domestically. Some airlines require extra documentation like a death certificate, cremation permit and/or a note from the funeral home or crematory.
To ensure stress free flying, follow these steps:
Some airlines prohibit taking ashes as checked luggage, for example Southwest and JetBlue.
Risks of taking cremated remains as checked luggage:
This is why the TSA and several airlines recommend keeping the ashes with you as carry-on when traveling. If you absolutely must check in the ashes you should take extra precautions packing them as a fragile item. Use extra insulation and packaging materials to ensure they arrive safe. Instead of a ceramic urn, choose something less likely to break like plastic or cardboard.
There may be extra rules for flying abroad with ashes depending on your destination country. These vary greatly. For example Canada has no additional requirements, Mexico has a dozen or more extra steps you need to take. Remember, TSA rules and the specific rules of your airline will still apply.
When bringing cremated ashes back to the USA from another country there are no additional rules beyond the TSA’s. There are no documentation requirements. There may be rules from your departure country or country of transit however so be sure to check these.
Canada does not have any additional rules beyond the TSA’s for bringing cremated remains into the country. They do not require a death certificate but they do recommend you carry one.
Mexico has strict requirements for traveling with ashes to Mexico. You have to make arrangements before traveling. Required documentation and steps include:
See Mexico’s requirements and guidance for transporting the remains of ashes of Mexicans who die abroad.
You should declare ashes when passing through security with your carry-on to speed up the screening process. TSA requires powders of more than 12 oz or 350 ml to be scanned separately from your baggage. Cremated remains are more than this volume so they will be flagged during x-ray. Ashes are treated differently to powders – TSA agents are not allowed to open a container with ashes.
There are no specific brands of urns that are TSA-approved, however they recommend containers and urns for ashes are made of a lighter weight material, such as wood or plastic. The containers must be capable of passing x-ray. Unlike with general luggage, TSA will never open containers believed to be carrying ashes.
You may be able to take a metal urn on a plane but under a few conditions. The urn must work with x-rays if you plan to take it as carry-on. Metal urns made from aluminum and other lighter metals may work with x-rays. Urns made with lead or bronze will not work with x-rays so you will not be allowed to take these on board with you.
You can take metal urns that may not work with x-rays as checked baggage but there are some additional steps to take. Your goal is for the ashes to arrive safely with your luggage. The TSA’s goal is to ensure that planes do not fly with potentially dangerous items on board. There are two things you can do to help the ashes pass any TSA inspection when in checked luggage:
Yes you can travel on a plane with cremation jewelry, it can be taken as either carry-on or checked luggage. The TSA and different airline rules around flying with ashes generally relate to a complete set of ashes carried in an urn. The rules are in place to reduce the risk of larger amounts of dangerous materials being passed off as ashes. You may choose to follow the same rules from the TSA and your airline when carrying cremation jewelry.
You may also see it as overkill to always travel with a death certificate and other paperwork (depending on the airline) for a tiny amount of ashes. Based on the likely volume of ash (less than half a teaspoon in most cases) cremation jewelry would not trigger during TSA scanning.
Airline policies for cremated remains need to be followed in addition to TSA rules. Airline general baggage policies also need to be followed. Cremation ashes can weigh a lot, so be sure to check your weight restrictions with your airline.
Jump to the policies for:
American Airlines does not have any policies on flying with cremated remains beyond meeting TSA requirements. They explicitly state that you do not need any special documentation if traveling domestically.
American Airlines has a special service for transporting human remains but is only for casketed bodies, not cremated remains.
Under Delta’s policy on traveling with cremated ashes you can check them or carry-on but a death certificate or cremation certificate is required.
Unlike most other airlines “Southwest Airlines does not accept human remains as checked baggage”. If you are traveling with Southwest you will need to take your ashes as carry-on. You do not need to carry any documentation like a death certificate if you are carrying ashes on a Southwest flight.
Because of their restriction against checking in ashes it is extra important that the container is x-ray ready. Southwest recommends you carry the ashes in the temporary plastic or cardboard container provided by the crematorium.
Southwest does offer a dedicated shipping service for human remains including cremated remains which you can use if you are not wanting to fly with ashes as carry-on.
United Airlines’ policies on traveling with cremated remains are presented as suggestions and recommendations, not rules.
These are presented as recommendations, there is no United policy that says you need to have the death certificate and cremation permit.
United do not prohibit traveling with cremated remains as checked baggage, but they suggest you bring them carry-on. This is probably due to the lesser likelihood of getting lost or damaged.
United also has a dedicated cargo service for shipping cremated remains and caskets, TrustUA. You can use this service to ship the ashes on the same flight as you or on a different flight altogether.
Alaska Airlines does not have additional policies to the TSA when it comes to traveling with ashes. You only need a death certificate if the ashes are sent separately as cargo.
JetBlue has some of the strictest policies for traveling with ashes of any airline. You must have a certified copy of the death certificate and an original or certified note from the responsible funeral director or crematorium. You can only bring ashes as carry-on with JetBlue, they do not permit ashes to be in checked luggage. And interestingly, JetBlue does not permit ashes from pets to be carried aboard under any circumstances.
Spirit Air’s policies on traveling with ashes largely follow TSA rules that ashes must be capable of being X-rayed, for example in a plastic or wooden container. They do not add any further restrictions.
Frontier’s policies on traveling with ashes largely follow TSA rules that ashes must be capable of being X-rayed, for example in a plastic or wooden container. The airline does state that if the ashes are checked they must be sufficiently packaged in a well insulated, sturdy container.
If your flight is with SkyWest then the policy on flying with ashes will match those of the partner airline. SkyWest partners with Delta, United, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Each of these airlines allows ashes to be taken either as carry-on or checked luggage. Of these, only Delta requires a death certificate or cremation certificate.
Hawaiian Air’s policies on traveling with ashes largely follow TSA rules that ashes must be capable of being X-rayed, for example in a plastic or wooden container. They add that you can bring ashes in an urn that doesn’t work with x-rays if you check it in and leave the top open so that it can be inspected. In this case the ashes would of course need to be well sealed in a sturdy transparent plastic bag inside the urn.
Allegiant doesn’t have specific policies on traveling with ashes. This means that only the TSA rules will apply.
