Fish and Airlines (not as cargo)

Samala

Samala

mmm RNA..
Jan 17, 2003
95
0
0
Outer-Philly (n. DE)
home.comcast.net
Hi all, I'm trying to figure out how people go about shipping fish via airlines. A friend will be visiting Los Angeles in mid-October and will be bringing back some zebrafish for me from a lab at UCLA. We would probably be transporting a total of a hundred fish/eggs or so, should fit into a medium sized insulated cardboard box. We dont want them to go to the cargo area for fear of being X-rayed, pressurization, temperature etc. They're fairly valuable, so we were hoping to keep the fish with my friend when she boarded the plane.

Has anyone done this before with success? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Maybe someone has a good link?
 
While attending the last fishy lover's gathering north of Chattanooga, I was supposed to bring home some koi angels which would have been carried on board and packed just like if they were going to be shipped. I was too scared to do it, because I had to change planes in Charlotte, and I was afraid they would tell me I couldn't carry the box, and I would have stranded fish with no one to rescue them. My friend had called the airlines more than once (USAIR), and they told her as long as the box could fit in the overhead compartments or under the seat that they could be carried on board. Call the airline you will be flying on.
 
Don't forget that the security will want to see what is in the box. And there may be questions about transporting animals so have all papers that you will need.
 
Well, thanks for the thoughts both of you. :) I called around to airlines and checked the online restrictions and it seems that airlines either a) make no provisions for flying with fish, just "traditional" house pets, or b) require all cold-blooded animals to go into their cargo area, which does not seem to be temperature controlled but is pressurized at least. We're going to see what we can get the airlines to do for us with the backing of our research groups, but it looks like the fish will just have to be in the cargo area, with heat packs at the least. If anyone else has ideas/experience, post away, I'd love to hear about it.
 
I've brought fish on planes several times, with layovers included. Make sure that the fish can fit under the seat of the plane so that you can carry it on. I would also recommend using a brown bag on the outside, to conseal the fish. You will get some strange looks going through security, but they will just do some chemical tests on the bags and let you through (swab the bags with cotton and put that into a machine). I wouldn't tell the airlines that you plan to bring fish, all they would do is say no,...but if you just have a "brown paper bag", no one will be the wiser. :)
 
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