Domestic airlines and fish...

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Orthopod

Orthopod

Dovii
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2010
553
385
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Seattle
Does anyone have any experience in transporting fish as luggage on a domestic flight? If so, any issues I should know about. I wanted to transport some of my fish to my father for his birthday and since I am flying on a flight, I was wondering if I could pack some of my fish up in a styrofoam box as my checked luggage.

Anyone tried this?
 
I had an airline guarantee me that transporting my fish on my flight would be no problem so long as I paid the additional baggage fees. However, once I arrived with my bags and boxes of fish, they denied checking them in. I had to haul all the boxes to the airline freight office and hope to get them on a plane arriving in close to the same time as my flight's arrival. Had the airline accepted my fish boxes, the cost would have been $125 as additional baggage. I had to shell out over $920 for air freight then wait for the cargo plane to arrive over 6 hours from the arrival of my flight.
All this happened before the 3oz liquid rule. Now, you can't have anything in checked or carry-on baggage that is over 3 oz of liquid or gel per zip-locked baggie. You can't even bring a personal plastic bottle of water if there's more than 3 oz left in the bottle.
 
I had a similar experience, let me check in as additional bag, but left on tarmac in winter storm for 4 hours, said would be in heated compartments since "live", like cats and dogs, nope had to be in cage for that after checkin and no longer had package. Bad experience, will not do it again, drive or buy from lfs when you get there.
 
From TSA's website:

Carry On Only

Live fish must be transported in a clear, plastic, spill proof container. In this case, the container may be larger than 3.4 ounces. A Transportation Security Officer will visually inspect your live fish at the checkpoint.

Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane.
 
I called TWA customer service twice to ensure I would be able to take my fish with me on my flight. Once there, a manager came out and announced my fish would be denied. The manual said fish and amphibians were permitted AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LOCAL MANAGER. All that's needed is one person to say 'no' and you're done.
 
Sorry to hear, and I can see how they're able to claim that in theory. However, I think that would be grounds to file a claim against them (there's a place on their site to do so even out of court) asking at least for damages - in your case, the difference in cost to ship them via cargo and also reimbursement for your time. In that claim, the manager would somehow need to explain how live fish triggered an alarm, appeared to be tampered with, or posed a security threat.

It's interesting to note that 240 live fish were recently confiscated from a carry-on when they set off the explosives detection machine. Why they set it off, no one seems to know (lovely false-positive there). I am unsure if the fish were later returned to the traveler.
 
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