Flying with coral

[rhitee93]

I've found a few threads on flying with coral, and there were lots of opinions, but not so many real recent experiences. I thought I would share mine while I wait to board the plane.

Long story short, I had an opportunity to bring a frag to someone on this forum as part of a trip I had planned. The TSA website clearly says coral can fly in a clear container with water in your carry-on, but not in checked baggage. I was skeptical how this would go so I reached out to the TSA, which resulted in them sending me to the webpage I had already read. (Ask a silly question...)

A few weeks ago I had another trip through the same airport so I asked the guy scanning my carry-on about bringing coral onboard. He recommended that I keep it in a container less than 3.4 oz and it would be fine.

3.4oz isn't very big, but I did find 3oz makeup jars on Amazon that were big enough in diameter to hold my frag.

I showed up at the airport quite early just in case. When I got to the end of the security line I held up the jar, explained that it was a sample of live coral, and asked if it had to go on the belt, or if it could be hand inspected.

The security guy was all "say what?" at first, but once it sunk in what I said he said "Like in Coral reef? That pretty cool!". Another agent over heard all this and told us it didn't need to go through the x-ray tunnel and carried to the person who did the manual inspection of bags.

They looked at the jar, checked it with some sort of wipe, and handed it back to me. All in it added 2 minutes to my trip through security.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I've found a few threads on flying with coral, and there were lots of opinions, but not so many real recent experiences. I thought I would share mine while I wait to board the plane.

Long story short, I had an opportunity to bring a frag to someone on this forum as part of a trip I had planned. The TSA website clearly says coral can fly in a clear container with water in your carry-on, but not in checked baggage. I was skeptical how this would go so I reached out to the TSA, which resulted in them sending me to the webpage I had already read. (Ask a silly question...)

A few weeks ago I had another trip through the same airport so I asked the guy scanning my carry-on about bringing coral onboard. He recommended that I keep it in a container less than 3.4 oz and it would be fine.

3.4oz isn't very big, but I did find 3oz makeup jars on Amazon that were big enough in diameter to hold my frag.

I showed up at the airport quite early just in case. When I got to the end of the security line I held up the jar, explained that it was a sample of live coral, and asked if it had to go on the belt, or if it could be hand inspected.

The security guy was all "say what?" at first, but once it sunk in what I said he said "Like in Coral reef? That pretty cool!". Another agent over heard all this and told us it didn't need to go through the x-ray tunnel and carried to the person who did the manual inspection of bags.

They looked at the jar, checked it with some sort of wipe, and handed it back to me. All in it added 2 minutes to my trip through security.

Thanks for posting this! Great to know. I travel frequently and have been to a few out of state shops that I would have loved to get a frag from but did not think to research this. Super helpful!

 

[rhitee93]

The coral and I got first row seats!

737 Max though....

 

[Hair Algae Wizard]

The coral and I got first row seats!

737 Max though....

I flew the Max8 for 3 years before moving to the 777. I wouldn't worry. The current issue notwithstanding; it's a very capable and safe aircraft.

 

[rhitee93]

I don't really worry about such things. I'm pretty much a come what may sort of person, but I appreciate your note. I've only been on. 777 once. Big beast...

 

[dschuffert]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I often wondered about this.

 

[Hair Algae Wizard]

I don't really worry about such things. I'm pretty much a come what may sort of person, but I appreciate your note. I've only been on. 777 once. Big beast...

Thanks, she's a great airplane. If you're ever going to be on a UA 777, let me know!

 

[Kevinmj70]

In the past year we flew with coral and a BTA bagged up and in a styrofoam cooler from Florida home. They just put it through the x-ray and handed it back to us to carry on. No issues

 

[rhitee93]

In the past year we flew with coral and a BTA bagged up and in a styrofoam cooler from Florida home. They just put it through the x-ray and handed it back to us to carry on. No issues

That's good to hear. The only thing unsatisfying about my experience was the 3.4oz thing. The TSA site implies that limit doesn't apply to the container your coral is in. However, it doesn't explicitly say that you are exempt from that rule either so it leaves it up to the interpretation of the person working the security check point.

I decided to play it safe and was fortunate I could squeeze the frag into a small container. However, using a 4oz specimen jar woul have been safer for the coral.