Flight; Carrying on Dress?

teacherjodee

We are flying to Vegas on Saturday and we are flying on Southwest.

I plan on carrying on my dress but I'm not sure about the logistics.

Anyone have experience with this?

Do they make you shove the dress into a bin to go through the xray or can you lay it on the conveyor?

Is there anyway you can put the dress in last so others are not shoving their bags on top of it in the overhead bin?

Any other tips?

KikiMira

We are flying with Westjet and they told me to call after doing online check in and inform them i have a wedding dress. This will give them time and notify them when you get to the airport you have a wedding dress. In most cases, they will set a side a bin just for your dress or some even have first class closest's they will hang it in. I found this article, if you are getting it steamed its not a bad idea...- http://voices.yahoo.com/how-fly-wedding-dress-11767034.html?cat=23

You run into issues when you do not tell them about your dress and expect them to be accommodating when you show up for your flight.

PaulandBrandy

we layed out on the conveyor to go though x-ray. They were very gentle with it. We flew Southwest and they don't have closets. you an lay your dress across your carry on bags in the overhead bin. place it towards the front of the bin so that during take off when everything shifts you dress will not get smooshed by the luggage and during flight move it to the back of the bin for landing when everything shifts again. The flight attendant told us that tip  Everyone was so nice. Congratulating us and offering to buy us drinks on the flight. t was such a wonderful experience.

vegasgroom

Southwest is pretty cheap right now; might be an option to buy an extra seat for your dress.  We did that for my wife; back then the extra seat was perhaps $100, but that was still a lot less than it would have cost to ship and insure it via FedEx/UPS, and gave her piece of mind not having to stuff it in the bin.

Most people just put it in the bin though; most of the time passengers are nice about it, and hopefully you'll get one of the spiffy new southwest planes with the larger fold down bins.

teacherjodee

I called southwest and they said to ask if they can hang it for me in the aft closet and if they can't to hold it until everyone has boarded and then ask a flight attendant to lay it across the luggage in a bin. They were actually very helpful.

deeandrob1984

I've got this same problem expect I'm flying from Australia to LV! I'm hoping they can hang it up in business class or I can lay it across the other bags in the overhead locker. Fingers crossed!!!

rachel1837

Just my 2 cents. When I bought my dress, I had to fly it home via Southwest & it was just fine getting it through security & such. Everyone was very familiar with a wedding dress as a carry on & told me what to do with it to make it go through easiest. The plane I was on did not have a closet to hang in, but I was lucky enough to have a whole bin to myself for just my dress. All the staff was very accommodating.

I also had a friend who got married in Scotland & had to take her dress on an international flight & she said the staff was all very friendly & excited for her & offered to hang it in one of the closets even though she wasn't traveling business or first class.

It seems like the industry is pretty familiar with the practice!

steffandshanny

@KikiMira I am so glad you posted this about Westjet! I'm flying out next Tuesday and I'll definitely call and let them know that I have dress as a carry on!

KikiMira

@steffandshanny Yay! Let me know what they do! My FSIL works there and she told me to do it.

wrigleyville

I imagine most of the flights to Vegas are pretty used to wedding dresses. The FAs I'm friends with say you can usually have it put in the closet if it isn't a cooler month when people have jackets. Otherwise, they'll find a bin that's fairly empty and place it in there very carefully. I like the suggestion about moving it to allow for "shifting" during take-off and landing.

As for security, I'd probably fold it into a bin so I didn't have to worry about it snagging/getting caught up in the rollers when it goes through the X-ray.

chyannek

security had me hook the dress hanger to the handle of my carry-on so it got pulled through the rollers by the carry-on. When I was getting on the plane the flight attendants saw my dress and immediately offered to hand it in the closet before I even had a change to ask about it.