Dress on an Plane!

[lover in athens]

Kind of like snakes on a plane....but hopefully not as scary!!!

Quick question for you all:
Has anyone taken their dress on a plane?
If so, how did it work? I am likely going to have mine shipped to me, but then I need to fly it to LA where the wedding will take place. I know...DON'T check it with the baggage!! But, if it is HUGE (and apparently it is, b/c it already has built in crinoline), will they allow it as a carry on? Will they hang it on the plane for me? I'm flying on Southwest; does anyone have any experience with them? I'm going to call them in the morning, but just wanted to check with the experts first!!
Thanks!!!!

 

[TravelingGal]

Calling them would be the best way to go...they''d be the experts.

My guess is that if you are sweet, they will be helpful in return. I am pretty sure that anyone would be pretty sympathetic and not require that a wedding dress be checked in. Just make sure that you don''t have too many other carry-ons...in fact you should only have one other carry on besides your dress, and that would also include a purse, no matter how small.

 

[Clarygrace]

Hello There!

I agree with Travelinggal, just let the airline know ahead of time and usually they are very helpful.

I carried my wedding dress (the first one) from Italy to the US and the flight attendents placed in a closet for me.

Best of luck!

Cheers

 

[eks6426]

My best friend got married in Key West a few years ago and took her dress on the plane. She had it packaged up in a garment bag. It was hung in a closet just like any other garment bag. The plane attendents were very nice about it. One thing she did do was arrange for it to be steamed when she got to Key West because being put in the garment bag resulted in wrinkles. She had this prearranged with a bridal shop at her wedding location and it only cost a few bucks. Just a thought.

 

[PaulaW]

I got married in Key West a few years ago like ID''s friend, and carried my dress on both planes. The flight attendants were very nice and on the first, larger plane, hung it in the first class closet for me. On the second, tiny plane, I was allowed to board last and since there wasn''t a closet, the flight attendant hung it behind the door to the luggage compartment or something like that in the rear of the plane.
One HUGE piece of advice for you, at least double bag your dress in 2 garment bags. Someone told me to do this and wouldn''t you know, the outer bag got ripped!
Oh - and another thing, be prepared to get stared at and asked if you''re carrying a wedding dress by people in the airport! I had a ton of people asking me if I was getting married or if I just did and a tiny little girl tugged on my pants and asked me if I was holding a wedding dress and wanted to see it. So cute!

 

[AChiOAlumna]

We go to Jamaica all the time and see all the brides carry their dress on the planes. The flight attendants hang their dresses up in closets or hang them in the back of the plane. When the brides get to their destination, they steam/press the dress to get any wrinkles out that might have occurred in transit.

 

[kcoursolle]

I''m going to have to do this as well. In most planes there is a small closet near the front where the men hang their suits. I''m going to have mine hanged there I think. It still may get wrinkled a little. I would just hang it up right away and hope the wrinkles fall when you get to your arrival.

 

[lover in athens]

Argh...so I called Southwest and they were definitely NOT helpful!
The guy I spoke to told me it would have to be put in a box that was carry-on size (he even told me the dimensions!). I asked him about hanging it in a garment bag and he said that probably woudln''t work b/c it would be too big for the closet. He suggested that I fed-ex the dress instead. ARGH. LIke i''m going to fed ex my wedding dress!!!

 

[rms]

I took my dress on board a Southwest flight or 2. The first flight was not full so they let me just lay it over the seat next to me. the next flight, I just laid it in the overhead compartment that had space. My dress was not too fluffy though so I didn''t hve much trouble, and I think I was lucky the flights were kind of empty. I think you would be fine just taking it with you and working something out when you are there. They are sure to be nicer than the guy on the phone!!

 

[Larissa]

I took my wedding dress on an international flight. It really wasn''t a big deal. They let me board early and since they didn''t have space to hang the dress in one of the attendant''s closet, they hung it in an open area by one of the emergency exits.