Carrying on a Wedding Dress
 

Anyone know if I can carry a wedding dress thru security as a separate carry on? It will be on a hanger in a plastic zippered carry bag. Its a slim style so not huge. UA will hang it for me on the flight. I will have a carry on suitcase and my purse as well. Thanks

The rules are 1 carry-on and one personal item. You're asking for an additional item above and beyond the rules, so I would not count on being allowed.

You might get some sympathy since it's a wedding dress, but in theory it's not any different then me putting my tux in a suit bag, plus my suitcase plus my briefcase. I would be told I have too many items & need to check one.

No problem with dress per se. If worried about number of items, make sure there is room in your carry on suitcase to add your purse as you go through security.

I agree w/ Kay2:

Just make sure you leave enough space in your carry on to hold your handbag through security. That way you only have two items -- the gown and the carry on. After security, you can remove your handbag from the carry on if you want.

Thanks -- that makes sense, my suitcase will have lots of room in it and I can easily fit my purse in it. I could even fit my purse at the bottom of the bag with the dress. UA said, "No problem" when I contacted them and then I realized, it's not UA, its TSA that will be the decider so to speak.

The TSA does not enforce an individual airline's carry-on restrictions, does it? That's up to the airline, and if UA is fine with it, then shouldn't that be the final answer?

I have seen TSA agents tell passengers 1+1 as they pass through security & ask them to go back to checkin. Location was AA gates at SFO.

When my daughter in law carried her wedding dress through security at SeaTac last August she was prepared in case TSA asked her to take the wedding dress out of the garment bag so they could inspect it. They didn’t ask; but she was told it was a possibility by TSA when she contacted them.

UA is fine with me bringing the dress in addition to my suitcase & my purse and will hang the gown up for me. That's why I posted this, UA is okay, but I wanted to see if anyone had experiences with TSA and a gown. However, in the past TSA has stopped me when I had a small shopping bag with lunch and magazines in it--said it was more than the 1+1 allowed. I stuffed it in my suitcase and they let me thru. I have no problem with TSA examining the bag or the dress.

A UA gate person told me I could not board with 3 items because TSA people were "in the area" and were checking to see if rules were being followed. I gave my extra bag to DS who only had one thing to take on the plane and that was fine.

This was in Manchester NH about 3 years ago.

I have had security people not permit me to go through when I had more than 2 items.... I had to stuff things in to get it down to 2. So - it sounds like you have everything covered SHOULD it be an issue.... Congratulations!!!

As some of us thought, TSA had me combine so that I would only have 2 carryons. UA didn't have anywhere to hang the dress. I should have checked the for the type of place. OH well...dress made it in any case.