Wedding Dress / Carry - on ??
 

Has anyone ever brought a wedding dress as a carry - on ?
We are flying United from LAX to New Orleans, and I am wondering
what would be the best way to bring the wedding dress without
checking it in. Do you think the airline will make special exceptions ?
If worse comes to worse, she could just wear it on the plane ..... Ha Ha

Do you or she have any status with the airline? That would help. You could call and ask whether they would assure closet space for the wedding dress (for a fee). I have seen wedding dresses carried on before. The flight staff will accommodate if possible, but lately, the flights all seem to be entirely full and people try to carry on huge amounts of stuff.

Personally, I think you would be better off having it carefully folded in layers of tissue paper and check the bag.

Kathie ... We do not have any status with United. I REALLY don't want to take a chance
and check the dress. I haven't talked with the airline yet regarding closet space.
Hopefully that will work. Thanks

My general policy is to never check anything I'm not prepared to lose. For instance my shoes as I have very hard to fit feet. And I think that would certainly include a wedding dress. I think if you put it in a dress bag for wedding dresses and are prepared to roll it to go in the overhead bin it would certainly not get any more crushed than if it were packed. And I think it likely a flight attendant would find a place to hang it.

I am sure they would. They hang up jackets in premium classes on flights so I am sure they would for a wedding dress if they have the room. It would depend on the plane as to the height of the cupboard and if your dress would hang full length. I have seen a floor to ceiling coat closest that was huge in the nose of the plane and others suitable only for clothes like jackets. Surely they would not expect you to shove it in an overhead locker... unless there were 5 wedding dresses onboard. Good luck!

Calling United will likely be frustrating and pointless - they outsource all their customer non-service to India and my personal experience and that of others reported here consistently finds they are clueless about anything other than what is on their prepared script.

Wedding dresses can be packed flat/boxed - and many are shipped that way to stores. What about asking the place you bought the dress if they can help accomodate that, and perhaps even contact a dress store at destination to see if they would then, for a fee, dewrinkle/steam - whatever they do to dresses when they arrive.

Then put it in the overhead bin. That might even be safer than it getting crushed, soiled, ripped, stuck in door of coat closet on the plane anyway.

Or have the store pack it and ship it UPS or Fedex to your hotel overnight.

I took my daughters wedding dress on a USAir flight. The Flight Attendants were extremely helpful and put the dress in one of the first class closets. However, the dress was not a big puffy one so it didn't take a lot of space.

I also wouldn't check it. The entire flight, I would be stressed wondering if I'll see it again.

I think the suggestion of finding a place where you arrive to deal with the steaming/getting wrinkles out is the best suggestion!

FYI

If you are flying direct it woud be on an A319 or 320, very small planes where First Class passengers often commandeer the closet space which is limited. I would ship it via FedEx to your destination.

How big's the dress?

As a flight attendant, I would say ship the dress. There are very few closets these days on most flights and if there is one they usually can only accomodate a few suit coats and our demo life vests. Wedding dresses are a royal pain for everyone as there is no overhead space for the dress to lay flat.Pack and ship it so you know it gets there(with the tracking codes) in one piece.The days of closets and empty overhead bins are longgggg gone folks!

suze ... The dress & slip are "puffy" If there is a will, there is a way I guess ....

We will figure something out, but still looking for suggestions. Thanks

I think it really does depend on the dress, but I'd probably also recommend shipping it FedEx. I think that's much safer.

Thanks for the answer deedeedee.

heck everything I know about wedding dresses is from "Say Yes To The Dress" on TV (lol) but no way would those be going carry-on with you.

I think the advice to ship well in advance, insured, would be the way to go.

@deedeedee - there are no other possible realistic suggestions beyond shipping it. EVEN if oyu called United and someone at the phone line said you could carry it on, there's no guarantee the plane will have room.

I really think dutyfree has given you the most realistic answer above, and it's an answer from an insider's view.

I do have status with United because I fly them all the time and I agree with dutyfree. Forget carrying it on, especially if it is "puffy."

No matter what anyone tells you beforehand, when you get to the plane the day of the flight you are subject to the whims of fate. As a non status flyer you will be among the last to board, when overhead space is least available because it has been taken up by the passengers who boarded ahead of you. And strictly speaking, if the box holding the dress does not meet carry on standards you could be forced to gate check it. Do you really want to have to do that? If it is important to you that the dress absolutely be there in NO, ship it in a way that is trackable and requires a signature for delivery. Period. It may seem expensive at first, but it's less than the cost of buying a seat on the plane for the gown.

I agree & thank you for all of your comments. We might just by an extra seat and deal with it that way. I am sure if we purchase the ticket for the dress, there will be PLENTY of room in the closet. At least we don't need a round trip ticket & would be happy to check it in on our return.

Um, just to avoid being surprised on the day - buying an extra ticket will do nothing to assure room in the closet. It will assure an empty seat on which you can place the box holding the dress as long as you can secure it and fasten a seat belt around it.

Come to think of it, unless you are in first class there <u>isn't</u> a closet, just overhead bins. And those bins may be full if you are not among the first to board. You can improve your place in the boarding sequence by buying up to economy plus seating.

I'd still strongly recommending going with some sort of shipping.