5 Tips for Flying With Gifts

You’ve already picked out the perfect gifts for everyone but flying during the holidays can be a nightmare. ‘Tis the season for long lines, flight delays, cancellations, and bad weather — bah humbug! On top of everything that could go wrong, you don’t want your holiday gifts tossed out!

Before you head to the airport, check out this quick guide to make sure your gifts arrive safely to your destination. Because the last thing you want is TSA flagging that special gift you selected for Nana. Seriously, nobody wants to upset Nana.

• Don’t Wrap The Gifts

  Do you take pride in your mad gift wrapper skills? TSA won’t care. After putting special thought into perfectly wrapping your gifts, there’s a chance that TSA will unwrap them! If they can’t identify the items through the X-ray image in your carry-on or checked luggage, your holiday gifts will get flagged and unwrapped. And chances are you won’t like TSA’s re-wrapping job. Do yourself a favor and wait to wrap your gifts after you arrive at your destination. Or skip the gingerbread gift wrap this year and go with a gift bag.

• Know What You Can Pack

  You know what’s worse than TSA unwrapping your gifts? TSA throwing out your gifts! Don’t put yourself in a position where you didn’t check TSA regulations and packed prohibited items into your carry-on or checked luggage. For example, that baseball bat you bought for your nephew cannot be packed in your carry-on but can be packed in your checked bag. Also, any gifts containing over the required liquid amount (no larger than 3.4 ounces!) will get thrown out during the TSA check process. This includes delicious jam, gel candles, perfumes, snow globes, and alcohol. Don’t get on Santa’s naughty list and waste good alcohol.

• Pack Your Bags Neatly

  Have you ever woke up in a panic a few hours before your flight and still had to pack? Then your only solution was to toss everything in your bag, unorganized? If your gifts are flagged and it takes TSA a long time to find it, it’s going to waste time and you’ll likely miss your flight. Make it easy for you and TSA. Pack your bag as neatly as possible, wrap fragile items in bubble wrap and be sure you can find items quickly. You don’t want to miss your flight!

• Keep the Valuable Gifts with You

  If the airline loses your luggage, you’re screwed. Not even St. Nicholas can help you. If you were feeling extra generous this year and decided to splurge on gifts, you don’t want them damaged, lost or stolen. Do not put valuable, expensive items in your checked luggage. Keep those diamond earrings for mom and iPad for dad WITH you. And if there’s anything that can easily break, avoid placing them in the overhead bin. Dad does not want a cracked iPad for Christmas.

• Ship It

  LugLess loves the holidays and we consider ourselves Santa’s little shipping helpers. Instead of dealing with the hassle of dragging a bag full of Christmas gifts to the airport and then checking it in, consider shipping your luggage. You can even ship gifted boxes in addition to your luggage. Check out our baggage calculator. We will do all the work and ship your luggage and gifts to your destination this holiday season starting at only $15.

No need to be a Scrooge. Once you fa la la la la through airport security, you’ll be singing Christmas carols, drinking bad eggnog and listening to your weird uncle’s stories in no time. Santa ain’t the only one flying with gifts this year.

Give us a shoutout on Instagram @LugLess while you’re curled up by the fireplace, unwrapping gifts this season. We love seeing holiday pics from our readers.

Have you traveled with gifts before? Have any cool tips? Tell us in the comments!