Carry-on item policy exceptions?

Many years ago, before all the luggage policies - I tried carrying on my wedding dress. Flight attendants were not happy, nor helpful.

With modern flight baggage rules - your best bet is to mail the dress to a friend or relative ahead of time. Don’t try to carry it on. On way home, pack in checked bag.

Why aren’t you contacting the airline you’ll be flying with?

There is a specific law passed years ago by friendly congressmen regarding musical instruments on planes. Skis get boarded as checked luggage, not carryon.

The only exceptions I've noticed has been for medical. Our son just flew domestically last week, and he was allowed to take his crutches on board.

My sister flew with her daughter's wedding dress mere weeks before Covid. There's no such thing as a coat closet anymore. She just had to lay it on top of the luggage in the overhead in a garment bag that she got at the bridal shop. It was cute and said something like here comes the bride on the bag! My sister got a lot of attention and everyone was congratulating her. Of course we were going to Hawaii, so everyone was generally in a good mood anyway. The dress was actually fine, and it was more ball gownish than not. But, it was definitely considered her carry on so she could only take a personal item as well.
Definitely don't check it. But let's be real; do you really think the airlines would think "oh a lady wants to carry a dress onboard as an extra item to attend a wedding, by all means let's make her an exception." On a flight a month ago, a lady had a carry on; a personal bag and a small purse. The gate attendant gave her a dressing down about 3 items and said if you can't stuff that purse in your carry on, you can't get on the plane.

You might think this idea is crazy but...
1. I work at a high end resort where guests send their own golf clubs ahead. Guests come to this resort from all over the world. Although we're happy to rent golf clubs {$$$} it's common that golfers want their own clubs. Our shipping department has about 20 or so UPS/FedEx/etc boxes received daily. Other than UPS/FedEx you might do a google search for alternatives. I'm thinking that packing a dress would be much easier than packing a set of golf clubs. The boxes are good sized and sturdy. UPS/FedEx shipments are easy to track.
2. Apple luggage tags!

What airline is always losing her luggage? Permanently lost or just a day late?

She doesn't want to put it in a checked bag because every time she's flown to Boston her checked bag has been lost.

Your sister may be one of the unluckiest fliers in all of the United States if this is true. Especially in light of recent statistics on airline checked luggage. If this is the case, I see a couple of options. She could take the train. Or she could Fed Ex the dress to the hotel and hope they don't lose track of it.

Presumably there is family/friends back there she could send it to ahead of time? ( rather than to a hotel)

My daughter flew a few weeks ago with her maid of honor dress. She just took it in her carryon. Ages ago, when she was in high school we few from OR to NE with her prom dress also in carryon.

Personally I wouldn’t worry and would just take the dress in carryon. If she is really worried, she can check the rest of her stuff and put the dress in a small tote bag as a personal item.

I think the days of closets for suit jackets and other hanging items are over. When we flew last month a woman in first class asked for a place to hang her garment bags. The flight attendant said the only option was in the overhead bin where it got stuffed in with carry-on luggage. Unless she is in a final boarding group, they seldom gate check bags on long haul flights, so best options are either send it or pack carefully in carry-on bag.

Does your sister want to be a second guaranteed seat for her dress? That is what musicians are allowed to do if they do not want to check an instrument that is too large to be a carry on item. They are not allowed three items and as mentioned ed above, skis are checked as luggage. Your sister should consider shipping her dress via FedEx. I moved using FedEx and shipped over 40 boxes and they lost none and only one was late. How many times has she flown to Boston and her bag was lost? Lost forever or until the next flight? Was she on connecting flights? Lost luggage is more likely on connecting flights so maybe if she was previously on a connecting flight, she could switch to a direct one. I feel her concern. Years ago I had to go to Lausanne, Switzerland for business and then to Las Vegas for a wedding and worried that the airlines would lose my bag with the wedding clothes because I had a connection at JFK so I had my clothes and the wedding gift shipped via USPS with tracking. The package never arrived and was never found. They did refund me the shipping cost but not the cost of buying a new dress. As to gate checking if that were to happen, you’d think that a gate checked item would never get lost but the last time I gate checked an item (a car seat), it was never seen by me again. Every method of getting the dress to Boston has some risk but the likelihood of the dress getting lost is slim and the airline is not going to allow three items just cause someone wants to bring a special dress with them.

Does your sister want to be a second guaranteed seat for her dress?
That is what musicians are allowed to do if they do not want to check
an instrument that is too large to be a carry on item.

So put the dress in a viola case!!

• According to one source, globally the odds of mishandled luggage is not more than 0.6% of all bags. Of those only a very few are permenantly lost. I imagine soem airports/airlines are worse, some are better. Here are the statistics from another source https://www.travelagentcentral.com/transportation/worst-airports-airlines-mishandled-baggage
• Book a direct flight and that cuts the odds by a thrid according to one source.
• Arrive a few days early so if your luggage is mishandled there is time to get it to you. The more days early the better, but 3 would be a good starting point.
• Make sure the bag has local contact information on the inside and outside of the bag. A couple of locations on the outside of the bag might not be bad idea.
• Use an Apple Airtag
• Find the number you call for lost luggage at your arrival airport and with your airline in advance of the trip, and carry them with you.
  
• Use a bright orange bag.
• Fly business class in an airline that has prioroty luggage service.

Then dont worry to much about it.

Plan B, a luggage shipping service.
Plan C, buy two identical dresses and have two people check them (might be cheaper than Business class LOL)

We leave tomorrow for a wedding in Seattle (we live in upstate New York). I have shipped my husband's suit and my dress and shoes to the hotel in Seattle using a UPS luggage box. I contacted the hotel ahead of time and alerted them that a package would be arriving. It was pricey, but will be worth it to not have to deal with a garment bag or extra suitcase. I paid for shipping both ways so we will repackage after the wedding and just drop the box off at a local UPS store to be shipped back home.

If She ships the dress, put an AirTag in the box and make sure it is due to arrive a few days prior to the event. About 8-10 years ago I had to overnight one of my husbands' suits just from Portland to Seattle, and yes, it got lost. It ended up in Roseburg, OR (aka middle of nowhere).

In all seriousness, could she just wear the dress for her flight? If it's not a ball gown type thing, just pair with some leggings in case she gets cold and then change out of the dress once she arrives at the Boston airport and out it in a garment bag that could be in her carry on or personal item.

So as you have figured out for both Domestic and International there's no "free dress" carryon.

If she does have to gate check make SURE she understands that she MUST get a claim check from the airline.

I am curious about this 'every time her bag has been lost" I fly to Boston a lot and my bags always get there with me.

A few years ago we attended a birthday party in London with the requirement of "long gown and formal evening." Wife's long gown filled one suitcase and the tux in another. All went as checked luggage of British Air -- no problems.

Clearly, your sister isn't going to check a bag with her dress. Even if "every time" means only twice, for her that is not an acceptable risk and we are not going to talk her into it. It looks like mailing ahead to family or the hotel is the winner.

Rachel, I was hoping you would return to this thread you started to answer the question asked about which airline ALWAYS loses your sister’s luggage when flying to Boston.

Outside of her driving cross country with the dress, she can ship her very expensive dress to wherever she will be staying prior to this fancy wedding.

@Continental - She didn't say which airline, sorry. I could ask.

Must be some dress for all this worry. Carry on the dress and everything else she needs for that wedding day in a small carry on and then just check everything else. This way she has that fancy day stuff with her the whole trip. Check the rest, in the unlikely event her bag does get lost, replacing daily wear is easy to do in Boston.

Alaska Airlines has direct flights to Boston from Seattle. We fly this airline wherever we go in the US, and they have NEVER lost our checked luggage. However, if she wants to play it safe and put the dress in her carry-on, she can insure against having to gate-check her bag before boarding by paying a bit extra for a Premium seat (this is not First class but a selected area at the front of the Main cabin). This choice puts you in an early boarding group so there is always space in the overhead bins.

Also note that Alaska’s usual procedure for full flights is to ask for volunteers to gate-check their roller bags, and they always get enough of those. I have never seen them force anyone to gate-check a regular carry-on roller bag. (By contrast we have seen British Airways do that).

@Lola (and everyone) - She's flying from Reno not Seattle; apologies for the error. (Seattle is where I live, so I think I was on autopilot when I posted.) Thanks anyway for the info about Alaska; I fly with them all the time so its good info for me for future reference.

So now I understand her concern about gate-checking. If she’s flying out of Reno connecting flights are probably frequent and use smaller planes so gate-checking comes into play more often. Best of luck to her. One thing to check is what kind of plane(s) her airline is using for the trip. The smaller the plane greater chance of gate-checking as they don’t hold as many carry-on bags.

She's flying from Reno not Seattle;

Well that explains a lot. From Reno it is at least one , if not 2, changes to get to Boston.

Given her concerns about airline efficiency, it seems shipping it ( USPS, Fedex or whatever ) with a stated value insurance, to a family or friend is her best option.

The getting to bring an extra piece of carry-on because 'it's a special dress', has about the same chance of success as Satan building a snowman in his front yard.

She can fly from Reno to Boston with 1 change ( at Seattle) on Alaska; both planes are 737s if she departs Reno at 6 am, arriving Seattle 8 am with plenty of time to connect to the 10:39 am flight to Boston. Not the most direct route but there is only one change, and neither plane is a smaller jet.