If you are traveling a long distance by car or flying to retrieve the cremated remains of one parent or both, you will probably want to take the remains with you back home. Or perhaps you might want to honor a last wish and scatter them somewhere with sentimental value.
Cremation is a popular practice that affords different options to honor a dead parent or keep them close. Whether you are honoring a final wish to scatter the ashes somewhere sentimental or take them back with you, you will want to keep the remains as safe as possible depending on the traveling methods.
Traveling with the cremated remains of a loved one over a long distance to honor a final wish or to keep at your home can be very nerve-wracking and heartbreaking. You will want to ensure that nothing happens to the ashes.
Anxiety may rear its ugly head, and anxiety and grief are a tough combination to deal with. You might need some tips on how to safely travel with someone’s cremated remains to make sure nothing happens and to calm your own nerves. Here is how you properly transport cremated remains in an automobile or on a plane.
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Travel With Cremated Remains By Car
Overland travel gives you the greatest degree of control over how the ashes are transported. This can be good or bad depending on the quality of the roads and how easy it is to secure the urn. You will need to be extra careful because of bumpy rides, fender benders or even a bad wreck.
The first thing you want to do is make sure the cremated remains are in a sturdy, unbreakable urn. If you know you are going to travel by car, buy an urn made of wood, cloth, plastic or cardboard. Breakable urns like granite, glass or ceramic are not ideal for traveling on the road. Also, a durable heirloom urn is best. The urn will need to go in another container, which will then be packed inside another box. This double-layering will ensure there is no damage to the urn during travel.
Both containers will need to be small. The safest first container would be something like a wheeled carry-on case. Those cases are small, water proof and air tight. Finally, pack the case in a container just big enough to fit it in. Your urn will be perfectly safe.
Travel With Cremated Remains By Plane
Flying with an urn complicates your life a little. You need to make sure the urn itself is TSA compliant. The only kind of urns that will pass through scanning are glass, non-lead ceramic, wood and plastic as a carry on. If the United Crew wants your seat, give it to them; your parents or loved one probably would not want their ashes scattered on the plane. It is possible to check the urn, but it is probably best to bring it as a carry on to keep it perfectly safe, and some airlines do not allow cremated remains in checked baggage.
It is a terrible thing to lose a parent, spouse, or other loved one. The best thing for closure is to honor their wishes or keep them close to you. The key to traveling both by road and air is to purchase a quality urn and pack it in a quality hardshell case. They are superior for transporting a variety of things, including cremated remains.
Daniel has been working in the funeral industry since 2010, speaking directly to grieving families as they made funeral arrangements.
He began researching and publishing funeral articles on this website as part of his role as product and marketing manager at Urns Northwest.
Having written hundreds of articles and growing the site to multiple millions of views per year, Daniel continues to write while providing editorial oversight for US Urns Online’s content team.
Very informative article. I hope nobody in my immediate family will ever use this means of transporting family remains.