Traveling with Urn After Service at Blaine, WA Funeral Home and Cremation Company
More and more families are opting for cremation as a body disposition option after a loved one passes away. There are many options for this, among them lower cost and more simplicity, but there are some aspects that may be a bit more complicated. One of these issues involves traveling with a cremation urn containing the cremains of a loved one. It is generally okay to travel out of state or out of country with an urn after the Blaine, WA funeral home cremation service. But there are some things that you have to keep in mind if you want to avoid problems.
If you want a fun problem to contend with, try deciding which of the two top-rated golf courses in the state you want to play a few rounds at. Blaine, a city located in Whatcom County, WA, actually has the top two rated golf courses in the state, namely Loomis Trail Golf Club and Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club. But if golf’s not your thing, there are lots of other things to do.
Before you head to the airport with an urn, get in touch with us at Moles Farewell Tributes for an explanation of what you need to know and what you need to do to get from point A to point B. You’ll find that the process isn’t all that difficult if you simply follow the rules.
Ensure Urn from Blaine, WA Funeral Home and Cremation Company Can be X-rayed
You definitely must ensure that the cremation urn you select for your deceased loved one’s cremains is suitable for travel through an airport. This is one reason why it makes sense to buy your urn from a funeral home that can advise you properly rather than from an online site where you won’t get nearly the same level of expert guidance. You don’t want a situation where you buy an urn that you believe to be a great pick – only to find out that it causes nothing but problems when you get to the airport and get into the check-in line.
Why do you need an urn that can be successfully x-rayed? It’s simple, really. Airport staff won’t, even if you grant them permission, open a cremation container to inspect the contents. Part of the reason for this policy is that they want to show due respect for the dead, and this means that the urn or container will not be opened by them. So it’s vital that you can an urn that can be x-rayed. At Moles Farewell Tributes, a Blaine, WA funeral home and cremation business, you can count on us to ensure that you get the right urn whether you plan to travel with it, to scatter the ashes, or to do anything else. For your information, urns or containers made of wood, fabric, and plastic urns will work great in cases where an x-ray is required. You should steer clear of metal urns, however.
Find Out if You can Take it On board Plane or if You Need to Check it in
After you have gone through the screening phase at the airport, you’ll be able to take the cremation with you just like you would any other carry-on luggage. But things are not so cut and dried when it comes to checked luggage. In other words, some airlines are okay with urns being included in checked baggage while others are against this practice. In cases where your airline gives you the thumbs down, you can still carry the urn in your carry-on baggage.
It’s probably best to carry something as personal as a cremation urn in your carry-on baggage. But if it’s important to you to be able to pack it in your checked baggage, then simply ensure that the airline you choose to get home after the cremation is okay with your doing so.
Bring Death and/or Cremation Certificate with You
It’s important that you carry the cremation certificate and the death certificate just in case. Not all airlines will request that you present these documents as a condition for being able to travel with a cremation urn, but there are a few that will ask to see these documents. In order to avoid disappointment or delay, it makes sense to travel with everything you might need just in case they’re requested. It can take long enough as it is to get through the various checkpoints in an airport, so don’t make things even harder on yourself by being unprepared.
In addition to the above mentioned points, be sure to contact the airline you’ll be traveling with to see if there are other things you need to be mindful of if traveling with a cremation urn. There may be airline-specific rules that you need to abide by, so check to see if this is the case.
At Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory, we’re the Blaine, WA funeral home and cremation company that has you covered if you need cremation, cremation with a service, or funeral service. We have three locations to serve you better. Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory – Bayview Chapel at 2465 Lakeway Dr Bellingham, WA 98229, (360) 733-0510; Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory – Ferndale at 2039 Main St Ferndale, WA 98248, (360) 384-1391; and Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory – Greenacres Memorial Park at 5700 Northwest Dr Ferndale, WA 98248, (360) 384-3401. You can also visit us online at https://www.molesfarewelltributes.com/ to learn more about our services.