Flying with a wedding gown

[Ruggerpooh]

I am starting to get really nervous about flying with my dress. So I have the huge wedding dress garment bag plus another bag with my shoes, giant poofy slip thing, and bra. How does this whole thing work? We are flying Southwest and from what I understand you can only take one carry on. Am I supposed to pack the other stuff and pray my luggage doesn't get lost? I would appreciate some guidance if anyone can give it.

 

[TBdisneyMC]

Does Southwest mention a personal item + the one carry-on? We flew Continental/United for our wedding last year and my dress counted as my personal item (I only had one garment bag) and then I had a normal carry-on. If you need to carry something besides the dress, maybe DF or someone else traveling with you could carry the second bag as theirs? I'm not sure they're that picky about the number of bags, but I've never flown Southwest.

I definitely understand your fear of lost bags. One of ours was lost (and never found...) on our way home from our wedding. Luckily, the only irreplaceable item in it was our guest book (along with most of our clothes.)

I hope that helps... I'm sure others will be along with their experiences.

 

[lurkyloo]

This kind of hassle is the reason I shipped my dress to Carolyn Allen's Bridal & Tuxedo and had them deliver it to me at my Disney hotel. After the wedding, they picked it up and shipped it back to me. One of the best decisions I made for the wedding!

 

[Ruggerpooh]

Just called Southwest. The woman suggested that I purchase a seat for my dress! The bridal shop you mentioned was the one I already had coming to do the dress steaming at the hotel so I guess that is the way to go.

 

[Ruggerpooh]

So is it better to ship a dress to your resort or to the steaming people for them to transport to the resort?

 

[tric8783]

I carried my dress on Southwest with no problem whatsoever!! I would suggest buying the $15 upgrade so you can board first and find an empty overhead bin to stash your dress in, thats what we did and the flight attendants were super nice in telling people the bins were full and to find another. I had a carry-on as well. I almost bought a seat for mine and once I experienced how easy it was, I was glad I didn't spend the money! You'll be fine!!

 

[zy144622]

I flew with my dress in 2006 no issues. Carried it on the plane and it was out in a closet up front with the flight attendants coats. I would not ship or check it myself. I wanted to be the one to ensure its safe arrival.

 

[stl_figment]

We flew southwest and they said they did not have a closet to hang the dress up in. Instead I rolled it and put it in a carry on bag and carried a backpack as my personal item. It had enough room for my tiara, shoes, etc.

 

[Alifay]

Hi ! I work for Southwest Airlines (disclaimer: anything and everything stated here is the opinion of the individual and not in way acting as a spokesperson/official representative of Southwest Airlines) Gotta CYA, ya know? So in other words I am not officially representing Southwest, but I am an operations agent, who is the person you hand your boarding card to when you board the airplane.

The suggestions mentioned above are all good ones, and I will mostly repeat here:
Options:
1. Buy seat for the dress (absolute safest method)

2. Put dress in overhead (you're getting it steamed once you get there anyway, right?)

3. This one is super-iffy. SOME Southwest planes have a (extremely small) "closet" ... okay, more like "small bar you could put a hanger or two on" in the flight deck. You can ask the operations agent (or the customer service agent, basically anyone at your gate, but you specifically want to seek out the one nearest the actual boarding door) if the Captain would mind if you hung your dress up front to keep it safe. There is never any guarantee of this, the space may or may not exist depending on the plane, and it is completely up to the Captain's discretion beyond that. Always plan your back up to be putting your dress in the overhead.

Someone mentioned above to pay the fee for "Early Bird Check-in" which will get you on the plane sooner and therefore have more overhead space available. Southwest also has a Business Select option which gets you through the first class line at TSA, 12x Rapid Reward Points, position A1-A15 in boarding line, and a free cocktail or energy beverage on the plane.

ONE more thing!!!! This depends on where you are flying out of, how busy it is, and a few other factors. Anyway, tell everyone you are flying out to get married! Tell the ticket agent, the customer service agent at the gate, and (if you see them early enough) the agent at the boarding door. Be sure not to say it in an assuming or expecting manner. Just work it in causally (asking about where to store your wedding dress on board is the perfect time) IF there is enough time and IF you are flying out a station that has such things ... you just miiiiight get a bubbly surprise on board. No guarantees, but it's lovely when it can be pulled off.


Whew. Any other questions about airlines or Southwest specifically, feel free to ask

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

I'd just ship it to CA's if I were you. Safest bet.

 

[lurkyloo]

So is it better to ship a dress to your resort or to the steaming people for them to transport to the resort?

I preferred to ship it to Carolyn Allen's because I knew someone would be looking for it and signing for it. Since they were coming out to steam it anyway, I figured I'd rather have them take care of the whole thing. (Plus it saved me the fee that DIsney's convention center resorts charge for receiving packages!)

 

[Ruggerpooh]

Thanks everyone for your input. Just to be safe we are shipping it to Carolyn Allen and they will steam it in their shop and transport it to the GF for us.

 

[Steen]

Good choice! Carrying a big dress through the airport and worrying about finding a place on the plane really stressed me out when I was flying with my dress

 

[gamberlane]

This post was so helpful!
The only airline that has a direct flight to Orlando from our city is Southwest and we've been fretting how we would handle our wedding clothes. Now I feel confident that shipping them will be the easiest and also free up more carry-on space for undergarments, jewelry, etc.

Does anyone know about how much we should budget for the shipping/steaming/delivery?

 

[lurkyloo]

Delivery comes with steaming, which is usually around $80 but could be slightly more or less depending on the fabric. The receiving/storage service was $15 when I did it, and then shipping just depends on which carrier you use, how small you can pack your dress down, and how far away you are.