Taking ice cream on an airplane...anyone successful?

[mom2grace]

I would like to take some ice cream across the country. I have access to dry ice and understand the limits and rules, has anyone done this successfully?!

Thanks for your help!

 

[JessicaR]

Huh! Surprised me that it seems like its OK.

DRY ICE 4 pounds or less for packing perishables, may be carried on board an aircraft provided the package is vented.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_can_I_not_take_on_an_airplane

TRANSPORTING BY AIRPLANE
Pick up Dry Ice as close to departure time as convenient. Carry it in a well-insulated container such as an ice chest or insulated soft pack. If it is transported inside a car or van for more than 10 minutes make sure there is fresh air available. Most airlines will not let you carry more than two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of Dry Ice on the airplane without special arrangements. Because Dry Ice will sublimate continuously from the time of purchase, you can confidently declare that there is no more than two kilograms at the time you check in at the airport. Dry Ice will sublimate slightly faster due to the lower pressure that the airline maintains during flight. Make plans to refrigerate or add Dry Ice when arriving at your destination.

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/camping.htm

http://www.airsafe.com/danger.htm

 

[Shutterbug]

I would contact the flight carrier itself.

 

[JessicaR]

Here's AA ruling on the matter.
Dry Ice Dry ice for packing perishable items For checked baggage, a maximum of 5 pounds may be transported.

For carry-on baggage, the limit is 4.4 pounds. See notes for additional information. 4.4 pounds/ 2 kilograms or less for packing perishables may be carried on board an aircraft in a hard plastic or heavy gauge Styrofoam container, provided the package is vented. Ticket or gate agent must be advised, and a $40 USD/$54 CAD charge (one-way) applies whether checked or carried on.
http://www.aa.com/i18nForward.do?p=/travelInformation/baggage/restrictedArticles.jsp
Here is a guy that journal-ed his ice cream experience in carry on plane.
http://dan-erat.livejournal.com/105579.html

 

[kaytieeldr]

One potentially big hitch in the plan - I'm pretty sure ice cream can't be brought through security. Yes, it's solid in its 'normal' state - but like jello, its consistency fluctuates with temperature. Ultimately, it's a liquid.

 

[Katy Belle]

Blue Belle???

 

[JessicaR]

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...media/MaterialsCarriedByPassengersAndCrew.pdf

(10) Dry ice (carbon dioxide,
solid), in quantities not
exceeding 2.0 kg (4.4
pounds) per person in carryon
baggage or 2.3 kg (5
pounds) per person in
checked baggage, when used
to refrigerate perishables. The
packaging must permit the
release of carbon dioxide gas.
For checked baggage, the
package must be marked
‘‘DRY ICE’’ or
‘‘CARBON DIOXIDE,
SOLID’’ and must
be marked with the net
weight of dry ice or an
indication the net weight is
2.3 kg (5 pounds) or less.

The ice cream is frozen solid like a brick due to th dry ice pcking. This guy did it and documented it.

http://dan-erat.livejournal.com/105579.html
ice cream on a plane

I just flew to Boston to visit beckmart. When I touted my prior food-importing accomplishments and asked if there was anything that she missed from San Francisco, she mentioned Ricanelas ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery. Never being one to shy away from a challenge, I started doing research. I immediately came across this Metafilter page where people described having successfully transported ice cream on planes.

According to this PDF from the FAA about materials allowed on flights, 49 CFR 175.10(a) permits "small amounts of dry ice in carry-on (2 kg.) or checked baggage (2.3 kg.) in a package that allows venting of carbon dioxide gas." I called Virgin America and confirmed that they permit 2/2.3 kilograms of dry ice on flights.

I have a nice, insulated-but-not-airtight Craftsman padded lunch container that seemed about the right size, so I decided to go for it. I picked up a pint of ice cream from Bi-Rite a few days before the flight, stuck it in my freezer, and turned the refrigerator up to its maximum setting with the hope that the ice cream would be hard by the time of the flight (my fridge is kinda old).

The morning of my departure, I made a few phone calls to nearby Safeway and Walgreens stores to see if they carry dry ice. They don't. I biked out to San Francisco Ice Company in Hunter's Point with my (small) messenger bag and managed to carry back 10 pounds of dry ice (the minimum quantity that they sell). It was cheaper than I expected, only $9. It usually comes in a big block, but the guy there cut it into gold-ingot-type bars for me. I ended up with seven bars, each maybe eight inches long, two inches tall, and an inch thick, all wrapped in a sheet of butcher paper. I was worried that it'd be uncomfortable to have the (-110 degrees Fahrenheit!) ice resting against my back on the ride home, but the messenger bag (and the lunch bag, which I'd brought with me) provided plenty of insulation.

After I got home with the ice, I took it, the Craftsman bag, the carton of ice cream, a resealable plastic bag, and a pair of oven mitts out to my patio. I sealed the ice cream in the plastic bag (didn't want it to leak everywhere if it melted) and wedged it into the Craftsman bag with three of the seven bars. I zipped it closed and left it on my counter to make sure that the ice wouldn't sublimate more quickly than I expected.

After an hour, the bars appeared to still be the same size. I could see the gas escaping from the corner of the bag, though, so I figured the ice was losing enough mass that I could get away with adding another bar to the bag and still be under (or at least plausibly near) the carry-on limit. I rearranged things so the ice cream was lying on its side surrounded by the four bars. I zipped the bag closed again, taped a piece of paper reading < 2 KG DRY ICE to it, and put it and a pair of work gloves into my backpack. As preparation, I also printed the relevant page from the FAA PDF to bring along with me.

When I approached my gate's security checkpoint in the International Terminal at SFO (yes, this was a domestic flight), I took the Craftsman bag and the pair of gloves out of my backpack and told the man on the other side of the conveyer belt that the bag contained a pint of ice cream packed in dry ice. I had to repeat this a few times before he understood; when I started opening the bag and CO2 wafted out, another guard moved towards me and told me to stop.

"What do you have in the bag with the ice?", the first guard said.

"Ice cream."

He scoffed. "You can't bring that in. You can only use dry ice for medicine."

I took out the FAA printout, which I'd moved my pocket as preparation, and showed him that I was permitted to carry up to two kilograms of dry ice on board to protect "perishables". He glanced at it and told me that he'd need to get his supervisor. They waved me through the metal detector and x-rayed the rest of my carry-on luggage. On the other side, another guard diverted the bag with the ice cream and took it to the kiosk at the end of the conveyer belt. He started putting on latex gloves (just to inspect the bag, I was hoping), and I offered to let him borrow my heavier work gloves. He declined, and I opened the bag and showed him the dry ice and carton of ice cream. He made some calls and told me I could go after a few minutes. We chit-chatted; he seemed nice enough after getting the go-ahead to let me through. I was worried that someone would play the ice-cream-may-be-a-solid-now-but-it-could-become-a-potentially-explosive-liquid-in-the-blink-of-an-eye card, but luckily it didn't come up.

When I finally opened my backpack after arriving in (warm in the summer: pay attention, San Francisco) Cambridge, there was frost on the outside of the Craftsman bag and my sweatshirt was frozen to it. I put on the gloves and opened the bag up to find all four bars of dry ice intact (the two top ones were smaller but the bottom ones were nearly their initial size) and the ice cream still frozen solid. If anything, it was too hard to eat, ten full hours after I first took it out of the freezer. The lining on the inside of the bag was torn up a bit, presumably from direct contact with the ice — I think that covering the inside of the bag with the butcher paper might've prevented this.

So it wasn't that tough to transport ice cream coast-to-coast. Checking my backpack as luggage would probably have made things simpler, but I'm too impatient to wait for checked luggage at the end of a flight, and I saw some mentions online of a ~$50 "hazardous materials handling fee" and was worried I might need to pay extra if I declared the ice while checking it, and I didn't want my backpack to miss the flight if there were any problems due to the dry ice. It's also possible that I could have used blue ice packs instead of dry ice if I checked the bag; I'm not sure exactly how cold the plane's baggage area gets, but the display on the back of the seat in front of me said that the outside temperature was around -60 degrees Fahrenheit when we were at 37,000 feet.


I would go for it and take the FAA printout like he did.

 

[firefox2]

If you are able to put it through with checked baggage, I would do that, since that area is NOT heated, therefore it will have a better chance of remaining frozen. Years ago we did it with B.C. salmon on a 5 1/2 hour flight and it made it just fine.

 

[AshleyW]

Okay, now I'm curious.. what kind of ice cream are you taking across the country?

 

[sunnyday123]

Okay, now I'm curious.. what kind of ice cream are you taking across the country?

and why? Don't they sell ice cream where you're going??

 

[lillygator]

why the heck do you want to transport ice cream?

 

[diznygirl]

Okay, now I'm curious.. what kind of ice cream are you taking across the country?

It's gotta be something good to go through the trouble.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Blue Belle???

That was my first thought too! That is the only thing worth going to all that trouble!! YUM.

 

[mom2grace]

Thanks everyone, I know all of the "rules" and even went to the SWA ticket counter last week.

It's Graeter's ice cream.

I have a friend on the west coast who has leukemia and I am going out to help her and I am considering taking some with me, she is from Cincinnati. I did send some a few months ago, but it was outrageously expensive through Graeters.

I have easy access to the ice cream and dry ice, and I would check the container. SWA does not impose a fee.

Just looking for help, thanks for the post from the guy who carried it on!

 

[mom2grace]

And to the Blue Belle fans, you can send a gallon of Banana Split to me!! DH is Texan. He brought some home for me once, but did not use dry ice and it was a melted mess! But the thought counted!

 

[sunnyday123]

That's nice of you, hope your friend enjoys it and is doing well soon.

 

[Missy1961]

Thanks everyone, I know all of the "rules" and even went to the SWA ticket counter last week.

It's Graeter's ice cream.

I have a friend on the west coast who has leukemia and I am going out to help her and I am considering taking some with me, she is from Cincinnati. I did send some a few months ago, but it was outrageously expensive through Graeters.

I have easy access to the ice cream and dry ice, and I would check the container. SWA does not impose a fee.

Just looking for help, thanks for the post from the guy who carried it on!

I hope it works out. What a thoughtful thing to do.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Thanks everyone, I know all of the "rules" and even went to the SWA ticket counter last week.

Respectfully, and despite the experience quoted by another poster - the transport of the ice cream itself is at the determination of the TSA, not the airline. Yes, it's solid now (and based on that SF-BOS expidition, for many hours after), but it's probably advisable to have an alternative.

What about shipping it yourself? Overnight, UPS or FedEx, in a sturdy styrofoam cooler with the dry ice?

 

[mom2grace]

But if I check it, doesn't it avoid the whole liquid debate?

Respectfully, and despite the experience quoted by another poster - the transport of the ice cream itself is at the determination of the TSA, not the airline. Yes, it's solid now (and based on that SF-BOS expidition, for many hours after), but it's probably advisable to have an alternative.

What about shipping it yourself? Overnight, UPS or FedEx, in a sturdy styrofoam cooler with the dry ice?