Delta Airlines Flying Meat Home from AK?

[Sawtooth]

Has anyone flown meat home from AK with Delta Airlines? If so, how'd it go? I have the opportunity to throw some SkyMiles at an upcoming caribou hunt, but won't do that if Delta is a PIA dealing with meat and antlers.

 

[soggybtmboys]

No problems when coming back with caribou in 2018. Meat went checked bag, must be sealed up and no ice. Antlers, we bundled together and took 1 charge of $150.

Flew home with pronghorn in delta this past year, no issues, dry ice allowed, had soft sided coolers.

Heading to Kodiak in October, and we are flying delta again.

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[Sawtooth]

That's good news. We plan to fly our meat home in Rubbermaid tubs, with the meat securely bagged up inside and the lid zip tied and duct taped.

 

[soggybtmboys]

You can grab waxed fish boxes at Fred Meyer for caribou meat if you don't use soft coolers. Tubs work too, just make sure you secure the lids. If your meat is frozen, should be fine in belly of the plane. For reference, an RTIC 40 can hold more than 50 lbs of meat. Weigh your bags, otherwise you'll get clipped with steep fees for being overweight.

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[Steve O]

Fly Delta all the time. No issues bringing back meat in my luggage or in my Yeti Hopper carry on. Your tote plan is a solid one.

 

[mooster]

Perhaps you could freeze overnight b4 your flight and it may help also to maintain your meat. We flew through ANC and could use the storage place next to the arrivals carousels to keep our stuff on freeze and also from toting stuff from the airport to hotel for just one night. We flew ATL-->ANC->KOTZ and reverse. So the onsite storage was nice as we were completely DIY and had all our gear w/us.

 

[MNhunter]

I flew back from Alaska on Delta with 2 boxes of fish last summer no problem. I just made sure to keep them under 50lbs to avoid any heavy baggage fees. It was completely hassle free.

 

[fmyth]

I just looked into this before my 2019 trip here is what I found: Fly first class Delta and you can check 2) 70lb bags for free. Coach is $30 for bag 1 (50lbs) and $50 for bag 2 (50lbs) bag 3 is $150 and 4-10 is $200 each. Alaskan airlines was $30 for the 1st bag (50lbs) $40 for 2nd bag (50lbs) and $100 for 3rd bag (100lbs). I applied and received my AK Airlines CC before my trip so I got the first checked bag for free. I bought the wax impregnated fish boxes from Fred Meyer and packed 2 with just under 50lbs each. Next time I'll check a third bag for $100 and that one will be two fish boxes taped together each with just under 50lbs so it will cost me $140 to take home just under 200lbs of meat or fish. If I flew coach on Delta it would cost me $380 to bring home 200lbs. Last year I also shipped home 2 fish boxes(50lbs each) through AK airlines Known Shipper account for $90 from Wrangell AK to Phoenix AZ. Everything was frozen solid then placed into a waxed fish box and was still frozen when it arrived in Phoenix.

 

[Sawtooth]

Perhaps you could freeze overnight b4 your flight and it may help also to maintain your meat. We flew through ANC and could use the storage place next to the arrivals carousels to keep our stuff on freeze and also from toting stuff from the airport to hotel for just one night. We flew ATL-->ANC->KOTZ and reverse. So the onsite storage was nice as we were completely DIY and had all our gear w/us.

Thanks for the info! We've padded our schedule for an extra day in Kotz to deal with meat and antlers. If we can find a place to get the meat frozen, that will be ideal. I think that's the biggest challenge we have. Thanks to all for the valuable input...we appreciate it!

 

[mooster]

Thanks for the info! We've padded our schedule for an extra day in Kotz to deal with meat and antlers. If we can find a place to get the meat frozen, that will be ideal. I think that's the biggest challenge we have. Thanks to all for the valuable input...we appreciate it!

I’d recommend Bieber’s in Kotz. Close to liquor store and you can relax at her place at half the price of the formal dry hotel in town.

 

[Short Track]

5 lbs of dry ice is the limit on most air lines.

 

[greenheadkilla]

No problems when coming back with caribou in 2018. Meat went checked bag, must be sealed up and no ice. Antlers, we bundled together and took 1 charge of $150.

Flew home with pronghorn in delta this past year, no issues, dry ice allowed, had soft sided coolers.

Heading to Kodiak in October, and we are flying delta again.

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Soggybtmboys, Were the antlers split or whole ?

 

[OXN939]

5 lbs of dry ice is the limit on most air lines.

And, just for SA, I've found that dry ice is hard to come by in a lot of more remote places. I checked every store and seafood processor on Kodiak last year, and none of them had dry ice- they just send their frozen filets in a cooler lined with those frozen gel packs. Probably 20% of the packs of meat and salmon we brought back had partially thawed by the time our checked bags got to VA using the frozen gel pack method.

 

[soggybtmboys]

Soggybtmboys, Were the antlers split or whole ?

Whole, we wrapped them with pipe insulation and bundled them up and caught only 1 fee I stead of several.

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[greenheadkilla]

Great to hear, thanks!!