Reviewed by Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director (TFSC #119648) ·
Three parties move your relative, and none of them is you
Families often ask which airline to call. It is the wrong first call, and not because the question is silly. In almost every case a family cannot hand a casket to an airline at all. The funeral home in Dallas books the space and tenders the shipment, the airline’s cargo department accepts or refuses it, and a funeral home at the other end collects it and deals with the health authority on arrival. Your part is to choose those two funeral homes well and to make sure they are talking to each other. This page explains what the airlines themselves publish, so that you can tell whether the answers you are given match it.
What the carriers actually publish
American Airlines Cargo matters most from here, because DFW is its largest hub. Its page names a service called TLC, says its specialists work directly with funeral homes and mortuaries on the advance arrangements, gives a telephone line and an email address for arrangements, and lists two different priorities: PPS for cremated remains and ExpediteFS for uncremated remains. Alaska Air Cargo is blunter about the family’s role: it says customers must work with a funeral home or medical institution that is authorized to ship human remains, and offers airport-to-airport service with priority booking.
The carriers that matter for longer journeys publish less detail but do publish something. Emirates SkyCargo describes its handling in a document called Solace. Turkish Cargo keeps a page headed International Funeral and Repatriation Services. Kenya Airways Cargo names a product, KQ Repatriation, though when we read that page it rendered nothing but the title. Copa Cargo lists human remains with a boarding priority, Royal Air Maroc Cargo says it carries both cremated and uncremated remains worldwide, Ethiopian Airlines publishes a special-baggage page, and South African Airways and Caribbean Airlines Cargo both list human remains among their special services.
The packing standard, and why a quote mentions zinc
The most detailed published packing list of the eleven belongs to RwandAir Cargo. It says its repatriation service follows the IATA Compassionate Transportation Manual, accepts coffined or cremated remains, and sets out the packaging: a hermetically sealed zinc or iron coffin, an absorbent internal lining, a wooden inner casket, protective packaging and a strong wooden outer crate with handles. That is the origin of the sealed metal liner on a funeral home’s quote, and of the plain wooden crate around it.
American Airlines publishes a shorter minimum: the remains secured in a casket, hermetically sealed where required, or in an approved metal or combination container, so that nothing shifts and no odour escapes, all inside an outer container of wood, particle board, corrugated fibreboard or plastic. Alaska asks for a tightly closed, leak-proof container. If a destination country also dictates a seal — and several do — the stricter rule governs. Ask for the packing description in writing, because it is one of the larger line items and it is not interchangeable between carriers.
The documents the carrier itself wants
An airline’s paperwork is not the consulate’s paperwork, and confusing the two costs days. American Airlines asks for a physician’s or health officer’s certificate or a burial transit permit, and says to contact officials at both origin and destination for the full requirements. Alaska asks for a death certificate signed by a physician or health care officer, or a burial removal or transit permit, as required by law.
RwandAir publishes the longest list, and it shows how much a carrier can ask for on a long route: a death certificate, an embalming certificate, a non-contagious certificate where applicable, the passport of the person who died, a burial or transit permit, an embassy or consular authorization, a police clearance and the air waybill. Notice that a consular authorization appears on the airline’s own list. That is why the embassy step and the flight cannot be run in parallel, and why the document guide is worth reading before anyone is quoted a date.
A product page is not a booking
Every page named above describes a service. None of them confirms that a particular aircraft on a particular day will take a casket to a particular city. Aircraft type, the size of the cargo door, a connection through a third country, an embargo and simple capacity all decide that, and the answer can change in a week. Only the cargo department can give it, and only for a named routing and date. The TSA’s cargo programmes explain the separate question of who is allowed to tender air cargo at all, which is a further reason the shipment goes through a funeral home.
So ask three things before a ceremony date is promised to relatives: which carrier and routing are proposed, whether that carrier has confirmed acceptance for that date, and who meets the flight at the other end. A funeral director who cannot yet answer the second question should say so plainly, and the guide to how two funeral homes coordinate explains who is meant to be asking whom.
| Carrier | Published service |
|---|---|
| American Airlines | TLC, from DFW |
| Alaska Air Cargo | Human remains |
| Emirates SkyCargo | Solace |
| Turkish Cargo | Funeral services |
| Kenya Airways Cargo | KQ Repatriation |
| Copa Cargo | Human remains (HUM) |
| RwandAir Cargo | Repatriation Services |
| Royal Air Maroc Cargo | Cargo Special |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Special baggage |
| South African Airways | Special Services |
| Caribbean Airlines Cargo | Human remains |
Questions families ask about airlines and agents
- Can I book the flight myself?
- In practice, no. Air cargo of this kind is tendered by a funeral home or another authorized shipper, and Alaska Air Cargo says so on its own page. Choose the funeral home at each end; they book the space and hand over the shipment.
- Why does the quote include a sealed metal liner?
- Because carriers and destination countries ask for one. RwandAir’s published packing list names a hermetically sealed zinc or iron coffin inside a wooden crate, and American Airlines asks for a hermetically sealed casket where required.
- Does the airline need the consulate’s documents too?
- Sometimes yes. RwandAir’s published list includes an embassy or consular authorization alongside the death and embalming certificates, so the consular step has to be finished before the flight, not beside it.
Sources checked and case confirmation
Carrier pages read September 21, 2026. Airlines change products, contacts and packing rules without notice, and a published product is not acceptance of a particular shipment. Confirm the carrier, routing, packing and documents for the individual case before any date is promised. Contact Vargas–London with the destination city and we will tell you what the cargo desk has actually confirmed, without asking you to send medical or identity documents through the inquiry form.
