Cremation & urn
Many families would rather carry it themselves. That is possible.
Handing an urn to a carrier makes some families uneasy. The good news: nothing requires it.
An urn may be carried by a relative, by car or by plane, provided the right papers are on hand.
This is the simplest route. Within the Schengen area there are generally no customs formalities.
Carry the cremation certificate and the death certificate anyway: a check may ask for them, and it is better to have them than to explain their absence.
Most airlines accept the urn as hand luggage. We recommend the cabin over the hold: a bag can be lost.
Security screening requires the urn to be X-rayable. A thick metal or stone urn will be refused. Use a transport urn in wood or a composite material, and choose the permanent urn on arrival.
Ask the airline for written confirmation — an email is enough — that the urn is accepted in the cabin on your flight. The rules vary and desk staff do not always know them. We are glad to do it for you.
As originals and in your hand luggage — not in the checked bag, which may travel separately.
If the destination country requires handover to a local funeral firm, or if the airline refuses the cabin, sending the urn as freight remains the normal route.
We then handle the compliant packaging and the coordination on site, and you receive confirmation of the handover.
Questions & answers
Not as such. What counts are the cremation papers, plus a consular confirmation where the destination country requires one.
With most airlines it is additional to the usual allowance. Get it confirmed in writing before booking.
That only happens with an urn opaque to X-rays. An X-rayable transport urn avoids the situation entirely.
Yes, where the ashes have been divided. Each urn must have its own confirmation.