If you like fragrances and you’re traveling, you probably want to take one or more fragrances with you on your trip. But is this actually something you can do without a problem? I decided to find that out!
Are fragrances allowed on planes? Yes, fragrances are allowed on planes. If you have your fragrance packed in checked baggage, there are no restrictions. If you, however, take your fragrances with you in carry-on baggage, you’re restricted to a maximum of 100ml, according to the TSA’s 3-1-1 rule.
So if you’re taking them with you in checked baggage, you’re good to go. But if you’re taking them with you in your carry-on baggage, make sure it is 100ml or less. But, there are even better ways to take a fragrance with you on a plane.
What Is And What Isn’t Allowed On A Plane
Whenever you’re going on a trip, you probably want to take your favorite fragrance with you. Maybe even two or more. You always want to smell good, even if you’re away from home, so taking some fragrances with you on your trips is nothing weird.
To take a fragrance with you on a plane is really simple. The easiest way to take one with you is to put it in your checked baggage. You can take any fragrance with you, as well as every size. This checked baggage will end up in the baggage room on the plane.
If you put your fragrances in there, do make sure that you protect them a bit. The easiest way to do that is to put it in some socks and around other soft objects. This will protect them from the rough handling your baggage will receive.
If you don’t want to put your fragrance in your checked baggage, or you don’t have checked baggage, you can always take them with you in your carry-on baggage.
There are a few restrictions tied to this, however. The general rule is that you cannot take liquid containers with you that are larger than 100ml. Luckily, most fragrances are sold in 100ml bottles, so they are allowed. This is the TSA’s 3-1-1 rule, allowing all passengers to take liquid containers with you that are up to 100ml.
But sometimes, a fragrance bottle could be 120ml or something similar. Maybe you like a fragrance so much that you bought a 200ml or larger bottle. In that case, you cannot take that bottle with you in your carry-on baggage.
What this all comes down to is that most of the time, you will not have any problems when taking your fragrances with on your trips. But carrying a full bottle with you on all your trips can be quite impractical. There is almost no way you need a 100ml bottle with you on most trips, so here are some better options for you when you’re taking your fragrances with you on a plane.
Travel-Sized Fragrance Bottles
The first thing that might come to mind is to purchase a travel-sized fragrance bottle. These travel-sized fragrances are much smaller bottles, containing around 30ml or less. These small bottles take up way less space, while still providing you with more than enough of the fragrance to last you your trip. 30ml bottles give you around 300 sprays, which is, again, way more than you probably need.
These smaller bottles are much more practical as they fill up less space in your baggage and they provide you with the fragrance you like to wear. If you want to, you can purchase a few of these travel-sized fragrance bottles for your trips to make sure you have an amazing fragrance for any trip.
The one downside to these smaller bottles is that there is a higher cost per spray. You’ve probably noticed that the larger the bottle, the lower the cost, at least relatively. I wrote another article about what sized bottle you should buy, where I compared the cost per spray for the most commonly used bottle sizes. You can find that article here: What Sized Fragrance Should You Buy?
But there is a cheaper option, you just have to get a bit creative.
Taking Fragrance Decants With You
Fragrance decants are wonderful things. They are my personal favorites to take with me on a plane to my trips. If you don’t know what they are, they’re basically a small spray bottle filled with a fragrance of choice.
To do this, you need a few things. First, you need a fragrance you want to take with you. This could really be any fragrance you want. The nice thing about decants are that you can make them as little or large as you want, so you can also take multiple with you.
Another thing you need is a small spray bottle. This is the bottle you’re going to use during your trip. These bottles are usually either plastic or glass. Which ones you pick are ultimately up to you, but the glass bottles are a bit better, as the plastic might mix in a little bit with the fragrance.
You also have to decide which size you’re going to buy. The best ones to get are probably the 5ml ones. These contain around 50 sprays, which will last you around two weeks. But you can also buy 1ml, 2ml, 3ml, or even 10ml.
The ones I always use and highly recommend are these 5ml glass bottles.
When you have these bottles, all you need to do is spray over your fragrance into those bottles. You can just spray out of your original fragrance bottle into your new decant bottle. Then you just put on the top and there you go, you have a fragrance decant.
One thing to keep in mind with these decants is that you do want to keep them organized. I recommend putting a label on a decant bottle when you filled it up. You don’t want to use the same bottle for different fragrances as they’ll start to mix. Use a new bottle for every new fragrance.
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of making them yourself, you can also purchase them on multiple different websites. If you’d like to know more about fragrance decants and the best places to purchase them, you can check out this article I wrote over here!
How Much Of A Fragrance Do You Need On A Trip
How much you need to take with you really depends on your trip and the length of it. A general rule of thumb is that every 1ml is equal to around 10 sprays. So depending on the fragrance and how much you need, you can kind of guess how much you need.
Usually, 3-4 sprays a day are more than enough. But some fragrances are a bit weak, which results in more sprays or even reapplying it throughout the day. If that’s the case you might want to take a bit more with you.
The average trip lasts anywhere between 7 and 14 days. This means you need anywhere between 28 and 56 sprays. This equals to anywhere between 3ml and 5ml. In this case, I recommend you go with the larger one so you won’t run out.
You can also take more fragrances with you. Maybe one you use throughout the day and one for the nighttime events. This way you can alternate between them.
For most of your trips, you’ll only need one 5ml fragrance decant or a small travel sized fragrance bottle, and these are perfect for you to take with you on a plane. The 5ml bottles do not take up much space and are compliant with the rules.
A Way To Get Bigger Bottles With You On A Plane
Even though the official rules tell you that liquid containers larger than 100ml aren’t allowed, they are sold in the duty-free area. In this place, you can buy a bunch of things duty-free, or tax-free. One of these items is fragrances. These fragrance stores sell duty-free fragrances, which can be larger than 200ml. This is the only way you can legally have a larger 200ml bottle with you in your carry-on baggage.
Even though it is possible, there really is no need or use to doing this unless you purchase a fragrance you actually want a large bottle of.
These duty-free stores might seem tempting because of the no tax, but it isn’t always that good of a deal. To find out if the duty-free fragrances are a good deal, you can read another article I wrote on that topic: Is Duty-Free Perfume A Good Deal?