(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
With the holidays coming up (and with recent pen show travels), it occurred to me that there may be questions about traveling with fountain pens, specifically airplane travel. Hopefully this answers some questions and alleviates some anxiety about pens and travel.
Packing
- Figure out your writing needs - Are you attending a pen show? You may want to bring pens to sell, tune/grind or show off during after hours. Are you going away for a 3-day weekend trip where you will have lots of time to write? A few pens may be enough. Or maybe you’ll be writing lots of letters and like switching pens every page (like I do), maybe 6 or more pens are in order.
- Which pens?
- How much ink? - Will you be doing a lot of writing and therefore want a lot of high-capacity piston fillers? Or perhaps a 1-2 pens that take standard international cartridges and then pack a handful of carts instead? I have never packed ink bottles or vials just for re-inking during travel. I figure I’d either buy ink if I’m headed to a pen show or somewhere that has a FP shop nearby, or I bring some TWSBIs or Pilot 823 or other piston/vac fillers. But if you do decide to bring vials or bottles, consider wrapping them in a paper towel with bubble wrap and putting them in a baggie. If you’re extra paranoid like me, you can also wrap the cap and vial/bottle with parafilm.
- Replaceability - You might not want to bring pens that would be difficult to replace if it were to get lost or forgotten on an airplane or damaged during travels. When I went to Europe a few years ago, I packed Pilot Metropolitans (and extra carts) and TWSBIs that were readily available, not the long-sold out/sought after colors. This is a tougher decision when traveling to or from a pen show where you may be bringing special pens with you.
- Storage - Depending on the number of pens you’re bringing, you might want to use a case like a Nock Sinclair, Franklin-Christoph Penvelope or Rickshaw Pen Roll or Coozy Sleeve/Case. I usually have my pens in a pen binder/case because it’s easy to put them in my massive purse. I like binders because it’s easy to keep the pens upright (more on why that’s important in a bit).
The 48-pen case which carries my currently inked pens is from Girologio, the 20-pen case is from Franklin-Christoph, and my show-and-tell pens are in Rickshaw Pen Rolls and Coozy sleeves.
- How to Pack - You will hear a lot of advice out there as to how to bring inked pens onto airplanes. Some will tell you to have them all uninked and ink up at your destination. Some say that you should top up all your pens (so there is less air in the barrel/cartridge/piston that could cause burping in the cap during flights). Some will also suggest that you individually ziplock bag every pen. I am one of those folks who regularly has 40+ pens inked (I had 60 inked for Chicago, lol) and I do not do any of these things. I’ve only had 2 pens burp in the cap in the 4 years I’ve been traveling with FPs, and one of them was a ¼ full eyedropper. If you feel more comfortable with any of the above steps, by all means, go for it. Just know that it generally isn’t a problem if you keep the nibs up (also more on that in a bit), but putting a paper towel or two in your case wouldn’t hurt either.
- Where to put it all - Quite simply, put your pens in your carryon, unless theft or loss is not a concern (like you’re bringing two inexpensive pens or something). You can also carry a vial or two of ink in your carryon. Use good vials that many of the online pen vendors sell versus the super inexpensive ones you can get on eBay. I get a little bit paranoid about leaks, so I also use parafilm to minimize any leaks, but it won’t save a vial that has a bad seal/cap. I then put them in individual little baggies, which are all placed in yet another bag. You don’t want to have a vial leak all over you or your carryon. More on vials in this article.
- If you are bringing more ink than the 3-1-1 TSA limits will allow, they will have to go in your checked luggage. If I know I might come home with ink (or other items), I will pack a small box with some bubble wrap or packing peanuts and put that in my checked luggage.
I have two carryons when I fly - a large Rickshaw tote (which is massive and barely fits under the seat in front of me, lol) and my rollaboard suitcase. My inked pens go in my tote and any uninked pens go in the suitcase. If I’m carrying ink, they go in my rollaboard since I’m not going to ink up during the flight.
Before flight
- TSA/Security - Don’t be alarmed if the TSA agent takes a longer than usual look at the x-ray machine. Remember that most folks out there aren’t pen addicts and can’t fathom why anyone would need more than one pen. And there are many folks who have never seen a fountain pen before, let alone more than one or two of them.
- If you like to pocket carry your pens, whether in your pant pockets or shirt pockets, you should take them out and put them in your carryon before you go through security.
- If you get pulled aside and the agent asks to inspect your pens, you should keep a watchful eye to make sure your pens aren’t damaged during inspection. You can let them know if a certain pen is a twist cap before they start to pull on it. I have only been inspected once and they just opened the pen binder and did a visual inspection. And yes, I counted my pens before leaving the area. (Tip: if you fill your case to capacity, it’s easy to see if pens are missing)
- And no, inks inside the pens don’t count for as part of the liquid limit for carryons, but anything in vials or bottles do. The current limit is 3-1-1, which is a max of 3 ounces of liquid. That’s one Noodlers bottle or 88ml of ink (1.5+ regular bottles of 50ml ink), which is a lot of ink for regular travel, but it also means that you could carry on some ink that you bought during your travels, as long as you’re under the limit.
- Checking in your carryon - Sometimes flights run out of room for the larger carryons and you have to check them in at the gate. Before you hand over your bag, remove your pens and put them in your other carryon (purse, backpack or briefcase). This is to avoid potential theft as well as damage since we’ve all seen luggage getting thrown around.
On the plane
- Storing your pens - Keeping your inked pens nib up is key to minimizing leakage and burping. So I keep my tote under the seat in front of me (which is just good thing to do if you’re flying with two carryons, so you’re not an overhead bin hog) and my uninked pens are in the overhead compartment. Yes, you can put your inked pens in the overhead compartment too but there is a greater risk of burping versus nib up.
- Takeoff and Landing - These are the times when the cabin’s air pressure changes most dramatically, resulting in a greater likelihood of burping. Save the writing for when you’re waiting for the plane to push back from the gate, when you’re at cruising altitude, or after you’ve landed. It’s also a good idea to put the pens away if there’s a lot of turbulence on the flight. Burping issues aside, it’s kind of difficult to write legibly when the plane is making your lines look like jagged scribbles.
After flight
- Check your seating area - If I pull out my pens during the flight, I sometimes put the case in the seat pocket in front of me. And the first thing I do after I’m done with writing is immediately put the pen(s) back in the case and then put the case back in my tote. Regardless, I always check the seat pocket before we are landing, and make sure I don’t have any pens or papers left behind. Those of you fortunate enough to travel in the business/first case sections that have the fancy sleeping pods should definitely spend time looking through all the nooks and crannies. This is good practice even if you’re not flying with pens - I’ve seen folks leave behind passports, cell phones, iPads, etc in their seat pockets.
- Post-flight writing - Depending on where you’ve flown to, you may also wish to be careful when using a pen after flight. We often fly to Colorado, where it’s more than a mile higher up than home, and the change in air pressure can cause burping. So, keep the pen nib up when uncapping to minimize any inky messes that may happen. Ditto when unscrewing the valve on a vac filler (ask me how I found that out, lol).
Non-plane travel
- Trains - Whenever I’m in the East Coast, I often travel by train. Thankfully, I don’t need to worry about TSA/Security but most of the above tips still apply. My attention is focused on keeping my pens nearby. My tote is always with me at my seat and my carryon is either right above me, or I find a seat close to the luggage section of the train car so I can keep it in view. If I want to visit the dining car, I carry my tote/purse with me.
- Car/Bus - Often easier than travel by train (especially if you’re in your own car), same tips apply. Tips up for inked pens, though it’s less critical than with plane travel. The one exception would be for travel involving altitude changes as mentioned above.
I’m hoping that things settle down enough for it to be safe for more folks to travel soon. And when that time comes, I hope these tips help you feel more comfortable about traveling with your pens.
(All products pictured in this post were purchased by me. I received no compensation for including them in this article.)
