Transporting human remains almost always requires a burial-transit permit, several certified copies of the death certificate, and two funeral homes working together: one at the origin and one at the destination. For a domestic flight, expect the total to land somewhere between $2,000 and $5,000 once you add preparation, container, airline cargo, and professional service fees. International repatriation runs higher, often above $10,000. The rules are set by a mix of state health departments, federal hazardous materials regulations, TSA cargo security rules, and the airline’s own cargo policies, and most of the coordination happens between funeral directors rather than the family.
The Paperwork You Can’t Skip
A burial-transit permit is the document that legally authorizes moving a body and its final disposition. Health department officials, local registrars, or in some areas funeral directors issue the permit, and the rules vary by state and county.1Legal Information Institute. Burial Transit Permit It typically lists the deceased’s full legal name, cause of death, and intended destination.
Before the permit can be issued, a physician or medical examiner has to complete a death certificate. The registrar uses that certificate to confirm identity, cause of death, and that public health requirements have been met.1Legal Information Institute. Burial Transit Permit If the person died of a communicable disease, most states add requirements such as mandatory embalming or hermetic sealing.
Order plenty of certified copies. Airlines, receiving funeral homes, cemeteries, and insurance companies each want their own, and copies run roughly $5 to $35 apiece depending on the jurisdiction. A dozen is a reasonable starting point, because you’ll likely need them for estate matters after the transport is done.
Preparing the Body
Embalming is not required by federal law for interstate transport, and the FTC’s Funeral Rule requires every funeral home to disclose that fact on its General Price List.2Federal Trade Commission. Complying with the Funeral Rule Some states require it in specific circumstances, and individual airlines may have their own policies, but a blanket claim that crossing state lines requires embalming is not accurate. Ask for any such requirement in writing.
When embalming is declined, refrigeration is the standard alternative, and most funeral homes can hold remains safely for several days. For air transport without embalming, dry ice is commonly used inside the shipping container. Dry ice is a hazardous material under federal regulations, so packaging has to vent carbon dioxide gas to prevent pressure buildup, carry specific markings, and (for air) show the net weight of dry ice on the outside, with direct coordination between the shipper and the airline.3eCFR. 49 CFR 173.217 – Carbon Dioxide, Solid (Dry Ice)
Green burial is still possible when shipping. The container has to prevent any escape of fluids or odors, and the carrier’s requirements control. Talk to both funeral homes early, because container and preparation choices affect cost, timing, and which carriers will accept the shipment.
How Air Shipment Works
Airlines require purpose-built containers. Air trays are the standard choice for casketed remains, built on a plywood base with a corrugated lid, straps, a casket bag, and a documentation envelope. Combo shippers are made of corrugated cardboard with a foam mattress inside and are used for uncasketed remains when a casket will be used at the destination. Ziegler cases are hermetically sealed metal liners placed inside a casket; they’re sometimes required for international shipments or unembalmed remains and add significant weight and cost.
Every air-shipped container has to be labeled with the deceased’s name and the receiving funeral home. Funeral homes that put remains on passenger aircraft must be registered through the TSA’s Known Shipper Management System, which vets businesses allowed to place cargo on those flights.4Transportation Security Administration. Cargo Programs – Section: Known Shipper Management System If your funeral home hasn’t shipped remains before or hasn’t shipped recently, confirm the status early. Getting approved takes time, and a funeral home without it cannot legally hand off a container to an airline.
Once cleared, the sending funeral home delivers the container to the airline’s cargo terminal with all documentation: burial-transit permit, death certificate, embalming or refrigeration certificate, and any hazardous materials paperwork for dry ice. Cargo staff verify the papers and load the container. At the destination, the receiving funeral home collects the container from a secure cargo area by presenting ID and matching transit documents, then contacts the family.
Cremated Remains Travel by Different Rules
Mailing Ashes
The U.S. Postal Service is the only mail carrier that accepts cremated remains. UPS and FedEx do not. USPS requires Priority Mail Express service, and since March 2025, cremated remains must ship in the postal-branded BOX-CRE packaging, which USPS provides free.5United States Postal Service. Shipping Cremated Remains and Ashes Stamps cannot be used; postage has to go through Click-N-Ship, an approved PC Postage provider, or a retail counter.
Internationally, cremated remains go via Priority Mail Express International, only to countries that accept the service and allow import. The sender is responsible for checking the destination country’s rules. The inner urn must be sealed and sift-proof, placed in a sealed plastic bag, and cushioned inside the BOX-CRE box, with customs forms listing the contents as “Cremated Remains” and any required certificates attached to the outside.6Federal Register. Cremated Remains Packaging Requirements
Flying With Ashes
TSA allows cremated remains in both carry-on and checked bags, but the container has to be X-ray scannable. Wood, plastic, and lightweight materials work; metal, thick ceramic, or stone urns often read as opaque on the scanner, and if an officer can’t see through, the container will not clear the checkpoint. Officers won’t open a crematory container under any circumstances, even if a passenger asks.7Transportation Security Administration. Cremated Remains Some airlines also prohibit cremated remains in checked luggage, so verify with the carrier beforehand, and carry copies of the cremation certificate and death certificate in case staff ask at the gate.
International Transfers
Moving remains across borders adds diplomatic and health coordination that domestic transfers don’t require. Start with the destination country’s embassy or consulate, because the specific documents depend on both countries. A Consular Mortuary Certificate from that embassy is commonly needed, confirming the transport complies with both nations’ laws. Some countries also require an Apostille on the death certificate, a standardized authentication recognized by the 129 countries in the Hague Convention.8U.S. Department of State. Preparing a Document for an Apostille Certificate If the destination’s official language isn’t English, documents typically need professional translation.
For remains coming into the United States, federal rules require a leak-proof container and consignment directly to a licensed mortuary, cemetery, or crematory. Unembalmed remains need a death certificate; when one is unavailable or incomplete, an importer certification statement confirming the remains are not known to contain an infectious agent can substitute.9eCFR. 42 CFR 71.55 – Importation of Human Remains If the person died of or is suspected of having died of a communicable disease and the remains are neither embalmed nor cremated, a CDC import permit through the CDC Emergency Operations Center is required.10Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Importation of Human Remains Into the U.S. for Burial, Entombment, or Cremation
What It Costs
The total bill is the sum of several line items, each of which a funeral home is required to itemize:
- A forwarding service fee from the sending funeral home for coordinating paperwork, preparing the body, and delivering the container to the carrier.
- A receiving service fee from the destination funeral home for collecting the remains and preparing them for the funeral or burial.
- Embalming or refrigeration charges, depending on which is used; refrigeration may be billed per day.
- The shipping container itself, with air trays at the lower end and Ziegler cases at the top.
- Airline cargo charges, which run roughly $1,000 to $3,000 for domestic shipments and often $5,000 to $10,000 or more for international, based on weight and route.
- Burial-transit permits and certified death certificate copies, priced by the jurisdiction.
Long-distance ground transport by hearse is billed by the mile. International transfers add consulate fees, translation, and Apostille certification. Domestic air transfers commonly total $2,000 to $5,000 all in; international repatriation often exceeds $10,000.
Help With the Bill
A few programs offset some of the cost, though none will cover it entirely in most cases. The Department of Veterans Affairs pays up to $2,000 toward burial expenses for a service-connected death and may reimburse some or all of the cost of transporting remains to a VA national cemetery; for a non-service-connected death, the VA pays up to $978 for burial and funeral expenses and a separate $978 plot-interment allowance if the veteran is not buried in a national cemetery.11U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Burial Benefits – Compensation Transportation reimbursement for a national cemetery burial requires an itemized receipt in your name.
Social Security pays a one-time lump-sum death benefit of $255 to a surviving spouse or eligible child.12Social Security Administration. Lump-Sum Death Payment Small, but worth claiming because the application is simple.
For federal estate tax, funeral expenses including the cost of transporting the body to the place of burial are deductible from the decedent’s gross estate.13eCFR. 26 CFR 20.2053-2 – Deduction for Funeral Expenses This only matters for estates large enough to owe federal estate tax, currently those exceeding roughly $13.99 million, so for most families it won’t apply. Executors of large estates should still preserve receipts for the return.
Your Rights Under the Funeral Rule
Funeral homes must provide an itemized General Price List breaking out 16 categories of goods and services, including separate line items for forwarding remains to another funeral home and receiving remains from another funeral home.2Federal Trade Commission. Complying with the Funeral Rule You can pick only the items you want and decline the rest.
The price list must also include a disclosure that embalming is not required by law and that you usually have the right to choose an arrangement that doesn’t include it, such as immediate burial or direct cremation.2Federal Trade Commission. Complying with the Funeral Rule If a funeral home insists embalming is mandatory without a clear legal basis, ask for the requirement in writing and verify it. When shipping between two funeral homes, request the General Price List from each: the forwarding fee at one and the receiving fee at the other are separate charges for separate services, and seeing both numbers before you commit lets you compare and avoid surprises on the final bill.