What Items Cannot Be Shipped by Air?

Quick answer Air freight bans explosives, flammable gases, flammable liquids above flashpoint limits, oxidizers, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive material and corrosives unless they are declared, UN-packed and accepted under IATA rules. Loose lithium batteries ship at 30% state of charge or less. Many items fly only on cargo aircraft.

Most cargo that gets stopped at an airline warehouse was never truly forbidden — it was simply never declared. This guide separates what can never fly from what flies under conditions, and shows you how to price the compliant route.

What items are not allowed in air freight?

Quick answer Air freight forbids explosives, fireworks, flammable gases and aerosols, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizers and organic peroxides, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive material, corrosives, lithium batteries and magnetized material unless each one is classified, packed to UN specification, labeled and declared. Undeclared, all of them are prohibited.

The items not allowed in air freight fall into three stacked layers. The first layer is the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, which apply to every airline on earth. The second is the individual carrier's own embargo list. The third is the destination country's import law.

A small group of goods is forbidden in all circumstances. These carry a "Forbidden" entry in the IATA dangerous goods list and no paperwork makes them acceptable.

• Mass-detonating explosives in Division 1.1 and 1.2, including blasting agents and military ordnance
• Certain organic peroxides and self-reactive substances that require temperature control below their accepted limits
• Damaged, defective or recalled lithium cells and batteries
• Any dangerous goods offered as general cargo without a declaration

Then come the country and carrier layers. Customs authorities add their own bans: bulk currency, ivory, counterfeit goods, cannabis products and live animals without CITES permits are refused on many lanes regardless of IATA. Major integrators publish their own prohibited lists that go further than the regulations require.

One point confuses almost every first-time shipper. Passenger baggage rules from the TSA and FAA are a separate legal regime from air cargo rules under the IATA DGR. A lighter you may carry in your pocket is not a lighter you may ship in a box.

What are dangerous goods in air freight?

Quick answer Dangerous goods are articles or substances that can harm health, safety, property or the aircraft when carried by air. IATA's Dangerous Goods Regulations sort them into 9 classes with divisions, each identified by a four-digit UN number and, for most, a packing group that signals high, medium or low danger.

The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) are the airline industry's field manual. IATA builds the DGR on the ICAO Technical Instructions and reissues it every January, so a 2025 edition is not valid in 2026. Airlines accept or reject cargo against the current edition, not the one your supplier printed two years ago.

Most classes also carry a packing group. PG I means high danger, PG II medium and PG III low. PG I substances rarely fly at all because quantity limits per package are tiny and airline acceptance teams avoid them.

The UN number controls acceptance, not the product name. "Hand sanitizer" means nothing to an airline; UN1170 ethanol solution, Class 3, PG II means a specific packing instruction and a specific quantity limit. If your shipment cannot fly, compare the alternatives in Air Freight vs Ocean Freight: Which One Wins? before you rebook.

What is the difference between prohibited and restricted air cargo?

Quick answer Prohibited items can never fly, in any quantity, with any paperwork. Restricted items fly only under conditions: limited quantity, specific packing instruction, hazard labels, a Shipper's Declaration and sometimes cargo aircraft only. Most everyday problem cargo is restricted, not prohibited — the shipment fails because it was not declared.

The failure pattern repeats on every lane. A shipper books perfume or power banks as general cargo to avoid the paperwork and the surcharge. The freight passes through the airline's screening or a canine check, a label or an SDS surfaces inside the carton, and the pallet is pulled at the cargo terminal.

From there the clock runs against the shipper. The cargo sits in a hold area until a compliant declaration and correct packaging arrive, which usually means the goods come back to the warehouse and start over.

Can you ship lithium batteries by air freight?

Quick answer Yes, but under the strictest rules in air cargo. Standalone lithium-ion batteries (UN3480) are banned from passenger aircraft and must ship at 30% state of charge or less under Packing Instruction 965. Batteries packed with or contained in equipment (UN3481) have wider routing options and a lighter documentation burden.

Lithium batteries sit in Class 9, and IATA splits them across four UN numbers. The difference between them is simply whether the battery travels alone, beside its device, or inside it.

Each packing instruction divides into sections. Section IA covers larger cells and demands full dangerous goods treatment: UN-spec packaging, Class 9 lithium label, Shipper's Declaration and trained staff. Section IB covers smaller cells in larger quantities and still requires a declaration. Section II, where it exists, drops the declaration but still requires the lithium battery mark and a handling document on the air waybill.

Watt-hours decide everything. The math is volts × amp-hours ÷ 1000. A laptop cell at 11.1 V and 5.4 Ah is 60 Wh and travels easily inside equipment. An e-bike pack at 48 V and 10.4 Ah is roughly 500 Wh, far above the 100 Wh Section II ceiling, so it needs full Section I treatment.

Damaged, defective or recalled cells are forbidden by air in all circumstances — no exception, no packing instruction, no carrier variation. In practice, e-bikes, scooters, portable power stations and drone spare packs almost always move by ocean, where IMDG rules allow full containers of Class 9 batteries under a simpler regime.

What is a Cargo Aircraft Only (CAO) shipment?

Quick answer A Cargo Aircraft Only shipment carries goods that regulators allow on freighters but ban from aircraft carrying passengers. The package wears the orange CAO label, and the booking must route through a freighter service. CAO cargo moves on fewer flights, so transit is longer and capacity is tighter than belly cargo.

Most lift between the United States and Latin America is belly cargo — freight in the hold of a passenger aircraft. Miami alone feeds dozens of daily passenger flights to Bogotá, San José, Guatemala City, Santo Domingo and Lima. Freighter rotations are far thinner, and that gap drives both transit time and price.

An insider note on timing: airline embargoes tighten on dangerous goods before they tighten on general cargo. From October through December, acceptance desks on Miami and Houston lanes routinely stop taking new DG bookings while still selling general cargo space.

What are hidden dangerous goods in air freight?

Quick answer Hidden dangerous goods are ordinary shipments that contain regulated material the shipper did not recognize. Perfume, nail polish, aerosol deodorant, paint, camping stoves, drones, vapes, airbag modules and used engine parts all trigger IATA rules. Screening finds them, and the shipment stops at the airline warehouse until documentation appears.

These are the most common items not allowed in air freight as general cargo, listed with the class they actually belong to:

• Perfume and cologne — Class 3 flammable liquid, usually UN1266
• Nail polish and remover — Class 3, UN1263 or UN1993
• Aerosols — hair spray, deodorant, spray paint, Class 2.1 UN1950
• Vapes and power banks — Class 9 lithium-ion, UN3481
• Drones — batteries inside or packed with the airframe, UN3481
• E-bikes and scooters — large packs well above 100 Wh, Section I treatment
• Used car parts — fuel pumps, carburetors and tanks with residue, Class 3
• Airbag modules and seatbelt pretensioners — Class 9, UN3268
• Camping gear — stoves and butane canisters, Class 2.1
• Vaccines and diagnostic samples — Class 6.2, often with dry ice UN1845
• Pool chemicals — chlorine tablets and shock, Class 5.1 UN1748
• Loudspeakers and electric motors — magnetized material, UN2807

Household goods and personal effects are the single largest source of hidden dangerous goods. A packed garage holds paint thinner, propane, pesticide and a car battery. A kitchen cabinet holds aerosol cleaners and lighter fluid.

When declaring is impractical, a different mode usually is. Mixed household loads move by ocean under IMDG rules, and time-sensitive electronics can take the hybrid route explained in What Is Sea Air Shipping and When Does It Win?.

How do you check whether your item can fly?

Quick answer Run a five-step check: classify the item against the IATA DGR, get the Safety Data Sheet from the manufacturer, confirm the packing instruction and quantity limit, buy UN-specification packaging with the right labels, then issue a Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods signed by trained staff. Confirm the airline and destination accept it.

1. Classify the item. Section 14 of the Safety Data Sheet gives the transport classification directly: UN number, proper shipping name, class and packing group. Request the SDS from the manufacturer before you book.
2. Check the limits. Look up the packing instruction in the current DGR edition. Confirm the net quantity allowed per package and whether the entry is passenger-eligible or cargo aircraft only.
3. Package and label. Use UN-specification boxes or drums marked with the UN performance code. Apply the hazard diamond, orientation arrows where required, and overpack marks if you consolidate several inner boxes.
4. Prepare the paperwork. The Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods is the signed document declaring class, UN number, packing group, net quantity per package and packing instruction. The air waybill carries matching DG entries, and the carrier builds a NOTOC for the flight crew.
5. Confirm acceptance. Check the airline's own variation list, the destination country's import rules, and any export control or sanctions screening that applies to the commodity.

What happens if you ship dangerous goods without declaring them?

Quick answer The shipment is pulled, offloaded and held, and the shipper pays. US civil penalties for undeclared hazmat reach $175,000 per violation, with criminal exposure for willful violations. Carriers also bill offload, repack, storage and return freight, and many blacklist repeat shippers. Insurance will not cover an undeclared load.

Liability follows the signature. The shipper signs the declaration, so the shipper — not the forwarder, not the airline — owns the violation. Per PHMSA and the FAA, enforcement runs against the party that offered the goods for transport.

The penalty is rarely the largest number on the invoice. The real bill stacks up like this:

• Offload and handling fee at the cargo terminal
• Dangerous goods repack into UN-specification packaging
• Storage at the CFS while the declaration is prepared
• Return freight to the origin warehouse
• Lost production or missed delivery window at destination
• Airline embargo on the shipper account, sometimes permanent

If your cargo is rejected, work the recovery in order. Request the written rejection notice from the airline, obtain the SDS for every item in the load, repack to the correct packing instruction, re-declare with a signed Shipper's Declaration and rebook — or switch the load to ocean or ground and keep the schedule.

What does it cost to move cargo that can't fly, and how fast can I price it?

Quick answer Price is driven by chargeable weight, hazard class surcharges, packing instruction, routing on a freighter instead of belly cargo, and destination handling. When an item cannot fly, ocean FCL or LCL and ground LTL usually carry it legally at a fraction of air cost. Walio's calculator prices the compliant option instantly.

Air pricing starts with chargeable weight. Airlines compare actual kilos against volumetric kilos using a divisor of 6000, then bill the higher figure. On top of that sit the dangerous goods handling fee, the CAO routing premium, and the gateway you depart from — Miami for Florida, Houston for Texas and the central states, LA/Long Beach for the Southwest, New York/New Jersey for the Northeast, Savannah for the Southeast, and Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver from Canada.

Ocean carriers such as Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd move dangerous goods daily under the IMDG Code, which accepts hazard classes that air refuses outright. A full container of Class 9 lithium batteries from PortMiami to Cartagena is routine freight. The same batteries by air need a freighter, a CAO label and a 30% charge check.

If speed still matters, compare the hybrid options in Sea-Air Cargo China to USA Calculator: 18-Day Transit 2026 and Sea Air Cargo Hong Kong to Guyana Calculator (2026), or weigh the straight trade-off in Air Freight vs Ocean Freight: Which One Wins?.

Dangerous goods, oversized loads and project cargo are quoted on request. Enter the shipment in the calculator and a Walio specialist follows up with the compliant routing — no phone call needed. Duties and taxes at destination are published national rates set by DIAN, SAT, SUNAT or ANAM, not Walio charges; ask a licensed customs broker for a classification ruling on anything borderline.

Check your commodity against the nine classes, pull the SDS, and then price the lane that actually accepts it. Enter your route in the calculator above and see your price in seconds — no signup, no follow-up calls.