Air Freight for Household Goods When Moving Abroad

Door to door means the partner collects from your address and delivers to your new one, with the flight, security and customs in between. Airport to airport covers the flight alone, and you or someone you appoint takes the cartons to the departure airport and collects them from the arrival airport. Many quotations sit between the two, such as collection at home and release at the arrival airport, so ask exactly where the price starts and ends. The flight is only one stage, so ask how long each of the others takes.

A small consignment is often combined with other shipments going to the same destination, so the airline carries them as one booking. That is consolidation, the air version of a shared load, and it is how a few cartons can travel without a booking of their own. The trade-off is the same as on a shared lorry: the flight is the consolidator’s choice, so ask when your cartons are due to travel rather than assuming the next departure.

More household things count as dangerous goods in the air than most people expect. IATA (opens in a new window) says many common items found in a household can be considered dangerous goods for air transport, and that its regulations put the responsibility for classifying them on the shipper. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (opens in a new window) adds that it does not classify dangerous goods and that everyone involved in sending them by air has a legal responsibility to meet the requirements.

Lithium batteries are the case to take seriously. The CAA says lithium batteries on their own are forbidden in the hold of passenger aircraft (opens in a new window) and, where they can be sent, must be packed, marked, labelled and documented under the ICAO Technical Instructions. IATA’s September 2026 release (opens in a new window) names lithium batteries, e-cigarettes and aerosols among the items most often found undeclared, and says about 80% of the dangerous goods incidents reported to it in the first half of 2025 involved undeclared or hidden items. A laptop or phone with its battery inside can be treated differently from a loose spare battery or power bank, which is why the partner will ask what is in each carton.

Tell the partner before you pack about anything on this list. Some items may be accepted in small quantities in the right packaging and some won’t be, and it is the partner or its air-freight agent that decides. These are questions to put, not a ruling on any one item.

Dangerous goods are one list, and each destination has others. GOV.UK (opens in a new window) tells exporters to check the destination’s duties, rules and restrictions, and notes that goods such as animals, drugs, chemicals and firearms need licences or certificates. Food, plants, medicines, alcohol and tobacco are the everyday categories that tend to raise questions. Find out what applies to your destination, and check that country’s official guidance. Cash, jewellery and passports travel with you.

Live animals and vehicles are not household goods in this sense. They travel under their own rules, which our guides to pet travel as part of an international move and shipping a vehicle alongside your move explain.

Air cargo is security-checked before it is loaded. The CAA (opens in a new window) says it is critical that all air cargo is robustly screened, and that a company needs to be a Regulated Agent to handle secure cargo. In the UK’s Air Cargo Agents Regulations 2024 (opens in a new window), a regulated agent is an air carrier, agent, freight forwarder or other entity that ensures security controls on cargo. The CAA (opens in a new window) describes a known consignor as a consignor that originates cargo for its own account, and says the scheme is voluntary and the premises are validated. A household sending its belongings is unlikely to hold that status.

So expect your cartons to be screened by the partner’s regulated agent or the airline. The detailed screening rules can change, so rely on the partner’s instructions: list each carton accurately, pack so the contents can be checked, and ask when to seal them.

Your own bags need no quotation and stay in your hands. The limit is the airline’s allowance, which each airline sets, and baggage rules are separate from cargo rules: IATA (opens in a new window) says, for example, that spare batteries are not allowed in checked baggage. Since 27 March 2026 the CAA’s rules for passengers (opens in a new window) allow a maximum of two power banks per person, and they must not be recharged on board. It suits you when you are flying, have little to bring and are happy to pay any excess charge the airline sets.

This is a trade label for boxes sent separately from you rather than carried on your flight. Companies use it differently, and it can mean air, sea or road, so ask what a quotation means by it. Expect the same dangerous goods, security and customs steps as for any consignment. It suits a few boxes of essentials when your own allowance won’t stretch, or when you are travelling ahead of your things.

The partner collects, packs, documents and, if quoted, delivers. It suits more cartons than you can carry, or fragile items you want packed professionally, and it is the quickest of the freight methods. The price follows chargeable weight and the service you choose, and the quotation, not the aircraft, tells you when you will have your things.

Sea carries a household’s worth of furniture and boxes in a container or a share of one, and it is the usual choice for volume, with a longer wait. Our sea freight guide explains how it works, and the container size guide shows how your volume compares with container sizes.

A simple test: if you won’t miss an item for the first few weeks, it can wait for the main shipment. If you will, it is a candidate for air or baggage.