Pepper Sprays on Planes

Since the 2006 memoir Eat Pray Love hit bookshelves, many women have discovered solo or small group traveling as a form of healing and discovering themselves. This trend increased greatly with the movie rendition starring Julia Roberts, which helped to re-spike the wanderlust in us all. This new hobby also increased a need for travel safety products and, unfortunately, not every state, airline, or country has matching views on safety products such as pepper spray. Often we are left wondering if we can travel with our absolute favorite products or if not, what are the available options. Therefore, we are led to do research ourselves and threaten to have our beloved safety products taken away if some misinformation is supplied.

We at Damsel want to ensure this does not happen for you; therefore, we have compiled the Sightseeing While Safeguarding Series, kicking off with which airlines you can legally carry pepper products on and which popular travel destinations allow citizens to carry pepper spray. The first chart shows each of the most popular airlines along with whether or not they allow pepper spray and, if so, what circumstances in which you are allowed to carry it. We always recommend keeping your pepper spray in the locked position when traveling and in a safe spot in your suitcase where it is least likely to get bumped. Please note that we still recommend double checking your airline as well as your local and destination’s TSA to ensure that pepper spray is allowed on your specific aircraft. This list was last updated in December 2023.

Airline	Pepper Allowed	Carry On/Checked Bag	Notes
Delta	No	n/a	not allowed at any time; considered part of the gunpowder family
Alaska	Yes	Checked Bag	Bear spray is not allowed. One 4 oz (118 ml) can of mace or pepper spray is permitted in a checked bag, provided it is equipped with a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge.
American	No	n/a	n/a
Spirit	No	n/a	Weapons and self-defense spray not permitted
Southwest	No	n/a	We prohibit self-defense sprays (such as pepper spray) on all flights; they are not allowed in checked bags or in your carryon.
United	No	n/a	On dangerous items list
Hawiian	No	n/a	Self-defense spray including but not limited to pepper spray and mace are prohibited.
Middle East	Yes	Checked Bag	n/a
British Airways	No	n/a	Devices designed specifically to stun or immobilize are completely forbidden.

Below, we have also included a table of some popular travel destinations and whether or not you can purchase or bring pepper spray in that country. All “Yes” countries marked with a star (*) have certain restrictions when it comes to purchasing so we recommend researching before attempting to purchase within the country or attempting to bring the pepper spray into the country. We also recommend contacting the U.S. Embassy in each country that has a “Yes” as the pepper spray laws may only apply to citizens of that country.

Country	Can I carry/purchase pepper spray?
Australia	No
Austria	Yes
Asia	No
Belgium	No
Canada	No
Denmark	No
Germany	No
Greece	No
Hong Kong	No
India	No
Israel	Yes
Italy	Yes*
Ireland	No
Japan	No
Latvia	Yes*
Netherlands	No
New Zealand	No
Norway	No
South Africa	Yes
Sweden	No
Switzerland	No
United Kingdom	No

You may read the list above and wonder if you are unable to bring pepper sprays on planes, what then is the best alternative to pepper spray for vacations or work trips? We recommend keeping an eye out for the next post in our series, Alternatives on Airplanes, for a traveler favorites list. For those who choose to solely travel within the United States, you can find a list of State Restrictions regarding carrying pepper spray as well as stun devices here.

Our Damsel Safety Educators are also more than happy to share their thoughts and experiences with traveling with Pepper Spray! You can contact one near you today by clicking here.