I'm thinking about having some friends fly in for deep sea fishing. This would require the fish to be packed on ice in a cooler so they can take them home.

Anyone ever done this? I've though about buying a styrofoam cooler, loading it, taping it up, and checking it. What are the rules on water ice vs. dry ice? How likely is it that the cooler would get destroyed on the way?

I have done it with a small cooler taking a care package of venison from Houston to New Jersey so the kids could get a taste of home everytime we went to visit. I checked the rules first and carried a hard side cooler small enough to sit on my lap. Took a little longer to get through the check points but otherwise was fine.

If you are going to have a size that must be checked. I would approach it this way.

Personally I would get a hard side cooler, straight styrofoam thick enough to with stand handling would probably cost just as much.
If possible pre freeze your goodies. Get a cooler that will be just avout 4" deeper than your load of meat, with it stacked as tight as possible.
Using an insulator (I prefer an old blanket, newspaper is ok, etc) put about 1" of insulation over the meat. Place dry ice on top evenly spaced but it is not necessary to pack solid. Fill the rest of the air space with insulater.
Close and secure lid, taping shut or straping recommended.

This will keep what you have frozen for at the least 3 days maybe five. For more time all that needs to be done is replace the dry ice within 12 hours after the last of it has evaporated. Essentially a traveling freezer.

During the summer I work for a lodge in Alaska and we send out all of our clients fish in coolers and it works great.  We vaccum pack and pre freeze the fish fillets, load them in brown wax boxes and send them on there way.  We have had clients from London who didnt have any trouble keeping there fish frozen throughout the flight home.  Some clients even bring their own coolers which I imagine work better than the wax boxes.  I know that Alaskan Airlines also has a freezer service as they cater to a lot of fisherman.  May want to check on that with whoever your flying with.  Dry ice works the best as well if you want some extra insurance.

I posted this to www.flyertalk.com, another board I look at.  Here were some of the responses:

We've taken a large Igloo cooler on several air trips. I have the original box it came in so we just put a camping strap tight around cooler and tape the box. Different airlines seem to very different policies on the ice / dry ice question, so I'd call your specific carrier in advance.

When we check it, the G/A always asks if we have fish in it, and they seem disappointed when we say no.

p.s. the cooler has never been damaged (yet!) by air travel, and I suspect that is because it is treated as oversize bagged and brought out by hand, not on the conveyer belt with the rest of the luggage
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Dry Ice has to be declared and is considered a hazzardous shippment.

Some friends were bringing Greater's (graters?) Ice Cream from Cincinnatti .. and I think had it packed in dry ice (this was YEARS ago). The airline did accept it as baggage (with loads of forms) .. and the comment was 'we have to tell the captain so he will not vent air from the cargo hold into the cabin' which apparently could cause serious issues.

When you bring your ice chest.. bring LOTS of Duct Tape. Flights from Alaska always have ice chests on them .. with the name written in felt tip pen on the tops! I hope inside the ice is in several sealed bags ... but the duct tape is added insurance!

Commercial establishments (like in Pike Place Market in Seattle) will pack purchases for you .. and they are good for at least 24 hours. They use cardboard boxes with styrofoam liners .. always carried mine on so not sure about checking.

YUP.. ENJOY your fresh fish!
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Do not use a Styrofoam cooler unless it is placed inside another box. You're almost guaranteed that is will not last.

I have traveled with a plastic cooler as checked baggage loaded with frozen upland game from hunting trips. Do as others have said, pack with some ice or just make sure the contents are well frozen, and duct tape all seams, handles and wrap across the top. I don't use ice as it adds to the weight and if the contents are frozen solid, it really isn't needed.
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We always travel with coolers full of fresh seafood due to our location (Pacific Islands). CO is great with it in our area. We used to use the igloo Marine series as it kept the items for the longest time, but they introduced the maxcold series which works good too. AVOID styrofoam from my experience as it was always dinged and damaged leaking all over the place. Take tape with you, you'll need to have it inspected, then CO makes us buy a large heavy duty plastic bag and they wrap the cooler in the bag and seal the bag in case the cooler leaks.

Personally I'd tape the handels and the drain spout as those break the easiest and I've had my fair share of baggage handlers rip off the handles. You can cut the tape when you get it so it's easier to carry yourself. If you're using CO I've only had good experiences with them, they've lost our coolers before but found them and delivered them to our location and the seafood was still good. We prepare the items (fillet the fish or such) as it saves space and is easier to pack into the cooler. And CO in our area only lets you pack it with regular ice for checked baggage.
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During the various salmon run seasons in Alaska I've seen scores of coolers on the baggage carousels when landing back in the "lower 48!" You may wish to phone Alaska Airlines and ask what they recommend, since they have so much experience with this issue.

Ol' John used to work for American Airlines, and I suspect he knows the skinny on dry ice being considered "hazardous". Personally, I'm pretty sure it isn't but the best answer to that comes straight from the horse's mouth.
 
I've shipped a lot of stuff in coolers, and I can't really add anything to Alboy's and Kanibal's comments. I woudl simply emphasize that a hard-side cooler is just about mandatory in my opinion.
 
Paul
 
My apologies for the edit, Paul........but I was with AA for almost 20 years...not Continental(a good airline by the way)!

With reference to "dry ice", yes it is considered a hazardous material back when I was working ground passenger services. We had to know the #'s of dry ice and had to notify aircraft operations how much was being loaded. Each aircraft type ie 727, DC-10 etc. was only allowed to carry a certain # of pounds in each cargo compartment. One of the main reasons for these was in the event a live animal was being loaded in the cargo area. The 'lead' ground handler had to verify that no live animals were in the same cargo area as the 'dry ice'! Dry ice as you well know is frozen carbon dioxide & live animals (humans included) prefer not to breathe in too much of that stuff. We prefer not to suffocate!
 
Now I took early retirement in 1987 so some info I have stated may be out-dated. Best to check the specific airline on their regs. Oh yeah.....live animals have priority..so your dry ice could possibly be left behind until the next flight. Hope this helps.
 
Ol' John (aka..the horse's mouth..hehehe!):D
 
PS..one more little item...wrap the container with wide masking tape and write with black Marks-A-Lot........"DRY ICE" with the #'s noted also.  Things will go a lot smoother at check-in if you work "WITH" the particular airline.