The story behind how I managed to check a large cardboard box of complimentary food on my last flight.

In 2020, the travel scene is experiencing a myriad of changes—on both grand and small scales—that would have been unthinkable before a global pandemic disrupted everyday life.

This year has introduced us to airports filled with idle but ready planes, deserted terminals and hotels, major amusement parks shut down for over six months, a drastically reduced air travel network, a lengthy list of travel restrictions, a 95% decline in air traffic at its peak, mandatory face coverings during travel, and so much more.

Additionally, for the first time, I checked a huge box of nonperishable food on our latest flight—without any charge. Here’s how and why 2020 led me to bring my own personal pantry on board.

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Travel has evolved.

Travel is making a comeback, but it looks different than it used to.

While some are reverting to their previous travel habits, many travelers (including my family) now prioritize safety over luxury and convenience. In line with this trend, whole-home rentals have gained new appeal by facilitating more distanced and self-contained trips.

My family has booked multiple vacation homes since the shift in travel earlier this year, partly to use the kitchen for cooking meals and minimize outings.

Bring your own food

For a recent weeklong rental at a beach house, we needed to stock up the kitchen.

In the weeks leading up to our trip, I added extra cereal, pasta, snacks, granola bars, and more to our regular grocery orders. Since we planned to drive to this rental, transporting the food wouldn’t be an issue.

We would need to pick up some fresh items upon arrival, but at least we wouldn’t be empty-handed. Then, just as it is 2020, a hurricane struck between our home and our destination in Florida right before our planned departure. Consequently, we decided it would be wiser to fly rather than drive through the aftermath of a major storm.

However, I wasn't particularly thrilled about starting the kitchen stocking process from scratch, so we got inventive. We decided to fill a large box with our food, check it with the airline, and take it along as part of our complimentary checked baggage allowance.

Checking in a box of food for free

I didn’t have any easily accessible luggage large enough to fit all this food, but I did have a big cardboard box saved from a huge Nordstrom Anniversary Sale order. Ultimately, that disposable box turned out to be a smart choice since I only needed to transport the food one way and could discard the box afterward.

While policies vary by airline, United permits its elite members, credit cardholders, and first-class passengers to check up to two pieces of luggage for free. This isn’t unique to United; having the right credit card can waive checked bag fees on most U.S. airlines.

There are size limitations for flying economy with United, where the maximum allowed size for a free checked box is 50 pounds and a total of 62 inches (length + width + height) on the outside.

Fortunately, the weight of the box wasn’t an issue, but it was just an inch or two shy of the size limit. I measured it several times at home, though at the airport, it was only weighed and not measured.

I felt a bit silly carrying a large cardboard box to the check-in area at the airport, but no one seemed to mind when we checked the box for free to our final destination.

In summary

The big box of pantry supplies was waiting safely for us at the baggage claim at the end of our journey.

While I likely wouldn’t have planned it this way if we had intended to fly from the start, it turned out to be ideal. We arrived at the rental around lunchtime, quite hungry, and had the ingredients for peanut butter sandwiches and chips ready to go. Although we ordered additional groceries for delivery later that day, local grocery prices were significantly higher than what we could get at home, making this a win/win despite the little extra effort of bringing the box to the airport initially.