How to travel with hats

[Aerol]

This has actually been discussed before.

There are two major hazards to hats. First, that some clod will put his luggage on your hat. My experience is that long-haul flights are "safer" than shorter flights, as passengers tend to check larger, extended stay, bags on longer flights. There are fewer weekender bags in the overhead, and more coats, etc.

The second hazard is that whatever is in the overhead will shift FORWARD when the plane brakes on landing. Put your hat as far aft in the luggage compartment as possible. This will prevent it from being crushed upon braking.

Of course, the softer the hat the better off you are. A stiff cowboy or outback hat is far easier to damage than a softer Optimo or AB felt. And I'd never put a Montecristi in the overhead.

I just got back from a long weekend in DC. I had no trouble with my Optimo felt; any denting, etc., just smoothed right out.

 

[Bird's One View]

I normally stow my hat under the seat in front.

 

[carldelo]

I just returned from a west coast trip with two hats. I had a Stetson felt and a polypro straw and kept them one inside the other, straw on the bottom (it's a bit smaller). I put them on top of my knapsack in the overhead bin. The knapsack is thin enough to leave height above it for the hats, and wide enough to keep the neighboring carry on bags from squeezing the hats. Any minor bending of the felt was not permanent. I've also put my hat in the bin on top of my raincoat, but that doesn't really keep other's bags from sliding. You do have to keep an eye on the bin while people are putting bags up there - I often help arrange things to make sure my hat survives. Surprisingly, I've found most people are careful of hats on an airplane.

 

[Bird's One View]

Surprisingly, I've found most people are careful of hats on an airplane.

In my experience a lot of people who are unfamiliar with hats think they are much more delicate than they actually are.

My favorite question (of a felt fedora): "Do you have to cover it when it rains?"

 

[stibbons]

My favorite question (of a felt fedora): "Do you have to cover it when it rains?"

...that's beautiful. lol

The longest flight I've had to endure carrying a hat was a six hour flight from Sydney to Perth with a very stiff Akubra Coolabah. It survived very well stowed under the seat in front.

 

[Mr. Paladin]

I let a stewardess talk me into putting mine in the first aid overhead bin last year, on a return trip from London/Cornwall. She assured me it would not get smashed. She was right--it was worse than smashed. It took several hours of work to make it right again. Not her fault though; I knew better. :eusa_doh: Mine will ride happily back and forth on my head from now on.

 

[Boodles]

Traveling without a hat can

Last year I took a Panama with me from North Carolina to the Bahamas. I carried it the whole way which was almost sucessful but really a pain. On the return trip from Lauderdale to Charlotte, NC we had a three seat isle with the center seat empty, I'm thinking easy street. An hour out of Charlotte my wife puts her elbow on the hat and crunches it! Gees. Those of you who have long term relationships with women know what I said. Nothing. It was off to Graham Thompson for the hat. It needed to be sized smaller anyway, plus his block looked better. So, a $100 hat becomes a $200 hat. I later bought a couple hat cans but have not traveled by air since getting those. I have used them a lot on road trips.

 

[FurFeltFedora]

So this thread does beg the question, if you wanted to get a hat can - where can you get them?

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Here is one place http://www.sheplers.com/hats/hat_ac...Froogle&color=89&CS_003=2113742&CS_010=101403

 

[Aerol]

Almost any western wear store will have them. Be sure to shop around, a quick check showed prices ranging from $70 to $35 (www.alcalas.com).

 

[Boodles]

Good advice

Almost any western wear store will have them. Be sure to shop around, a quick check showed prices ranging from $70 to $35 (www.alcalas.com).

Good advice from the man with the beautiful Optimo straw homburg. Both my hat cans came from the dealer that Mr Carlisle Blues has pointed out for us. I bought there based on price, but have found that both service and price are good reasons to trade with these folks. I don't know that it was a great idea but I even bought one of the "double barreled", stacked versions, for my "two boater" weekends at the coast. These come in several colors but mine are black. It may well be that most of these cans are manufactured by the same plastics company, each one I've inspected looked exactly like mine save for the decals.

Mr Aerol, you do have a hat can or box to transport that homburg in, correct?

 

[johnnycanuck]

Just wear it. Have it on your knee or put it at your feet (just remember not to kick it)
Last two times I went to Scotland that's what I did. Most of the time it was on my face as I slept.

Johnny

 

[Aerol]

Yes, Boodles, I have a hat can that I bought at Alcalas here in Chicago. The homburg, though, hasn't left town yet. I tend to travel with felt hats. Just one less thing to worry about.

 

[gsquaredb]

I am thinking of buying a cardboard box. Cardboard boxes come flat so it can easily be carried in my carry on luggage. I can then unfold the box put my hat in the box and the box in the overhead luggage. A lot cheaper and easier to carry then a hatbox/hat can.

Thoughts?

 

[zetwal]

Here are a couple related threads -

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12585&highlight=travel
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=876&highlight=travel

 

[ScionPI2005]

Just wear it. Have it on your knee or put it at your feet (just remember not to kick it)
Last two times I went to Scotland that's what I did. Most of the time it was on my face as I slept.

Johnny

This is actually what I do. I've never stored a hat while on the plane, and have had good success either keeping it on my head, on my lap, or on top of my backpack while being placed under the seat in front of me (although this has been more for my flatcaps, not a fedora).

 

[hatted]

What we need is a collapsible hat box that can be easily stowed in your carry-on bag, then, unfolded origami-like on the plane to store a hat.

 

[Aureliano]

When flying to italy, which I do at least once a year, I open the little eating table, make sure it's clean and my hat travels on it comfortably.

 

[Tomasso]

Straw stays on my head and felt is stored in the overhead.

 

[Brent Hutto]

As summer vacation approaches (feels like summer is already here in South Carolina) I'll recall this thread from April...

I'm flying to England for a week in late June and hadn't planned on taking my everyday hat, just the Tilley hat I wear to play golf. The closer it gets to the day the more I'm realizing that I'll feel a little bit lost without my hat. I wear it damn near everywhere and to be that far from home with my bare head showing just seems...off somehow.

It's a big, tall-crowned Borsalino Alessandria with a good-sized brim. So I think actually sitting in a high-backed airliner seat with it on would be awkward. But I'll have suitcase and golf clubs and carrying along some sort of box or can is right out. Other than seated on the plane it'll have to spend most of the time perched atop my head (or in my B&B room when I'm on the golf course).

This is a real newbie question but just how much of a banging or crunching can a hat like this bounce back from. It's made of super light and thin felt and came open crown. So I have to sort of rebash it in minor ways all the time. But I don't think I've ever actually sat on it or had something crush it flat, which I suppose could happen on the plane or on the train. Can I just massage it back into my crappy center-dent shape and be good as new?

I'm tempted to buy a "rollable" fur felt hat but I'm afraid this one has made me a little bit of Borsalino snob. And it's bad enough paying 200+ bucks for a hat I wear 350 days a year, hard to see paying almost that much for a Borsalino rollable one. Plus my Alessandria just fits like a custom-tailored suit, makes me wonder if some other randomly selected "Size 7-3/4" will be as comfy.