Flying with a fountain pen...

[Buzz_130]

As a professional pilot and frequent traveller with fountain pens, don't worry about it. Until you level off, keep the nibs pointed up. I've travelled with vintage and modern, European, Japanese, and US made. They've all held up fine as long as I kept the nibs up during the initial pressurization changes.

 

I will make a short plug for the amazing Parker "51." I wrote about my experiences when my plane depressurized at 17,000 feet. During that portion of my flight, I was using my Parker "51" (Flighter) as my primary writing tool while handling our emergency as well as the formation of aircraft I was leading. Amazing engineering and a well-deserved reputation in the "51".

 

I'm traveling internationally today, and I'm carrying.... 4 Parker 51s and an Esterrbrook J (all partially filled). 7500 miles in 3 days, and they've been faithful companions.

 

Buzz

[gknep]

I've flown many times with a VP in my carry on with no problems ever. I did however once try and take some frozen meat back in checked luggage during the winter. After checking my luggage I got bumped from the flight while the luggage did not. It took 3 days for my luggage and me to be reunited. The well packaged meat had thawed and gone bad by then.

[lurker]

I recently flew with an inked up L2k and a Lamy Safari. Both pens did fine, I had them in my breast pocket. I also flew with a bottle of Noodlers ink that was in my checked baggage. I put that in a baggy though just in case of leaks. Everything was fine, no leaks for anything.

[bassmannate]

I recently flew with a 78G, a Hero 329 and a Safari all in various stages of being filled. Some point up and some on their sides. None leaked at all.

[penhand]

I've flown for 3 years with various TWSBI pens and various stages of fullness -- never a problem (but for safety, I keep them in a ziplock bag anyway).

[Splicer]

I just got back from a trip: two flights out and two flights back. Brought only one pen: a Platinum Plaisir. Which might not be a fair example because the Plaisir supposedly has a special pressure-change-resistant feed (I'm not confirming this claim, just that they make this claim.) I've never had troubles with other fountain pens before, but due to timing I might not have noticed this one thing when using other pens previously:

 

On *descent* I found that the pen would stop writing. I assume that this is because the pressure differential forced the ink backward in the feed. It was a *very* temporary effect; I was back writing within a minute, but it was consistent. On all four flights the only times I had flow issues with my pen was during descent, and I had that problem on all four flights.

 

Not a problem that should stop anyone from using a fountain pen on an airplane. If there really is something functionally different about the Plaisir's feed it could be an artifact of that particular feed. Just an observation.

[Kimo]

I've been lucky and never experienced any issues with my fountain pens on airplanes. Still, I know it could happen so I always bring along one of those very small zip lock baggies, the ones that are about one third the size of the sandwich size, and keep my pens in it if I am not writing with them in flight, just in case.