Many different people and cultures use multicookers all over the world. Instant Pot is a brand of multicooker that Instant Brands makes. It combines an electronically controlled pressure cooker and other cooking methods. These handy pots are life savers for people on the go to set and forget meals for later, so can you bring an Instant Pot on a plane?

You can bring an Instant Pot on a plane. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allows pressure cookers and multicookers through security. They are allowed in checked and carry-on luggage. However, some airlines do not allow them, so contact your airline to find out their policies.

The TSA will be your biggest hurdle if you want to travel with your Instant Pot or any other type of electronically controlled multicooker. It will be your airline. Each airline has different policies on what they do and do not allow on their airplanes. Some airlines allow pressure cookers and multicookers while others do not. 

Can you Bring an Instant Pot on a Plane?

An Instant Pot or any electronically controlled multicooker is great for making easy and cheap meals. Especially when you want to come home to a ready-cooked meal you didn’t have to wait for, you can just set the food to prepare at a certain time, and then your meal is waiting for you when you return. So, the Instant Pot makes for a great meal-maker travel companion.

You can bring your Instant Pot through TSA-controlled airport security, but each airline makes its own policies about what they allow on their flights. So, it’s important to call your airline to be sure.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allows pressure cookers, slow cookers, and electronically controlled multicookers to be stowed in either checked luggage that goes under the plane or in carry-on luggage that the passenger carries with them and is usually stored in an overhead compartment above the passengers’ seat.

Difficulties You May Encounter

Pressure cookers have been used in numerous terrorist attacks around the world. Many airlines and the TSA deem them as potentially dangerous. While you can bring your Instant Pot or multicooker through security, you should expect a more extensive screening process. This can increase your boarding time. So, you may want to arrive early.

There are a few ways you can avoid getting bogged down in security with the TSA and try and get through as quickly as possible:

  • Check the Instant Pot instead of carrying it as Carry-on luggage
  • Separate the Instant Pot main body and the lid into separate bags
  • Consider mailing it to your destination
  • Purchase a spare 

Also, consider the space and outlet situation at your destination. You might need an extension cord and adapter, which is easy to use.

Some methods of traveling with your Instant Pot are preferable to others; However, sometimes, it is better to be safe than sorry. You would hate to make it to the airport only to dispose of your precious Instant Pot.

Checking the Instant Pot Instead of Carry-On

TSA allows you to check your Instant Pot and carry it onto the plane in your carry-on luggage. However, if you are in a hurry and don’t want to deal with the extra screening processes that going the security with a pressure cooker will bring, you may get more mileage out of just checking the Instant Pot in your baggage that goes under the plane. 

Most Instant Pots tend to be large, if not cumbersome, devices that will likely make putting your bag in an overhead compartment rather unwieldy. It would be much easier when traveling to add it to your checked luggage, if possible.

Separate the Instant Pot Body and Lid into Different Bags

One of the traits that makes pressure cookers so dangerous is that you can seal the lid onto the main body and have it build pressure, which could be dangerous. So, one method of possibly getting through security with as few hiccups as possible is to store the lid and the main body in separate bags. That way, there is no confusion about intent.

It isn’t going to guarantee that your extra screening won’t happen or will go quickly by any means. But it could make the Instant Pot less of an obvious danger and into the more innocuous, harmless cooking vessel it usually is.

Consider Mailing Your Instant Pot to Your Destination

This is probably not the cheapest method, but it will avoid any hassle with airport security or airline policies. You can have your hotel or Airbnb can give you their address and hold your package for when you arrive.

Purchase a Spare Instant Pot

It may seem silly, but some people actually prefer just to purchase a spare Instant Pot once they get to their destination. You can always give the new one to a friend or family member or keep it for if one breaks. Not the most economical, but it is an option.

Conclusion

Instant Pot brand electronically controlled multicookers are allowed through airport security, but it is up to you to contact the specific airline you are traveling with to find out their airline’s policies. Some allow them, and some don’t.