Altor guide · 2026-09-08

Limited quantities: when the easier rules apply and when they do not

The bottles are small. The outer carton is the same fibreboard box the warehouse uses for the truck, and a limited quantity diamond is already on the side. Then the booking is an aircraft. The acceptance desk at the cargo terminal looks at the mark and stops the freight. The diamond has no Y. There is no Shipper's Declaration. The quantity that was legal on the highway is not the packing instruction the air list assigned.

What the regulation actually requires

Limited quantity is a packing regime. It is not permission to skip classification.

For a US highway movement of a Class 3 flammable liquid, 49 CFR 173.150(b) is the exception most desks remember. Combination packagings. Inner packagings not over 1.0 L for packing group II, not over 5.0 L for packing group III. Strong outer packaging. Completed package not over 30 kg (66 pounds) gross. Labeling and specification packaging are often dropped. The shipping paper required by 49 CFR Part 172 Subpart C is often dropped as well, unless the package is offered by aircraft or vessel.

Air cuts that exception open. 49 CFR 173.150(b) sends an aircraft offering to 49 CFR 173.27, and only material authorized aboard passenger-carrying aircraft may move as a limited quantity. 49 CFR 173.27(f)(2) is the air limited quantity rule: combination packaging, inner and outer limits from Table 3 of that paragraph, Class 3 packing group I forbidden as limited quantity by aircraft, 30 kg (66 pounds) gross, a secondary means of closure for liquids, and the limited quantity Y mark in 49 CFR 172.315(b). Hazard labels come back. The shipping paper comes back.

IATA DGR 2.7, 67th Edition, is the same regime. ICAO TI Part 3, Chapter 4 is the Technical Instructions chapter those provisions implement. A Y packing instruction in IATA DGR Section 4.2 is the on-ramp. No Y number means that entry is not authorized as limited quantity by air. IATA DGR Section 5 is the packing instruction itself.

A worked example. UN 1090 Acetone, Class 3, packing group II. Passenger aircraft, fully regulated: packing instruction 353, 5 L per package. Limited quantity: packing instruction Y341, 1 L per package. Cargo aircraft, fully regulated: packing instruction 364, 60 L per package. The Y line lives next to the passenger cells.

UN 1263 Paint makes the packing group split visible. Packing group I: passenger packing instruction 351 at 1 L, and no Y packing instruction. Packing group II: packing instruction 353 at 5 L, limited quantity Y341 at 1 L. Packing group III: packing instruction 355 at 60 L, limited quantity Y344 at 10 L. Packing group I cannot ride the limited quantity shortcut by air. On some other lines the list maximum is a gross mass, shown with a G. IATA DGR 8.1.6.9.2 is how quantity is written on the Shipper's Declaration.

Excepted quantities are a third regime. The E codes in the list, IATA DGR 2.6, and 49 CFR 173.4a, are not limited quantity. The operator still runs IATA DGR 9.1.3. IATA DGR 7.1.4.2 is the limited quantity mark on the acceptance checklist. 49 CFR 173.22 still places classification on the offeror.

The mistake people make

Desks pack the highway limited quantity and tender it as air. The mark is the 49 CFR 172.315(a) diamond, no Y. The inner bottles match 49 CFR 173.150(b)(2), 1 L packing group II, which is legal on the truck. The booking is a passenger aircraft. IATA DGR 2.7 and 49 CFR 173.27(f)(2) are not satisfied by a highway exception.

They write packing instruction Y341 because the net quantity looks small, then leave 2 L in the box. The current list for UN 1090 packing group II limited quantity is 1 L. The fully regulated passenger ceiling of 5 L belongs to packing instruction 353, not to Y341. They copy packing group I paint onto a limited quantity template. UN 1263 packing group I has no Y packing instruction. They skip the Shipper's Declaration because 49 CFR 173.150(b) often drops the shipping paper on the highway. On air, IATA DGR 8.1 still wants the form. An E code in the list is not packing instruction Y341.

A limited quantity line that does not match the packagings is a paperwork failure that parks freight at the cargo terminal. What to do after a rejection sits at https://altor.consulting/rejected.html.

How to fix it

Lock the UN number, packing group, and aircraft type from the booking before anyone writes limited quantity on the carton. Open the current IATA DGR Section 4.2 list. If there is no Y packing instruction for that UN number and packing group, stop. Fully regulated packing, or a different packing group, or a different mode.

If a Y packing instruction is printed, open that instruction in IATA DGR Section 5. Confirm combination packaging, inner type, inner quantity, and any additional packing requirements. Confirm the package quantity sits inside the Y maximum in Section 4.2, and that the completed package is inside the 30 kg gross limit in 49 CFR 173.27(f)(2) and ICAO TI Part 3, Chapter 4. For a US air offering, read Table 3 in 49 CFR 173.27(f) as well. Mark the package with the limited quantity Y mark in 49 CFR 172.315(b) and IATA DGR 7.1.4.2. Apply the hazard labels the air rules still require. Complete the Shipper's Declaration. Write the Y packing instruction and the quantity per IATA DGR 8.1.6.9.2. Walk the paper against the box in the same order IATA DGR 9.1.3 will. If you cannot stand behind the limited quantity claim under 49 CFR 172.204 and IATA DGR 8.1.6.12, pack it fully regulated or do not tender it.

Do not offer a highway limited quantity carton as an air shipment.

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