# Unaccompanied Baggage: Weight Limits and Your HHG Allowance

> Unaccompanied baggage is the expedited shipment meant to reach your new duty station ahead of the main one — and the JTR counts every pound of it against the same household goods allowance the main shipment is weighed against. Here is the rule, the separate caps that apply only at OCONUS locations with an administrative weight limit, the 1,000-pound commercial-air ceiling, and why 350 pounds per person is the civilian employee rule, not yours.

- Canonical URL: https://www.pcscalculator.net/blog/unaccompanied-baggage-pcs-weight-allowance
- Published: 2026-10-01
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- Topics: weight-allowance, jtr, oconus, pcs-planning
- Publisher: PCS Calculator
- Rates last verified: 2026-08-22 (oldest across the sources below)
- Rate sources:
  - weight: JTR Table 5-37, household goods weight allowances
- Note: Figures come from published DoD Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) rate tables and are estimates. Confirm final entitlements with your installation's Transportation or Finance Office. PCS Calculator is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Department of Defense.

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## The Shipment That Arrives First

Unaccompanied baggage is the small, fast shipment meant to reach your new duty station ahead of
everything else — the sheets, the pots and pans, the uniforms, the crib, the things that make a bare
house livable while the main shipment is still in transit. What it is not is extra. Every pound of it
comes out of the same figure your main shipment is weighed against, which you can look up by grade and
dependency status on the [weight allowances page](https://www.pcscalculator.net/weight-allowances).

That one fact decides the rest. If you send 1,200 pounds ahead and then load the truck to your full
ceiling, you are over by those 1,200 pounds — and the overage is billed to you, not absorbed. The Joint
Travel Regulations state the rule twice, in two paragraphs of the section that sets the weight
allowance.

What follows is read from the Joint Travel Regulations, edition **08/01/2026**, with
paragraph numbers given so every rule here can be checked against the regulation itself. A few
abbreviations recur: **HHG** is household goods, **PDS** is your permanent
duty station, **PBP&E** is professional books, papers and equipment (pro-gear), and
**CONUS** and **OCONUS** are inside and outside the continental United
States.

## What Is Unaccompanied Baggage?

Unaccompanied baggage is a small shipment of necessary items sent by an expedited mode, separately
from your main household goods shipment, so that what you need first can arrive first. For a PCS, JTR
Appendix A says it includes personal clothing and effects, equipment directly related to the
assignment, essential cooking items, light housekeeping items, and the cribs, playpens and baby
carriages needed to care for dependents — and that refrigerators, washing machines, other major
appliances and furniture are not unaccompanied baggage.

The definition itself is short:

> UNACCOMPANIED BAGGAGE is a Service member or civilian employee's necessary items shipped by an expedited mode to a TDY or PCS location. The component's transportation office determines the method of transportation and payment. Unaccompanied baggage may be transported separately from the majority of household goods.

Two things in it are worth slowing down for. The method is **the transportation office's
call, not yours** — "expedited mode" is not a synonym for air, and the office decides how the
shipment moves and how it is paid for. And the shipment is defined by what is in it and how it moves,
not by when it leaves.

The contents rule is just as specific. For PCS travel, temporary change of station travel, renewal
agreement travel and consecutive overseas tour travel, Appendix A says unaccompanied baggage includes
"personal clothing and effects, equipment directly related to the assignment, essential cooking items,
light housekeeping items, cribs, playpens, and baby carriages that are required for the care of
dependents." It then rules out the heavy things explicitly: "Items such as refrigerators, washing
machines, and other major appliances or furniture are not unaccompanied baggage."

The dividing line the definition draws is function and bulk: a crib is named in it and a dresser is
furniture, so the crib may go and the dresser may not. If an item is furniture or a major appliance, it
belongs in the main shipment regardless of how badly you want it early.

## Does Unaccompanied Baggage Count Against Your HHG Weight Allowance?

Yes — in full, with no separate pool and no exemption. JTR par. 051403-A says unaccompanied baggage
"is part of the Service member's authorized HHG weight allowance," and par. 051401-A defines the Table
5-37 allowance as "the total combined weight of any HHG shipped, plus any unaccompanied baggage
shipped, and any HHG in storage." Every pound you send ahead comes off what the main shipment can weigh
before you start paying for excess.

Three pieces, one ceiling. That is the rule to plan around, because it means the arithmetic has to
be done before pack-out and not after.

Par. 051401-A goes on to list what is *not* in the allowance, and the contrast is the whole
point. Par. 051401-A-1 excludes PBP&E, required medical equipment and gun safes; par. 051401-A-2 excludes
accompanied baggage and excess accompanied baggage — the bags that travel with you. Unaccompanied
baggage is on neither list.

| Shipment | Counts against the Table 5-37 allowance? | Authority |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Main household goods shipment | Yes | par. 051401-A |
| Unaccompanied baggage | Yes | pars. 051401-A and 051403-A |
| Household goods in storage | Yes | par. 051401-A |
| PBP&E (pro-gear), member and approved spouse | No | pars. 051401-A-1 and 051304-A-1 |
| Required medical equipment | No — and it has no weight limit | pars. 051401-A-1 and 051304-B |
| An empty gun safe | No, within the ceiling in par. 051304-C | par. 051401-A-1 |
| Accompanied and excess accompanied baggage | No | par. 051401-A-2 |
| Items of extraordinary value | Yes — and they may not travel as unaccompanied baggage | section 0516 |

## What Is the Unaccompanied Baggage Weight Limit?

Unless your new duty station has an administrative weight limit, there is no separate figure: your
unaccompanied baggage shares your grade's Table 5-37 household goods allowance with the main shipment
and anything in storage. Administrative limits exist only OCONUS (JTR par. 051402-A-1). Where the
new PDS has one, par. 051403-A caps unaccompanied baggage at the lesser of that location's
administrative limit or 2,000 pounds for a member with command-sponsored family members (for the
whole family), 10% of the authorized weight allowance for an unaccompanied member normally assigned
to furnished Government quarters, or 2,000 pounds for an unaccompanied member not normally assigned
to furnished bachelor quarters. Wherever you are going, no more than 1,000 pounds of it, pro-gear included, may go by
commercial air (par. 051403-B).

The caps in par. 051403-A are written with a condition in front of them, and the condition is easy
to read past:

> If the new PDS is a location with an HHG administrative weight limit, then the unaccompanied baggage weight is the lesser of either the administrative weight limit for the PDS location listed at Administrative HHG Weight Allowance Locations, or one of the following:

So the caps attach to the **destination**, not to the shipment. If your new PDS is not
on the administrative weight limit list, none of the three figures below applies to you, and the total
your unaccompanied baggage can weigh is bounded by your grade's allowance — the commercial-air limit
governs only how much of it goes by commercial air. If your new PDS is on the list, the cap is the
*lesser* of the location's own administrative limit and whichever of these three describes
you:

| Your situation | Unaccompanied baggage limit | Authority |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Active duty, with command-sponsored family members | 2,000 pounds — for the entire family, not for each traveler | par. 051403-A-1 |
| Active duty, unaccompanied, normally assigned to furnished Government quarters | 10% of your authorized weight allowance | par. 051403-A-2 |
| Active duty, unaccompanied, not normally assigned to furnished bachelor enlisted or bachelor officer quarters | 2,000 pounds | par. 051403-A-3 |

The qualifier in the first row is in the regulation's own words — "The 2,000-pound weight limit is
for the entire family, not for each traveler" — and it rules out multiplying by the number of people.
A family of five gets the same figure as a family of two.

The second row is a percentage rather than a number, so it moves with the Table 5-37 row you sit
on: 10% of a junior enlisted allowance and 10% of a senior officer's are very different shipments.
Work it out from your own grade and dependency status rather than from somebody else's.

At such a location the baggage also counts inside the location's overall limit, not only against
its own cap. The same paragraph says that when the shipment is to an area with an administrative
weight limit for HHG, "the unaccompanied baggage weight is part of the administrative HHG weight
limitation."

## Where Do Administrative Weight Limits Apply?

Only at a duty station outside the continental United States, and only at a location on the
published list. Par. 051402-A-1, the provision that creates these limits, says weight allowances "can
be administratively restricted at a PDS OCONUS based on factors at that location" — whether household
goods are supplied at the PDS, whether space for them is limited in Government quarters or
private-sector housing, and whether storage for excess household goods is limited in the area. The
list is a JTR supplement, Administrative HHG Weight Allowance Locations, published on the Defense
Travel Management Office's website, and par. 051403-A compares the baggage caps with the
administrative limit "listed" there.

For an unaccompanied tour location, getting onto that list is a formal process, not a local
decision. Par. 051402-D requires the request to name the location, the proposed allowance and the
reasons for the reduction, the period it runs for, and the Services affected; par. 051402-D-2 then
routes it through each affected Service's Secretarial Process and on to the PDTATAC's Military
Advisory Panel and Civilian Advisory Panel members for final review and determination, after which the
location "will be listed at Administrative HHG Weight Allowance Locations." The paragraph ends:
**"Weight restrictions for locations not listed are not valid."**

Three practical consequences follow, all from the regulation rather than from custom:

- The remainder is not lost.
  Par. 051402-A-3: when the new PDS has an administrative weight limit, you are authorized transportation of the rest of your Table 5-37 allowance to a designated place or into non-temporary storage. The limit caps what goes
  there
  , not what the Government will move.
- Some moves are exempt outright.
  Par. 051402-B: administrative limits do not apply to household goods shipments from non-foreign OCONUS locations to any location without such a limit, to a member whose weight allowance is under 2,500 pounds, or to a member assigned as a combatant command Senior Defense Official/Defense Attaché "unless otherwise directed by the source agency, or if the post is identified as a Special Shipment Allowance Post."
- There is a route to more.
  Par. 051402-C lets you request an exception through the Secretarial Process when the listed weight is insufficient, in five named circumstances — including that items normally furnished by the Government at the new PDS are unavailable, in which case the administrative allowance "is increased in an amount equal to the weight of personally owned substitute furnishings." Whatever is granted, the combined weight shipped and stored still cannot exceed your Table 5-37 allowance.

## The 1,000-Pound Ceiling on Commercial Air

Separate from the weight allowance is a limit on how much of it can go by commercial air. Par.
051403-B authorizes expedited transportation of unaccompanied baggage "when necessary to enable the
Service member to carry out assigned duties or to prevent undue hardship on the Service member or a
dependent" — and then caps commercial air:

> The unaccompanied baggage, including any PBP&E, is limited to a maximum of 1,000 pounds when transported by commercial air.

Note that pro-gear is inside that 1,000 pounds even though it is outside your weight allowance.
The two limits measure different things and both apply at once.

Going over the air cap does not forfeit anything. The same paragraph says that if unaccompanied
baggage is shipped by expedited commercial air, "the remaining weight, limited to the unaccompanied
baggage weight allowance authorized in this paragraph, may be shipped by regular transportation
methods." The overflow moves by regular methods instead; it does not disappear.

## Can Pro-Gear Ship as Unaccompanied Baggage?

Yes. Par. 051304-A-5 says PBP&E "is transported the same way, and to the same authorized
locations, as HHG. Transportation may be expedited when shipped as unaccompanied baggage." Its weight
stays outside your allowance only if it is declared and documented as PBP&E, and if the baggage
goes by commercial air, the pro-gear counts toward the 1,000-pound limit.

The paperwork step is the Note under par. 051403-B:

> If the unaccompanied baggage shipment includes PBP&E or required medical equipment, the PBP&E and required medical equipment weight must be shown separately on the bill of lading.

A bill of lading that shows one combined weight leaves no pro-gear figure to set aside, and the
paperwork is what the exclusion rests on. Par. 051304-A says PBP&E "must be declared at the origin
of the shipment, and must be documented, to include certification or approval, according to Agency or
Service transportation procedures," and par. 051304-A-5 says that an item which should be PBP&E
but is not declared and documented as PBP&E before the move "is included in the HHG weight
allowance."

Required medical equipment has a gate of its own and a better allowance behind it. Under par.
051304-B, a member or dependent entitled to, and receiving, medical care under 10 U.S.C. §§ 1071–1110
may ship the medical equipment necessary for that care, which "may be shipped in the same way as HHG,
but has no weight limit," and its weight is not in the HHG allowance. The gate is par. 051304-B-2: "an
appropriate Uniformed Services healthcare provider must certify that the equipment is necessary for
medical treatment" of the member or the dependent authorized care. Par. 051304-B-1 rules out one item
explicitly — "Required medical equipment does not include a modified personally owned vehicle."

## What Cannot Go in Unaccompanied Baggage?

Beyond the furniture and major appliances Appendix A rules out, the JTR singles out one category by
name. Section 0516 covers items of extraordinary value — "items of gold and other precious metals,
jewels, valuable art, or rare and costly collections, and items of substantial value ordinarily worn
or carried that are prone to being stolen, such as cameras and binoculars" — and says they may move by
an expedited mode "and cannot be included in unaccompanied baggage."

Two further facts from the same section are worth knowing before you decide what to do with them.
The net weight of an extraordinary-value shipment is still "included as part of the Service member's
authorized PCS maximum weight allowance" — so routing a coin collection around unaccompanied baggage
does not route it around the ceiling. And the section warns that irreplaceable items and those of
extreme financial or sentimental value "are not given special security even though the Service member
may purchase extra-value insurance." The practical reading is to keep this category with you wherever
you can.

## How Is the Weight of Unaccompanied Baggage Measured?

By net weight, determined under par. 051404 and Table 5-39. If the baggage is weighed before
packing, its actual weight is what counts. If the Government arranges the shipment and its net weight
is not known, Table 5-39 has a row for unaccompanied baggage alone: subtract 50% from the gross weight
shown on the shipping document — a far larger deduction for packaging than a main shipment gets.

Table 5-39 sets out eight methods. Methods 5 through 7 are for Direct Procurement Method shipments;
these are the rest:

| Method | Situation | Net weight |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Actual weight | Household goods and unaccompanied baggage are weighed before packing | The actual weight of the unpacked and uncrated goods |
| 2. Government-arranged | The transporter weighs with the internal packing materials, and the unpacked actual weight is known | Use the actual weight method |
| 3. Government-arranged | The transporter weighs with the internal packing materials, and the unpacked actual weight is not known | Subtract 10% of the net weight shown on the shipping documents |
| 4. Unaccompanied baggage, government-arranged | The government arranges the unaccompanied baggage transportation and its net weight is not known | Subtract 50% from the gross weight shown on the shipping document |
| 8. Not applicable | Nothing is weighed and the weight cannot be obtained | 7 pounds per cubic foot, for all shipments |

The gap between rows 3 and 4 is the one to notice. A main shipment weighed with its packing comes
down by 10% of the net weight on its shipping documents; unaccompanied baggage whose net weight is not
known comes down by half its gross weight. Par. 051404 treats these figures as allowances for tare —
the weight of the packaging — and the one for unaccompanied baggage is by far the larger. If your shipping
document shows 600 pounds gross for an unaccompanied baggage shipment and nobody recorded a net weight,
the figure that should reach your allowance is 300.

Par. 051404 also leaves a valve open: the appropriate official, "ordinarily the Transportation
Officer," may deviate from these allowances "on the rare occasion when, through no fault of the
Service member, the shipment tare weight exceeds the allowances in Table 5-39." If the packaging
plainly outweighs the table's deduction through no fault of yours, that sentence is the one to
cite.

## What Happens If Unaccompanied Baggage Puts You Over?

You pay for the excess. Par. 051306-A-2 says a member "must repay the Service for the cost of
transporting his or her HHG in excess of the specified weight allowance" unless an increased weight
allowance has been specifically authorized, and par. 051306-A-1 adds the line that closes off an
appeal based on bad advice:

> Erroneous advice, or lack of advice, by a Government agent does not create an entitlement to reimbursement of, or shipment of HHG in excess of the weight allowed by statute.

Par. 051306-A-4 goes further. The Transportation Officer *should* warn you when excess
weight is known or suspected before the shipment moves — and you are "financially responsible for
the excess weight charges even if the Transportation Officer did not notify" you or the official
providing the transportation funds. The paragraph cites a Civilian Board of Contract Appeals decision
for the proposition: CBCA 2076-RELO, October 5, 2010.

What goes into the bill is broader than freight. Par. 051306-A-3: "All transportation costs are
included in determining excess costs, such as storage, accessorial services, and any other costs
that the Government paid to move the HHG." For a single shipment with nothing in storage, to or from
an area with no administrative weight restrictions, Table 5-36 row 1 computes the total
transportation cost less unauthorized items, and then: "The cost of excess net weight is prorated
based on the cost of total net weight transported."

When unaccompanied baggage travels alongside a main shipment, there is more than one shipment, and
there the table leans your way. Rows 2 and 4 both direct that the excess be computed "on the shipment
so that it results in the lowest cost to the Service member," and row 4 — for a move to or from an
administratively weight-restricted area — describes an unaccompanied baggage mistake exactly: each
individual shipment is within the administrative weight allowance, but added together they exceed
your authorized weight allowance.

## Is the Unaccompanied Baggage Allowance 350 Pounds Per Person?

Not for a Service member. That figure is real, but it is the civilian employee rule from a
different part of the same chapter. Par. 054305-E-1 sets a civilian employee's unaccompanied baggage
allowance at "350 pounds net weight for each adult and dependent age 12 or older and 175 pounds net
weight for each child under age 12," with the total by air or any expedited mode limited to 1,000
pounds net weight to, from or between PDSs OCONUS. Par. 051403, which governs a Service member on PCS
orders, contains no per-person figure of any kind.

The same per-person pair appears at par. 055007, for a DoDEA teacher on approved extended leave who
performs renewal agreement travel for advanced studies at a university in the United States. A third
civilian rule is flat rather than per-person: under par. 020505, a civilian employee on TDY of 31
days or more may be authorized unaccompanied baggage of up to 350 pounds, and no other household
goods shipment. None of the three is written for an active-duty member.

If a calculator or checklist multiplies 350 by your family size and hands you a number, it is
applying the civilian employee rule to a military move.

| Who | Unaccompanied baggage allowance | Authority |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Service member, PCS | Part of the Table 5-37 HHG allowance; separate caps only at an administrative weight limit location; 1,000 pounds by commercial air, pro-gear included | par. 051403 |
| Civilian employee, PCS | 350 pounds per adult and dependent 12 or older, 175 pounds per child under 12; 1,000 pounds net by air or any expedited mode to, from or between PDSs OCONUS | par. 054305-E-1 |
| Civilian employee, TDY of 31 days or more | 350 pounds, and no other household goods shipment | par. 020505 |
| DoDEA teacher on extended leave, renewal agreement travel for advanced studies | 350 pounds per adult and dependent 12 or older, 175 pounds per dependent under 12 | par. 055007 |

## The Situations With Their Own Rule

Five cases sit outside par. 051403, spread across Chapters 4, 5 and 6 of the regulation.

- Ordered to a hospital in the CONUS, without a prolonged-hospitalization statement.
  Par. 052010-A-1-a authorizes unaccompanied baggage "limited to 225 pounds gross weight" — gross, not net, so the packing counts against it. If the receiving hospital's commanding officer does issue the statement, par. 052010-A-1-b authorizes the same household goods transportation as a PCS instead.
- PCS to or from a ship deployed away from its home port.
  Unaccompanied baggage moves to the deployed ship, afloat staff or afloat unit (Table 5-43, under par. 052002-A-2) or from it (par. 052002-E-2) "without regard to distance."
- Dependent student travel to a school in the United States.
  Par. 050816-D-9 allows up to 350 pounds of unaccompanied baggage for each authorized trip between the school and your PDS, and makes you financially responsible for any overweight. Par. 050816-D-10 lets you store the student's unaccompanied baggage near the school instead of shipping it, also capped at 350 pounds, with the cost limited to what round-trip transportation would have cost.
- Evacuation.
  Table 6-20 runs on a different scheme entirely: to a safe haven, up to 350 pounds for each dependent 12 or older and 175 pounds for each under 12, capped at 1,000 pounds per family — and the Transportation Officer in the area being evacuated may approve an increase by commercial air of up to another 1,000 pounds, for a maximum of 2,000.
- Government-funded leave travel.
  Table 4-2 lists unaccompanied baggage as not authorized, alongside excess accompanied baggage and per diem. Leave travel is not a move.

## Packing the Shipment, Knowing the Rule

The regulation decides the ceiling; you decide what goes under it. A few things follow directly
from the paragraphs above:

- Subtract before you pack, not after.
  Find your Table 5-37 figure, decide your unaccompanied baggage target, and treat the difference as the main shipment's budget. The
  weight allowances page
  carries the table by grade and dependency status along with room-by-room estimates for exactly this arithmetic.
- Ask whether your destination is listed.
  It is a question for the transportation office with a documented answer, and it decides whether the par. 051403-A caps apply to you at all — they are conditioned on the destination carrying an administrative weight limit, and that limit comes from the published list rather than from anyone's recollection.
- Declare pro-gear at origin and check the bill of lading.
  Par. 051304-A requires pro-gear to be declared at origin and documented, and the Note to par. 051403-B requires its weight — and any required medical equipment's — to be shown separately on the bill of lading. Both happen at pickup, not at the claim.
- Keep the shipping documents.
  The gross weight on them is what Table 5-39 method 4 is applied to. If the 50% reduction was not taken, you cannot show it without the paperwork.
- Send what you need first.
  Appendix A's list is clothing, assignment equipment, essential cooking items, light housekeeping items and the cribs, playpens and baby carriages dependents need. Every pound sent ahead is a pound the main shipment no longer has.

## Sources, and How They Were Read

Every rule above comes from the **Joint Travel Regulations, edition 08/01/2026**,
published by the Per Diem, Travel, and Transportation Allowance Committee. The edition is named
because the JTR is revised frequently, and every quotation here is from that edition's text. Par.
051403 and par. 051404 (p. 5C-12) and Table 5-39 (p. 5C-13) were extracted from the PDF's text layer
and then confirmed a second time from the rendered pages, because a transposed figure in a weight rule
is a bill a member pays.

The other sources cited, in the order they appear: JTR Appendix A for the definition of
unaccompanied baggage; par. 051401 for what the Table 5-37 figure comprises; par. 051402 for
administrative weight limits, the exemptions and the exception process; par. 051304 for PBP&E and
required medical equipment; section 0516 for items of extraordinary value; par. 051306 with Table 5-36
for excess costs; par. 054305, par. 055007 and par. 020505 for the civilian employee allowances; and
par. 052010, par. 052002, par. 050816, Table 6-20 and Table 4-2 for the special cases.

No dollar figure appears in this article. What going over costs you is a share of what the
Government actually paid to move the shipment, under par. 051306 and Table 5-36, so there is no
published number to quote. Every weight limit here is the regulation's own and is stated with the
paragraph that sets it; the 1,200- and 600-pound shipments are illustrations.

One source could not be opened from where this was written: the Administrative HHG Weight
Allowance Locations supplement to the JTR, published on the Defense Travel Management Office's
website, which carries the actual list of restricted locations and the limit for each. The JTR's
description of that list, the process that puts a location on it, and the sentence that restrictions
for unlisted locations are not valid are all quoted above from the regulation. The list itself is a
question for your transportation office.

## Related Articles

- Weight allowances by rank, and what going over costs
  — the Table 5-37 figure this whole article is subtracted from
- OCONUS PCS move guide
  — the overseas move unaccompanied baggage exists for
- What counts as pro-gear, and how much of it
  — the shipment that rides on top of the allowance instead of inside it
- PCS storage options and what the government pays for
  — where the remainder goes when a destination is weight-limited
- Adding a trailer to your weight allowance
  — the other way a shipment quietly goes over
- Filing a PPM claim with weight tickets
  — how net weight is proved when you move yourself
- Every PCS entitlement under the JTR
  — the full picture this is one piece of