Check or carry bottles of wine at airport?

[rcyannacci]

Hey all-

Packing for my trip to NYC tomorrow, and I'm bringing my friend a couple of bottles of TX wine (its a joke, although they're really not half bad).

I've got plenty of room to pack them in my suitcase, but how risky is that? I know beer would be bad to pack because of the pressure, but what about wine?

I could pack them on my carry-on, but it will have my laptop and will already be heavy (plus, I'll have to unpack it, etc. for them to scan)

Any suggestions?

 

[figment52]

I would be so concerned about breakage and the damage it would do to everything else in the suitcase, ot the suitcase always smelling like a wino from that point on. I have only travelled with alcohol if i could carry it on myself.

But maybe that is just me

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Check with your airline and see what they have to say.

Personally, I would carry it on rather than risking a HUGE mess.

 

[sk!mom]

We carried bottles of wine when we flew home from Paris. I wouldn't pack them.

 

[ILUVDXL]

While we were in Spain, one of our fellow travellers purchased 3 bottles of Sangria a packed them in his suitcase. When we hit customs at Logan all his underware was a lovely shade of pink. Carry them on board.

 

[TEENEE]

I just flew with wine. Two of the bottles were in the box that they were put in at the winery, the other was not. I wrapped the single bottle up in a couple t-shirts. All three bottles were in the middle of the suitcase padded by clothes. I made sure they could not move in the suitcase. They all made it home safely.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I would not pack them. They might break and your lugage and clothes will smell like wine for a loooong time.

 

[mb20fn26]

I would def. catty them on with you

 

[JMD]

Definitely carry them on the plane with you. My wife packed a bottle of Tequila in her suitcase on our trip back from Mexico, and it broke. It was a complete mess, everything was soaked in alcohol. That was a few years ago and the suitcase still has a faint smell of booze.

 

[lil mermaid]

When we go back home to the Northeast, we ALWAYS bring wine with us. Every single time, we have checked it and never once have we had a problem. We don't pack it in our suitcases though. We check a box, the type you get from the winery with the styrofoam insert shaped like a bottle.

 

[skuttle]

A few years ago, I flew home from Paris with three bottles of wine. I packed them like TEENEE...wrapped them in T-shirts then made sure there was lots of padding all around them. I was nervous waiting for my luggage...afraid it would show up dripping with wine...but it made it just fine from Paris to Houston to New Orleans.

 

[hookedup]

I just went to Hawaii and checked 4 bottles of champagne going and 5 bottles of wine coming home. I wrap mine in the UPS bubble wrap envelopes. My office gets them free from UPS and they work great! I triple up sealing and wrapping them. I think any bubble wrap would do but the UPS ones are great because they seal up and so if you did have a leak it would not get on your clothes.
We have never had a problem checking our bottles - just put them in a BIG ziplock bag, bubble wrap them (individually) and they will be fine.
Due to security these days, carryon bag restrictions and needing to pack light I try not to carry much on but the essentials so I don't want to hassle with carrying on bottles.