taking wine in checked luggage

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matt_c

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Hi there,
heading back to the UK for a wedding and I've bought a couple of bottles of Australian sparkling wine for the happy couple. Then I suddenly thought, maybe it's not such a good idea to put it in checked luggage!

Anyone had good / bad experiences? Any advice?

Thanks,
Matt
 
Hi Matt,

I have carried two bottles (one glass juice, the other French wine) from the UK via HKG and AKL and had no issues. I just wrapped them in my clothes and a towel. When I got home there were no breakages. Remember, the glass on wine bottles is quite thick and if you wrap them well and place them in the middle of your suitcase, you should be pretty safe.

No guarantees though and you could be wearing a "red and white" dinner shirt to the wedding. :mrgreen:

Cheers,
littl_flier
 
I have also used the winepack post pack from the post office and never had any issue.
 
A few years back my wife brought some wine back from NZ in the checked luggage. Upon retrieving said bag from the carousel at Sydney it was apparent that it had suffered from some rough handling and was now wet and smelly. After a letter from my wife Qantas coughed up for the wine and dry-cleaning.

So ...... if you do the right thing and pack them well you should have grounds for compensation - especially if there is evidence of neglect.

Oh - and good to see you are not buying the wine "duty-free" at the airport.


Cheers,

Andrew
 
of course the other option is to drink it yourself before you go and buy some cheap French plonk for the present :p .
 
I was once given a bottle of Krug on CX on one of the first legs on a RTW ticket.

The bottle safely made it in checked baggage from JFK-YVR-SFO-YVR-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG-SYD

So provided you wrap a few clothes around it, you'll be fine!
 
Lovely, thanks. I think I'll risk it - after all, it's white wine so easier to wash out than red!
 
Hahaha, I like the way you think!!

Anyhow, what I'd do is to do what others have said, plus I'd wrap it in tough plastic bag so that if they do break, you won't have to panic over dry-cleaning.
 
Thanks for posting this - my parents have a few vines and the guy next door in their village )in Cyprus) makes wine from their grapes - I was always nervous about taking some home in checked luggage. If I do check through this time I might bring home a couple of bottles - might have to declare them though given that I will have a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and a bottle Moet on th e way in ;)
 
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Have done this with vodka, scotch and red wine without any hassles. I usually place the bottles in a hand towel and then inside a big "zip lock" bag to keep any leakages from the rest of our luggage.

O/T I use smaller sandwich size zip top bags (like the liquid carry on ones) for my perfume and toiletries as well. They have saved my clothes a few times.
 
simongr said:
... If I do check through this time I might bring home a couple of bottles - might have to declare them though given that I will have a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and a bottle Moet on th e way in ;)
Remember that if you go over the 2.25Litre limit then applicable duty/excise/GST is payable on the lot.
 
I have a few polystyrene thingos from Langtons - they take up a bit of space but I usually keep one in case I stumble across a burgundy
 
I have taken numerous bottles of Grandfathers port to a client in Shanghai. The only breakage that occurred was when I dropped one of the bottles getting it out of the car :oops: (and as much as I was tempted I did not lick the road). Not sure if my boss believed my excuse for having to buy two bottles that particular time...

I also use to have a hard samsonite case at that time which would provide a bit more protection than a nylon type suitcase.
 
I would, if you lugggage allowance permits, pack them separately. There are plenty of packing alternatives, although avoid the plastic capsules that the Post Office sell, they damage the label, and are rubbish. I travel with wine most of the time, and sometimes pack it in my case, if I only have a couple of bottles. But I do have a hard aluminium case so it would have to be crushed to be damaged. If I do I wrap them in my socks.

Only ever had one thing leak, and that was a very expensive bottle of Whisky I bought DF on the way home, lost about two drams though so not too bad.
 
Shano said:
I also use to have a hard samsonite case at that time which would provide a bit more protection than a nylon type suitcase.

You'd be suprised.. I remember seeing a segment a few years ago that tested different suitcases, and the nylon type suitcase actually seemed to perform better.. when dropped from a height of a few metres anyway ;)
 
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