Wine transportation by air - suggestions?

My wife and I are getting ready for a big 25th anniversary trip to California. Wine tastings are part of the plan. We have no wine luggage to transport the wine back. What have you used to get wine successfully shipped back in an airplane that is not too expensive?

I just use styro shippers

Standard expanded-polystyrene in cardboard box shipper which takes 12 bottles. Check into hold baggage. I do it all the time. No problems.

Should be able to get them for Cal wineries. No problems.

I normally just wrap them in a sheet or two of bubble wrap, then roll a t-shirt or some other clothing around them. Has worked fine so far.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I have a 6 bottle styrofoam shipper that I can use and I may use that option if I can not find something that is affordable in wine carriers.

I guess I was looking for a reasonably priced wine carrier of some sort you could check as luggage that someone had used and could recommend. I am thinking of a wine carrier that could be used to transport wine in the car also and would be convenient to take to wine tastings and events.

My wife and I are getting ready for a big 25th anniversary trip to California. Wine tastings are part of the plan. We have no wine luggage to transport the wine back. What have you used to get wine successfully shipped back in an airplane that is not too expensive?

Tom,

I am pretty sure you have seen my 6 bottle insulated carrier/tote/bag that I bring with me to Mo'Cool. As I say it holds 6 bottles and there is one cold pak (freeze it) to keep a white fairly well chilled for a picnic or somesuch. It also has a strap that will make it friendly to carry on your shoulder. Click the link below:

http://www.wineenthusiast.com/personali ... ne-bag.asp

Tom,

I am pretty sure you have seen my 6 bottle insulated carrier/tote/bag that I bring with me to Mo'Cool. As I say it holds 6 bottles and there is one cold pak (freeze it) to keep a white fairly well chilled for a picnic or somesuch. It also has a strap that will make it friendly to carry on your shoulder. Click the link below:

http://www.wineenthusiast.com/personali ... ne-bag.asp

Thanks Bob,

I remember your wine tote. Have you ever used it to check wine as baggage on a flight? If you have, what was your experience with it?

Tom, I have only used it to transport wine in a vehicle, never on a flight. However if you carried it onboard and put it in the overhead it would do fine. I am not sure about the treatment it might receive by a baggage handler. I think a styrofoam shipper would work very well.

You’re not planning on taking an empty 6-bottle Styrofoam wine-shipping box with you to California?
What type of luggage do you have hard-shell, canvas, leather, or vinyl?
You might want to consider the Spirited Shipper wine boxes with the patent bottle inserts (the inserts actually have strategically placed tabs that could be pressed locking varying size bottles into place). Leave the outside box and inserts in the “flat pattern” on your trip to California. Pack a roll of shipping tape, cold ice packs (if you think it is appropriate), fragile and handle with care labels, black magic marker and shipping label with your name and home address, even a couple of heavy duty plastic bags. Now at least you’re prepared for almost anything.
On your return trip, if you do have hard-shell suitcase that can handle the Spirited Shipper box of wine you might want to consider trying to securely packing the shipping box (after wrapping it in the plastic bags) and using your cloths as additional packing material inside the suitcase. Or just check the box at the gate as additional baggage. If things go really sour, (hopefully somewhere inside the airport terminal there is a UPS or Fed-Ex desk), you might be able to ship the wines home.

Here’s their web site:
http://www.spiritedshipper.com/shipper/ ... ce821cf88f

Salute

Tom,

It is your big 25 wedding anniversary. I would suggest go the opposite way and splash out on one of these babies. http://www.icc-case.com/products/default.asp?id=30 They are so cool you can pass them on to your grandchildren. I have ALWAYS wanted one for myself.

Enjoy the day
Mark

Tom, I have only used it to transport wine in a vehicle, never on a flight. However if you carried it onboard and put it in the overhead it would do fine. I am not sure about the treatment it might receive by a baggage handler. I think a styrofoam shipper would work very well.

While I heard that they were relaxing liquid rule, until I read a definite statement from TSA that bottles of wine would be allowed on board I would not count on carrying on wine.
I've never had an issue with checking a styro shipper.

Tom, I have only used it to transport wine in a vehicle, never on a flight. However if you carried it onboard and put it in the overhead it would do fine. I am not sure about the treatment it might receive by a baggage handler. I think a styrofoam shipper would work very well.

While I heard that they were relaxing liquid rule, until I read a definite statement from TSA that bottles of wine would be allowed on board I would not count on carrying on wine.
I've never had an issue with checking a styro shipper.

Hi Dale,
I Agree that carrying on board any liquid is or has a chance of being problematical. I guess what I said came out different on the screen than I meant it to be. I was trying to say that IF Tom could carry the tote on with him it would serve his purpose well. I didn't mean that as advice that he COULD carry it on board. I, being retired haven't flown anywhere since 9/11 so am not up on the current rules. Thanks for pointing that out!

If you do decide to go in the opposite direction and “splurge” think about one of these- Wine Cruzer;
http://www.winecruzer.com/

Salute

Thanks all for the suggestions. I now have some viable options to choose from.

[Jenise]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I have a 6 bottle styrofoam shipper that I can use and I may use that option if I can not find something that is affordable in wine carriers.

I guess I was looking for a reasonably priced wine carrier of some sort you could check as luggage that someone had used and could recommend. I am thinking of a wine carrier that could be used to transport wine in the car also and would be convenient to take to wine tastings and events.

Tom, you need two different items here: styro shippers for air transportation that you eventually dispose of when it falls apart, and a piece of geek wine luggage for the other because typically what's suitable to stand up to luggage handlers and what's suitable for personal carrying aren't the same thing. I also reccomend that you only use 12-bottle shippers for the former--you will HAVE to check that box, and six-bottle boxes are easy to toss around where 12 bottle boxes require picking up and lifting with both hands. Your wine, even if you carry only six bottles, will be much more protected from breakage in the larger box. I would not trust less. Plus, you might as well carry the 12er--you're going to most likely pay for an extra baggage item (Alaska Airlines charges $25), and you might as well carry as many souvenirs as you can!

I know you are talking about putting the wine in the cargo area. I have done that with four to six bottles in a box (and have had one bottle disappear in the process.) Also had some bottles "cooked" on the tarmac at La Guardia during a four-hour delay on a very hot day. On my last trip to Santa Barbara County I had a shipper send two boxes with six bottles each from a shop in Lompoc (wines purchased at the wineries and the shop was a shipping location.) Yes, it was expensive but I felt it was worth it not to have to schlep extra luggage along with suitcase, purse and carry-on and I would have had to pay an extra baggage fee anyway for the box.

Tom, you need two different items here: styro shippers for air transportation that you eventually dispose of when it falls apart, and a piece of geek wine luggage for the other because typically what's suitable to stand up to luggage handlers and what's suitable for personal carrying aren't the same thing. I also reccomend that you only use 12-bottle shippers for the former--you will HAVE to check that box, and six-bottle boxes are easy to toss around where 12 bottle boxes require picking up and lifting with both hands. Your wine, even if you carry only six bottles, will be much more protected from breakage in the larger box. I would not trust less. Plus, you might as well carry the 12er--you're going to most likely pay for an extra baggage item (Alaska Airlines charges $25), and you might as well carry as many souvenirs as you can!

Jenise,

Good suggestions. My preference was to buy wine geek 4 or 6 bottle luggage to check on the plane. However, that is quite expensive to buy. I may buy it eventually but we have already bought brand new regular luggage for the trip and one more piece of luggage would be hard on the budget (and more importantly leave me with less money to buy wine). I never thought about the twelve versus the 6 bottle styro shipper. I will have to give that some thought. It may be worth getting one.

Our situation is such that we can check two bags each without extra charge on Air Canada and we can take back 2 bottles each without paying duty. My thought was to get a 4 bottle wine luggage and then ship anything else back by UPS in styros to a friend and bring it back across the border 2 bottles at a time to avoid the duty.

I normally just wrap them in a sheet or two of bubble wrap, then roll a t-shirt or some other clothing around them. Has worked fine so far.

Right on, worked for me yesterday on way back to Alberta from London.

I normally just wrap them in a sheet or two of bubble wrap, then roll a t-shirt or some other clothing around them. Has worked fine so far.

Right on, worked for me yesterday on way back to Alberta from London.

Bob,

I hope things went well for you and your family during the time of your Mother's passing. I know it is a dreadful time, and it eventually happens to all of us. That of course doesn't make it any easier. Welcome back. BTW, about the carrying wine wrapped in bubble wrap and an article of clothing. This will of course work, but would you try to do that if you had a case of 12 bottles or more? I doubt that I would want to trust the luggage handlers with a suitcase weighing that much and containing glass bottles.

I'd be very cautious re wrapping in clothing. Most airlines require that wine be in wine specific packing. Now, you can just not say anything. But if they hear a rattle and check, your wine might not arrive. They are very unhappy with idea of bottles breaking in the hold, it wouldn't be just your clothing that was ruined.

Plus, it's VERY likely that if luggage is Xrayed, TSA might see bottles and check. So you are depending upon them to rewrap as carefully as you did originally. Personally, I'll use the extra space to put a styro shipper in my suitcase (and inside a plastic bag).

I pretty much always transport wine in my checked baggage when traveling within the US and I've never had a problem with the TSA people. I don't take more than one or two bottles at a time, though. When I've taken more than that, I've always used a styrofoam shipper.

Only had one bottle break on me, and that one was bubble-wrapped. Unfortunately, the wrap didn't go all the way up the neck.