Welcome to WLDG! This is an interesting post as I currently use the cardboard and styrofoam approach when I fly and I looked into a reusable wine transport system. One huge reason I didn't was the cost. A box with fitted styrofoam for 12 bottles sets me back about $8 to $10 and if I'm lucky I can use it for four or five flights (with lots of packing tape wrapped around to make it wear down more slowly).
Other options, such as the
winecruzer you mentioned, set you back more than $400. That's a lot of styrofoam boxes and a lot of money I have to put up front. Probably for that reason alone, I'll stick with my current system.
Add to that that options such as the winecruzer weigh 30 pounds empty. Add the weight of 12 bottles of wine and I'm not even sure that that fits within current weight restrictions on airlines--and I fully expect that such restrictions will become more stringent in the future moving toward a pay-per-pound of your luggage system. So I'm more likely to have to pay and, in terms of being green, you have to include the jet fuel that would be burned to haul a 30-pound piece of luggage everywhere you go instead of whatever the minimal weight of the box-and-cardboard solution would be.
Anyway, I'd far prefer a reusable solution, so if anyone is aware of one that is more cost-effective and less-weighty, I'd love to hear of it!
