Checking Bags
 

I normally take carry on only unless driving. I am flying to San Diego for a month and I plan to check a bag. My concern is I bought a good bottle of wine for my son in law and plan to put it in my checked luggage amongst some other gifts which won't be wrapped. Have you had stuff taken from your luggage? The wine is a 120. bottle. So not cheap.

Moved to Air Travel forum

I’d take the wine in a carry-on.

The question is will you be allowed to carry on that much liquid? I assume you would be and I have always thought the whole "liquids tuned into bombs" TSA thing was ridiculous given the amount of liquid you can buy after Security. Can the bottle
be used as a weapon? Don't laugh. I had a bicycle security cable taken from my carry-on for that reason.

I would have to put the wine in my checked bag. They won't allow that in my carry on.

No I have not had anything taken from my suitcase. If you are concerned about it, you can always put a TSA approved lock in it.

I assume the bottle is bigger than the allowed carry on for liquids so makes sense to put it in your checked luggage. I have brought home wine and olive oil as well as other goodies and it all made it. I even had a friend ask me to bring her refrigerated dip overseas and it arrived exactly how I wrapped it. There was a note left saying it was checked.

My brother usually brings us a bottle of wine when he visits. He puts it in his checked luggage and uses a wine sleeve - check out Amazon - as an added layer of protection.

You can't bring a bottle of wine through security - a bottle of wine contains more than 3.4 ounces.

As for having items stolen from checked luggage, it happens from time to time but in over 40 years of travel encompassing 100's of flights (admittedly not checking bags every time) I've only had only 2 items taken from my luggage. In both cases it was a leather belt taken when traveling in Africa. Of course, I have never packed anything of great value in my checked luggage and highly recommend you don't put anything in your checked luggage that you can't afford to lose.

Now, I have a friend who has been known to put several bottles of wine in his checked luggage on multiple occasions and he has never had a bottle go missing.

So, the bottom line - no one can predict what will happen to your bottle of wine. If you do decide to put it in your checked luggage make sure it is well protected from breakage and inside a "leak proof" container just in case the bottle breaks while in transit otherwise the other contents of your luggage could get an unwelcome wine bath.

I've read reports here of packed pain medications being taken from checked bags, but not bottles of wine... we've checked through various bottles over the years that all arrived safely via those sleeves (and padding with clothes) someone mentioned up thread.

Yes I bought the bubble wrapped wine sleeve. I put that into a 2 gallon ziplock bag and plan to wrap it with some clothes around it. It would be a mess if it broke. It's a red wine too. Ok, I'll pack it and hope for the best.

gotg, That's exactly how I pack any liquids or breakables in a suitcase, except it is just normal bubble wrap and double zip lock bag. I pack some clothes along the middle between the pull along handle ribs to cushion and then pack more on top. When you check in the luggage, you could ask for it to have a fragile label on it, unless that is an invitation to the luggage handlers to have a game of football with it.

Bubble wrap, zip lock, wrapped in clothes works well. Have done similar several times, never had a problem with pilferage or breakage.

I've never had anything stolen out of checked bags - and don't know anyone IRL who has. I do check bags with some really weird things (for work) and almost have a TSA slip inside with a note that they checked on the contents. But stolen? Never.

Thanks kybourbon that's a good idea.

I have had booze bottles break in checked luggage but fortunately it was gin and not red wine. I'd worry about breakage more than theft.

I have done a half-dozen bottles in a specialized wine shipping container as a separate piece of checked luggage. I wonder if that is safer.

I have an old hardside suitcase that I am going to check with the bottle and some swim diapers I bought for the new baby all around it to buffer it. LOL I also put stuff in that suitcase like shampoo and my favorite cereal so there is nothing overly important but the wine in there. I have two free checked bags because I am in first class. So this is the extra bag. The bag is old and I can throw it out when I arrive.

Buy a TSA approved lock for your luggage. Yes it can be cut off but it would slow down those thinking of going through your bag.

I've been checking luggage for years and years and years and have never had an item taken.

I've also transported many bottles of wine in my checked bags. I wrap the hell out of them = bubble wrap and then placed in waterproof bag or a protective box - or I purchase a wine bag made for shipping.

Coming back to the US from overseas a few times TSA has rummaged through my bags - they've caused damage to a few items by not re-wrapping them in their protective wrapping after inspection, but they've never taken anything.

We once checked a carton of wine on as luggage - the airline made us sign a waiver, as they accepted no responsibility if it was damaged en route.

Checked the wine at it arrived safely along with everything else. I saw many checked bags that were in terrible shape, broken handles and half opened.
My bags, the lock on one and the zip tie on the other were intact. I don’t think mine were opened. Everything was the same.