So I have exactly 2 bottles of limoncello. One leg of my flight is on united, darn lufthansa. Anyway, their website says:
For all alcoholic beverages:
When placed in checked baggage, glass bottles must be in a Styrofoam-type insert that is molded to the shape of the bottle and completely encloses the bottle.
I don't have styrofoam. I just wrapped them carefully. Anybody been through this? What's my luck of them not noticing?
I have brought wine back in my suitcase on United flights. I usually bring some large ziplock bags, put the wine in that, and then wrap it snuggly in my clothes. The reason for the plastic bag was a scene I saw at Dulles airport. The woman's suitcase came up the ramp, and was leaking red everywhere--her clothes, as well as her wine, were ruined.
I have never had a problem doing this.
I have brought wine back from France on United a few times, sans styrofoam, and never had a problem. A couple of scraps of bubble wrap also works well.
We have always had good luck bring back several bottles well wrapped in dirty clothes till this last. Lost one bottle which caused a bit of a mess. We were on Lufthansa and they did say anything when we checked the luggage.
I too once had a bottle of red wine break in my suitcase. It was a lot of fun. The problem with bubble wrap, dirty clothes, etc, is that they do not protect against crushing. I guess if your luggage is hard-sided, you'll be OK. Otherwise, rigid styrofoam is the way to go. Not to keep security happy, but to protect your own stuff.
I don't know where to find styrofoam. I'll look at the airport. I figure it's limoncello, not wine, so maybe it would be easier to clean if it breaks.
Bubblewrap will work as well as anything.
The styrofoam inserts are used routinely for shipping of wine from wineries and auction houses(and also by a company - Sprecher's - that ships root beer domestically). I take it you are already in Europe or you could probably track them down in your wine country area. If you have time you might ask a liquor store or duty free shop.
I can't picture them actually checking your bags when you check in to see how you've packed. Maybe I'm wrong, it just don't see it happening.
But we have had the instance of having a bottle break in our bag. We did pack all of our dirty clothes around it, but when we got to customs, our bag was dripping. At least it was the bottle of white and not the red. There's a reason why former bag handlers talk about their years of "throwing bags."
We will be traveling to Italy at the end of the month. We have friends that left on Monday and we will meet them there. They took a suitcase over with gifts for some friends. There was no problem getting it there. We did have wine sleeves that were purchased through Magellan and then wrapped in bubble wrap and then put into a ziploc bag. It made it fine. No questions were asked. Good luck to you. Ciao, Marcia
We brought back wine and brandy from Germany on United a couple of weeks ago. It was not in styrofoam, just wrapped in paper and bubble wrap, we didn't have any problems.
We brought back wine and brandy from Germany on United a couple of weeks ago. It was not in styrofoam, just wrapped in paper and bubble wrap, we didn't have any problems.
Make sure you wrap each bottle separately. Do NOT let the glass touch. We brought back 3 bottles of wine in our bike case last May. They were packed in the normal cardboard boxes they give you, there were 2 bottles in one box, and one bottle in the other. The 2 bottle box had a divider in it...that didn't work, the glass bottles touched and one bottle totally broke apart...there was NOTHING left of the bottle, but the smell of wine and stains on everything. If they can vacuum pack the bottles, that might help, make sure the tops are SCREW off, not a cork, the cork will pop off in the hold of the airplane and make a mess. Wrapping in a bunch of dirty clothes, placed dead center of your bag with lots of stuff around it might allow both bottles back in one piece. Honestly....it's probably easier to just buy wine and limoncello in the US.....
I really don't understand bringing back a lot of alcoholic beverages from Europe to be honest. I did do this on our first trip, but upon our return I found that our liquor store was carrying the very same thing, and the price was not that much more. The hassles sometimes aren't worth it, unless you are getting something that is very hard to find back home. We bring back less and less every year. I can now find the French mustards I love, and many other items we couldn't find before.
