Has anybody checked a bag of beer on a plane?

[laurack]

I’m thinking of checking a bag for upcoming flight home to my family in Ireland. My sister loves the New England style ipa and they can’t get it over there

Is this crazy? It would cost me $40 to check the bag which is fine because I know my sister would be thrilled but I’m mostly worried about the cans bursting everywhere and possibly ruining other people’s luggage?

Wondering if anybody has done it. I googled and it seems people now do a lot of shipping of craft beers and recommend bubble wrapping each can. I also contacted the airline to make sure they were ok with it they said it’s “fine as long as they are packed properly and bag not over 20kg”

I’ve been drinking the beers I’m speaking of so forgive me if there are any misspellings 😀

[sunnysally]

We've done it when we visited friends. We didn't wrap each can, but we made sure they didn't roll around and that there was cushioning all around. We had no problems.

[erbear]

no, but cans should be ok. I once checked a bottle of port...it did not end well.

[sarahbear]

My husband has packed craft beer before in luggage. He usually just wraps it in clothes or towels. LOL. He's never had any issues, but I'm sure there's a risk.

[laurack]

Feb 3, 2018 21:50:30 GMT -5 sunnysally said:

We've done it when we visited friends. We didn't wrap each can, but we made sure they didn't roll around and that there was cushioning all around. We had no problems.

Hmm so did you just pack them tightly with clothes and stuff ?

I was wondering if I could get away with bubble wrapping them as 4 packs .. then putting them in a cardboard box and surrounding that with clothes

[mbcdefg]

We do it all the time. We brought back a lot from our trip to PDX and our trip to Brussels in particular.

Just wrap everything really well and use clothes to help pad it. You can put cans/bottles inside of shoes to help protect them. Put in a layer of clothes before you put the beers in the suitcase, and use a layer of clothes on top too. Pack and pad it so that nothing moves.

You can also buy inflatable wine “diapers” to pad them but we’ve always just used our clothes and never had a problem. I read this aloud to MH and he said to skip bubble wrap and just use your clothes.

And get a little handheld luggage scale to take out the guesswork.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

That's a lot of trouble for not much bang. Bring her some whiskey at least. Lol.
Eta yes I know Irish whiskey is superior

[Deleted]

Yep! Buy those big blanket storage ziploc bags and package it in clothes or bubble wrap.

[laurack]

Feb 3, 2018 21:55:10 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

That's a lot of trouble for not much bang. Bring her some whiskey at least. Lol.
Eta yes I know Irish whiskey is superior

She hates whiskey lol

I mean so do I. I have memories from my youth of drinking whiskey and vomiting. Of course it would have been terrible cheap whiskey but that doesn’t matter .. for some reason I have a thing now about whiskey

[pumpkin]

I've packed wine and liquor in my suitcase and never had an issue. I wrapped each bottle in a plastic bag so if it broke it would contain some of the glass. Otherwise, I just rolled them in clothes and packed them tightly in my clothes as others have said.

[pandorica]

We've done this a lot. We put the bottles in socks and wrap in clothes, and have never had a problem.

[sessy]

My husbands groomsman did to fly across the country for his bachelor party. His fav beer is only on the east coast and we live on the west. They did wrap each can.

[devonpow]

No, but pre 9/11 I carried a 6 pack of Carlsberg bottles onto s flight from Copenhagen. I pushed the bag too aggressively under the seat and some shattered. It was not good and everything I had reeked of beer the entire flight. So...beer and plane anecdote Lol

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

Flat wine and liquor contained in glass do not act the same as pressurized liquid in a can. Lol.

#notascientist

[laurack]

Feb 3, 2018 22:24:01 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

Flat wine and liquor contained in glass do not act the same as pressurized liquid in a can. Lol.

#notascientist

I was concerned about them bursting just from “pressure changes” (totally not a scientist) but apparently that’s not a concern? Like the place they keep the luggage is pressurized the same as where people are sitting (sometimes pets travel in the there etc)

[laurack]

Feb 3, 2018 22:23:18 GMT -5 devonpow said:

No, but pre 9/11 I carried a 6 pack of Carlsberg bottles onto s flight from Copenhagen. I pushed the bag too aggressively under the seat and some shattered. It was not good and everything I had reeked of beer the entire flight. So...beer and plane anecdote Lol

For Carlsberg of all things! #beersnob. 😀

[Pibs]

Yep! Good beer from PDX was part of BIL's wedding gift. We made have done it overkill, but we spent a lot of $$$ on the beers and everything survived being checked. We packed two suitcases full of it (one big one was just over the stupid weight limit). We Press-n-Sealed each bottle or can just in case of any explosions. I'd been saving bubbles once we knew what their present was going to be so we had a variety. We used 1" square type bubbles around the edge of each suitcase and as a bottom layer. Then a layer on the bottom of the big tube bubbles like you get from Amazon packing work great for additional protection and because they made nice little niches for the bottles to tuck in to. We did wrap each bottle in regular small bubble wrap and then put two bottles in each little niche with their necks tucked into each other. Repeat with more bubbles between layers, and then cram as much bubble wrap as you can on the top so that they don't move once you've got them all in there.

[Pibs]

You can also get Wineskins or similar packaging. SIL brought me wine from New Zealand and it seemed to work great, but wasn't cost effective for the amount of beer we had. :-p

[alleinesein]

Do you have a connecting flight? Could you get beer at the airport and just carry it onboard? Our bigger breweries all sell their stuff at the airport and you can just grab and go.

[whitemerlot]

My h does it often. He wraps clothes around it.

[tacokick]

I would not check carbonated beverages. Things get really shook up! Duty free might have it to stick in your carryon.

[wise_rita]

You can check in a box. I'd probably wrap each one and arrange them in a box, rather than in a suitcase.

That way you can check that piece of luggage in one direction only.

[minionkevin]

We did this when we found a dozen or so bottles of Bourbon County stout randomly in a Publix near Disney World for $10/bottle when it was selling for $30/bottle here. Since we took diapers and other consumables in our luggage we had room to shift clothes around to other suitcases when we came home. Anyway, we wrapped in newspaper then plastic grocery bags, then put all of the wrapped bottles in a large zippered space bag.

[orval]

we have brought back beer in our checked suitcase many times from Europe -- both bottles and cans. I wrapped each in clothing making sure the full necks were wrapped. I also made sure that the outside edge of the suitcase inside was lined with clothes in case of shifting. I didn't want any of the bottles to end up hitting the bottom when being thrown around.
I have put beer bottles inside boots as well.

[keyslover]

Yep. Just did again on our return Disney trip.
We wrap the cans in clothes and a plastic bag. The, surround them with the rest of your clothes.

We’ve never (know on wood) has any casualties. We even did a jar of salsa this trip ( craft brewery/regional salsa). Worth it!

[Jalapeñomel]

I’ve flown with booze like 20 times. I’ve only had one Bulmer break, but it’s beer and carbonated...gas laws and all that.

[mrsukyankee]

Wine Protector sleeves. We carry back wine from the States and from other countries all the time. We brought port, whiskey and gin to the States. We use those and as they are re-useable, they are fabulous.

[Vespasia]

We had a 12 pack of beer cans in our checked bag coming back from Utah. I put them in a garbage bag and then wrapped them well in clothes. They all survived just fine.

I also brought a growler home from Minnesota the same way.

[fernweh]

A whole bag? No. We have brought home wine/liquor in the passed and out in our checked bag though. I just wrap it up in clothes a put in in the center of the bags where it is less likely to get hit bu outside the bag. Never had an issue

[lindyanne]

I have several times. I found a box that fit perfectly inside the suitcase I was using. I ziploc’d the cans and bubble wrapped. Zero issues. I have wine bottle bubble wrap things I use if we are doing bottles for extra protection too.