Beers on a plane.

So, next week I'm going from Boston to N. Michigan and I'd like to take my latest batch of Wee Winter Ale with me. Has anybody taken bottled beerwith them on a plane?clearly it won't pass security in m carry on, so I was going to put in my checked baggage. I'm concerned about the presure in the cargo hold and if it is possible that any lack of presure down there would turn my ordinary bottle into the famous bottle bomb.

I've got them bottled in 22oz glass.

Anybody with experience??

It shouldn't be too much of a problem. I've brought many a bottle of wine, beer, soda, etc, with me in a completely un-pressurized baggage compartment at altitudes at or above 30,000 feet.

Besides, libations are shipped worldwide via air freight without issues. Just pack it well - I'm sure you've seen how baggage handlers handle your baggage.

Why the hell not??!!


Who's TSA for telling you what you can drink???

As recently as a month ago, I brought homebrew in my checked baggage just fine.

Checked is fine, just pad it very well.

Well, I guess I'll wrapp it and pad it and call it good! Thanks for the wuick replies!

~Peter

There is a pressure difference, but not 30000' like you think. The cabin altitude only goes up to around 8000' max so even on those high flying flights you're still just above Denver altitude in the cabin.

You need to calll the airline. With all the you can, you can't changes lately I would check with them. Dealing with it @ the gate would be a PITA.

dcbrewmeister said:

You need to calll the airline. With all the you can, you can't changes lately I would check with them. Dealing with it @ the gate would be a PITA.

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As long as you check them, you'll be fine. There is no way they'll knowingly let you on with them in carry-on bags.

uwmgdman said:

As long as you check them, you'll be fine. There is no way they'll knowingly let you on with them in carry-on bags.

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They used too, I've done it many times.

Ship it. Why risk having some gorilla throw your bags, break your bottles and ruin all your clothes?

I brought about 8 bottles back from Germany. Just wrapped each one in a long sleeve shirt and none were damaged. The bag weighed a ton so that prevents them from throwing it too far, i trust.

dcbrewmeister said:

They used too, I've done it many times.

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The liquid bombing attempts from Britain ruined that. Especially so for unlabeled homebrew. Here's a little more directly from TSA. http://www.tsa.gov/311/index.shtm

Cheesefood said:

Ship it. Why risk having some gorilla throw your bags, break your bottles and ruin all your clothes?

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Eh, I'd like to take some back with me, but I don't want to put a lot of effort into it. Going to USPS/UPS week before Christmas = work. In my lazy opinion.

Maybe if I offer to share, the guys at the gate will let me take it in carry on, I'm sure the pilots would love some. I'm flying Northwest, that's the airline with the drunk pilots right?

I am going to MI at the end of the year and definitely plan on bringing back some good beer that isn't available in CA. It will be traveling in checked baggage.

Maybe now with all the stupid rules regarding liquids a good microbrew package chain in airports would be a worthwhile business. (You can bring bottles on the airplane that you buy after security.

i brought 10 bottles checked from nebraska 2 weeks ago... padded them well, all made it fine. i did get a baggage check slip in my bag, so they must have thought i had pipe bombs or something, but its all good...

dantodd said:

(You can bring bottles on the airplane that you buy after security.

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Not always the case. My wife recently bought a few bottles of rum after checking through the gate in Costa Rica. Since the flight was inbound to the USA the airline wouldn't let her carry them onboard. She almost had to leave the bottles behind. They finally agreed to send them down to be checked. If there was any more of a time crunch then she would have been S.O.L.

Between four of us we easily brought back at least 20 bottles of rum from Puerto Rico last year as our carry on. Those days are over but would imagine you could still check those bags. They will thoroughly search your bags to make sure none of it is 151 proof...a big no-no an an airline.

Must have been more than 2 months ago. That's about when TSA changed the rule. The absolute liquid ban was only for about 3 weeks after the would be bombers were caught.

I put several bottles of beer in my checked luggage (don't remember the airline, sorry), amost incident free. I padded them up in my clothes pretty well. The airline paged me later to have me sign a consent that any damage caused by them breaking would not be the responsibility of the airline. Other than that, no issues. They all made it intact.
This was during thanksgiving. Also, they said that they used to not allow beer in checked luggage up until the london liquid bomb incident. I guess before then, you had to carry it on? ????

SilkkyBrew said:

i brought 10 bottles checked from nebraska 2 weeks ago... padded them well, all made it fine. i did get a baggage check slip in my bag, so they must have thought i had pipe bombs or something, but its all good...

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I was working a contract in Nashville, TN and had to fly between Nashville and Waco, TX (the second plant) about once a month. I got one of those "we snooped" tickets every single time I flew and had nothing but clothes and personnal care stuff in the bag each time. This was during the time of the rumor about flying alot and being "flagged" for security checks. I thought it was BS until every trip I made either way, I had my bags "inspected" and I got "nailed" at the gates for the "extra" check.

I used to wear my clothes for the week (usual length of trip) and just throw them in the bag with my dirty socks and underwear on the top of the pile

I don't like flying much anymore.

Ok, the title reminds me of the last Samuel L Jackson movie... and that phone call thing. "You need to go see... Beers on a Plane!" Or was that Samuel L. Adams?