Checking Alcohol on Southwest Airlines

It was a year and a half ago, but I wrapped individual bottles in bubble wrap and put each bottle in a ziploc bag. TSA of course searched through the suitcase, but I had no issues.

 

With the new security procedures Im sure they'll be heavy handed up front. Why not ship it to your house and avoid the potential of getting hung on on a flight? If they find and refuse it, you could lose the whole thing. You wanting to miss a flight or lose your bottles?

 

Last time I went to NoCal in June of '15, they didn't give two shits that my box was filled with all beer as most people bring beer or wine from Northern California.

 

I've never had issues checking the 12 bottle packers on Southwest when I fly from Sacramento back home to LA.

In Sacramento, it's basically expected to fly with booze.

 

Never traveled Southwest but I'm responding to share my experience in general. In 2003, I transported 72 bottles of Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale (I was so noob) in a goalie bag through Northwest Airlines (since merged with Delta) from MSP to DEN. Had no problems. I bubble wrapped each bottle and taped. I thought the bottles would break in transit but I guess I went full Bubble Boy.

 

I've had bags with booze searched by TSA and still they make it to their destination each time.. Biggest issue was my dad had two cans of heady pop on our way back from New England once! Go figure!

 

I came back from a trip to Reno/Tahoe on Southwest about a month ago. I had roughly 14 bottles stuffed in different bags and wrapped in nothing but clothes and had no problems. I would think a wine check is a serious improvement over what I just described so I doubt you'd have issues.

 

I'm headed to Costa Rica on SW later this year and plan to travel down with a couple cans of beer and all our suntan lotions, bug sprays etc packed in a 2nd checked bag. I'll probably just put all those liquid things in big zipolock bags for extra protection.

 

I always fly southwest and I've brought my Wine Shipper many times with no issues. they made me sign a waiver once but that's it

 

Like others, flown beer/wine on Southwest many times without issue. Although before I learned how to properly pack, I had a few accidents on different airlines. The most memorable time was probably when my bag came out on the carousel soaked and dripping War Mullet from FFF.

Wrap each bottle/can individually in clothes or bubble wrap and you should be fine. Sometimes, cans pop or bottle caps leak for no apparent reason, though, so I like to put each beer in its own Ziploc bag. If you're feeling super safe, wrap everything up inside a plastic garbage bag when you're done and seal it up.

 

I flew back from Chicago to Boston with 3 6-packs of various beers wrapped in clothes and ziplock bags. Nothing special and no issues at all.

 

My last two west coast trips were Southwest, and I brought back a bunch of stuff and like others I just ziplock'd and wrapped in clothes, no problem.
Just don't bring back too much and go over their allotted max weight.

 

I've checked bags multiple times on Southwest with no issues. Same as above, ziplock bags and wrap in clothes. I got a cheap luggage scale too so I can check the weight, works pretty well.

 

I recently returned home on a Qatar airways flight. 9 cans of beer were rolled up in my clothes in the backpack I checked in. There were no issues at all.

 

i fly SW all the time, and i always bring a large bag to check. One half of the bag is filled with bubble wrap so i can bring beer back. I have done this 25+ times with no issue, as recent as a few weeks ago.

 

I also have flown across the country numerous times with checked boxes of beer. I've also stuffed them into my checked luggage, wrapping them securely in clothes and making sure they're at the center of the suitcase and can't shift around while the suitcase is slammed. The only problem I ran into with that was onetime being a bit overambitious and going over the 50lb limit on my suitcase. Ended up giving a couple of cans of beer to one of the guys at the bag check area. Typically I use the Styrofoam or cardboard bottle shippers and on a few occasions have had TSA inspect them but everything has always arrived intact and no odd questions other than asking if it is well secured.

Because with Southwest it's free to check 2 bags and even with other airlines it's $25 or 35, which is still quite a bit cheaper than trying to ship a big box across the country.

 

I've flown Southwest multiple times with no issue. I use JetBags which are awesome (plus my rolly-bag has hard sides, which I think helps). Knock on wood I've never had to test the containment ability of the JetBags, but in theory they're cool.

The only issue I had was flying out of Atlanta last December. TSA took all the bottles out of the JetBags and didn't seal them back up. Total nonsense. Luckily no breakage. It was TSA though, not the airline. I don't think the airline cares (unless your cargo drips and damages other people's stuff).

 

I flew on SWA with a wine check 2 weeks ago and also had multiple bottles in a checked bag. No issues. In fact, 2 SWA employees commented on how much they LIKE the wine checks.

 

All good info in the posts above and you should be fine if you pack things right. For comparison, I recently shipped a box of large bottles from MA to CA that ended up weighing around 22lbs for $40. Everything showed up in good shape in a week. Just something to think about depending on when you pick up your beer, when you actually fly home, how much luggage you already have, what the weather like (not good to ship during freezing temps), etc.