Beer Travel Forum

If anyone has advice on traveling by air with beer please email me.
Specifically, I am looking for answers regarding the integrity of bottled
beer in the cargo hold of commercial airliner. I am returning to Kansas City, via
Newark, from Rome, and plan to put beer on my check in luggage because the new
rules o not allow it on carry-on. I want to know if the bottles will burst.

Desperately seeking answer ASAP.

--M.B.

For what it's worth, I would advise mailing it home to yourself instead of checking it. I've done that many times on my overseas travel and have never had a problem. While it takes several weeks to get your package, it's worth it to know it's traveling safely. With all the lost luggage issues and the TSA being able to get into your bag on a whim, you can't guarantee it will still be in your bag when you arrive home...much less without broken bottles.

You'll be fine. The cargo holds are pressurized, the same as the cabin. The beer will be just as safe as it would be if you took it to the mountains. When I was in college, we put a soft drink can in the altitude chamber, and took it to 38,000 feet. Mind you, that waould be what it would be like if the aircraft LOST pressurization at that altitude. Nothing happened to the can. Now, a bottle cap might come off in that situation. I can't say for sure. In any case, as long as the cargo hold of the aircraft is pressurized like the cabin, the beer will be fine.