Is it possible to carry wine in hand luggage. Alcohol in hand luggage

Can you bring alcohol on a plane? Are there any rules? And where to put it, in luggage or hand luggage? We will try to answer these and many other questions related to the transport of alcoholic beverages in this article.

As we already know, all things that you carry with you can be divided into checked baggage and hand luggage.

Alcohol in hand luggage

Liquids in carry-on baggage are subject to very strict restrictions. You can carry no more than 1 liter of liquid, and each product must be in a container with a volume of no more than 100 ml.

Thus, you can only take souvenir bottles of alcohol or a small flask in hand luggage. Please note that its volume (namely, the flask, and not the liquid in it) should be no more than 100 ml.

The only exception is alcohol purchased at Duty Free.

Alcohol from Duty Free

If you are flying on a direct flight and the customs regulations of the country you are traveling to allow the importation of alcohol, you can purchase alcoholic beverages from duty-free shops before boarding and take them with you on board the aircraft.

Please note that before arriving at your destination, you must not violate the integrity of the package in which alcohol was packed in Duty Free.

If the flight involves a transfer, then whether you can take alcohol or any other liquid with you depends on where and where you are flying from.

Carrying alcohol in baggage

Since we cannot take a bottle of our favorite whiskey or wine with us in hand luggage, the only chance to carry it is to put it in luggage.

All airlines around the world have the following baggage allowances for alcohol:

• Alcohol with a strength of up to 24% - without restrictions.
• Alcohol with a strength of 24% to 70% - no more than 5 liters per person.
• The transport of alcohol with a strength of more than 70% is prohibited.

Under the rules of most airlines, alcohol must be packaged in a container intended for retail sale (i.e. in a bottle with a label).

Please note that these restrictions apply only to the rules for carrying alcohol on board the aircraft, if the customs rules of the destination country imply lower limits, then you must follow them.

Import of alcohol to Russia

You can freely bring into the territory of Russia and the Customs Union up to 3 liters of alcohol for each passenger over 18 years old.

The maximum volume of alcohol should not exceed 5 liters per person.

For example, you can easily import 3 liters of wine. If you are carrying 4 or 5 liters, then you will carry 3 liters duty-free, and you will have to pay for the 4th or 5th liter. The import of alcohol with a volume of more than 5 liters to individuals is prohibited.

Importing alcohol into Europe

The territory of the European Union you can import:

• 1 liter of alcohol with a strength of more than 22% per person, or
• 2 liters of alcohol with a strength of up to 22%, or
• 4 liters of still wine
• 16 liters of beer.

Importing alcohol into the US

Under federal law, you can enter 1 liter of alcohol duty-free into the United States for every passenger over the age of 21.

Importation of alcohol to persons under 21 years of age is prohibited.

Please note that if the law of the state you are flying to has more stringent regulations, they will apply.

If you plan to bring more than 1 liter, you must pay a fee. The maximum amount of alcohol per person is not limited in any way, but if you are carrying too much, then the customs service may have additional questions for you.

Importing alcohol to popular resorts

• Türkiye - 1 liter of strong alcohol or 2 bottles of wine with a volume of 700 ml. each.
• Egypt - 1 liter
• Thailand - 1 liter
• Tunisia - 1 bottle
• Cyprus - 1 liter of alcohol with a strength of more than 22%, OR 2 liters of alcohol with a strength of up to 22% (liquor, sparkling wine, etc.), + 4 liters of wine, + up to 16 liters of beer.

1. Abu Dhabi and Fujairah: 4 liters per non-Muslim passenger
2. Dubai: 4 liters
3. Sharjah: 2 liters

And in our Telegram channel there is also useful and up-to-date information. We talk about places where you immediately want to fly, publish cheap tickets and tell the news. Did you know that a passport can now be made at the old price? And we wrote about it.

How to carry alcohol on a plane

So, what is the right way to carry alcohol on a plane? What can happen in principle?!… First, not the most probable – your suitcase can be lost. Second - the bottles can simply break in the luggage!

If we can’t do anything with the first one - what can you do, suitcases are sometimes lost, this is a fact and we have to put up with it 🙁 Unless you buy expensive, beautiful suitcases - thieves can be tempted by them not content). But on the packaging - we are able to influence and make sure that our wine arrives intact.

It's no secret that at airports suitcases are treated worse than bricks - thrown, thrown off conveyors, stacked in piles two meters high, etc. Friends told many stories, many had broken bottles. For example, one friend specially borrowed a suitcase before a trip from friends and, returning home, put a bottle of red wine in it! As a result, not only was it a pity for the broken bottle, but all the things were spoiled, and plus I spoiled someone else's suitcase, I had to buy a new one. I also have adventures - a suitcase was lost on the way from Madrid, and in it were two bottles of expensive vintage port wine !!! (If you are interested in port wine, read the article "", there, by the way, there is a photo of one of these bottles). The suitcase arrived a week later, you could recognize it by the tags - it traveled from Madrid to Moscow, then back to Madrid, and only then returned to me! The handle was broken, one corner was pressed inward, and the leg and plastic edging of this corner were broken, but ... the bottles were intact 🙂

So, my readers, I probably tired you with stories and prefaces, let's move on, in fact, to the issue of transporting alcohol on an airplane (other liquids), or more precisely, to packing tips:

– It is best to pack bottles in cases with rigid walls or a frame. In bags, they are more likely to break;

- Never put bottles near the walls of the suitcase, if possible, place them closer to the center;

- If there are several bottles, do not put them side by side, one will surely break one against the other. It is necessary to lay soft things between them. Equally, do not put next to a heavy, hard object;

- Do not put many bottles in one suitcase and do not make it too heavy;

– Wine bottles should be wrapped in soft things and there should be no free space left in the luggage so that nothing moves during transportation;

– Before the trip, think in advance what you will carry the wine in and provide for packaging.

I will tell you more about the last point and share my experience. Any tourist, to a greater or lesser extent, “shops” on foreign trips. Therefore, luggage on the way there is always less than on the way home. At home, when packing, it is always better to provide free space in your suitcases, and you can fill it with some kind of ballast. The best thing you can pack bottles in is bubble wrap, so you need to take it with you. You won’t look for a film there, and it’s a pity to waste time on it, but it’s not difficult to take it from home, besides, there is a place. I recommend to grab a small adhesive tape for packing.

Bubble wrap and tape

When collecting home, we wrap the bottles in a film, in two or three layers, and fasten with adhesive tape. This does not negate everything that has been said above, we put the bottles wrapped in film in the middle of the suitcase and lay things.

Bottles wrapped in bubble wrap

Thus, the transportation of alcohol on an airplane, and indeed any other liquid, is not afraid of the most severe transportation, it has been verified! If you don’t have film with you, I think my article will still help with packaging and ensure the integrity of expensive wine.

If anyone has short stories on this topic, write!

Sometimes it is necessary to transfer some fragile cargo or a valuable bottle in the luggage of the aircraft. I have had to do this myself many times. Usually these are expensive brands of your favorite wine or these are rare shells for my wife's collection, with many fine details, or fragile souvenirs made of glass and ceramics. I am sure that you have also had or will have situations when you just need to transfer something valuable and fragile in your luggage.

Unfortunately, most of the tips I've seen on the internet don't work. I myself once used some of them and I broke a bottle of Indian rum on a Goa-Delhi flight. Not only that the rum cannot be returned, but also things are very dirty.

In order for you to never have such troubles, I decided to give some time-tested and personal experience advice.

Simply stuffing a bottle or fragile item between layers of clothing is not enough. There are many tips to wrap a bottle or other fragile item in toilet paper, or wrap it in extra clothing. Sure, it's better than doing nothing, but that often doesn't work. The treatment of your luggage during loading and unloading is sometimes very cruel. Your suitcase or bag can fall into the very bottom of a mountain of luggage, and even rest against some kind of bar. Toilet paper won't work here.

Click on the picture to open it

I always pack bottles quite simply but securely. Of course, you can come up with many other ways, but I usually use one. For example, quite recently, I was taking 2 bottles of my favorite brand of collection champagne to Riga, where we were going to celebrate my wife's anniversary. In order to be guaranteed to bring them, I took a cardboard box from an ordinary shoe box. It is always better to choose hard cardboard.

Cut a rectangle 15 cm wide above the bottle and long enough to make 3 full turns around the bottle.

We wrap the cardboard around the bottle so that the top and bottom of the cardboard are 7-8 cm longer than the bottle.

We tightly tie the bottle with a tourniquet or twine and tie it into a knot. It turned out a tied cylinder with a bottle inside.

We make cuts from both ends of the package to a width of 2-3 cm and a length almost to the bottle.

In turn, in a circle, wrap the incised edges to the center, putting a little toilet paper on both ends.

We carefully seal the ends of the resulting package with paper or ordinary tape.

For reliability, it is best to wrap this container with some T-shirts or other soft things.

Do you think everything? Do you need anything more? But no! There are a few more chips that need to be applied at the airport.

2. Tip for transporting shells or fragile glassware.

Once we bought some beautiful sea shells on about. Panglao (Philippines) and I thought that we definitely would not deliver them. They were very openwork, with fine details on all sides. Now they take pride of place in my wife's shell collection, and I will tell you how experienced travelers transport such fragile items.

This is where toilet paper comes into play. And quite a large number (it's good that hotels often have spare rolls).

Very carefully wrap the shell in a circle. If some spikes cut through the paper, it's okay. There are quite a few turns to be made. So that the result is an almost shapeless ball of toilet paper.

After that, all shells or similar fragile items, if there are a lot of them, are put into one rigid box. The tougher the better. You can use plastic containers sold in any country or make your own from hard cardboard and glue it with tape. By the way, we take scotch tape on all long trips, and in the future I will tell you many other ways to use it.

But these measures still do not give any guarantee if you have not done anything at the airport.

It was not by chance that I wrote specifically about the suitcase, since the hard walls of the suitcase provide additional protection. When packing, be sure to keep in mind that your packed fragile luggage should not touch any wall of the suitcase. If you have a suitcase with a retractable handle, then it is better to place the fragile thing closer to the back wall, where the metal rails go.

Another good place is at the bottom of the suitcase, which, as a rule, is additionally protected by wheels and plastic guides. But be sure to put something between fragile things and the wall of the suitcase.

4. How to ensure that your luggage is treated with respect during the flight?

You packed well, congratulations! But don't relax! This is only half the story. The most important thing now is to ensure that your luggage is treated with respect during the flight. There are several simple methods for this. Depending on the size, degree of fragility and other things, you can use any of them.

4.1. Transportation in hand luggage.

It must be remembered that hand luggage is no more than 40x55x20 or in some airlines 115 cm in the sum of 3 sides. In addition, there are restrictions on weight (sometimes quite large). Carefully read the conditions for carrying hand luggage in each airline.

A big plus of hand luggage is that you will personally control everything that happens with your luggage. But the big disadvantage is that it is impossible to conduct liquids in this way.

Keep in mind that some low-cost airlines do not allow hand luggage. For example, in "Victory" you will hand over your suitcase and it will be transported free of charge, but not in the cabin, but in luggage. This has its advantages, but when transporting fragile items, this, of course, is a minus.

4.2. Purchasing a separate piece of baggage.

In some cases, you can buy additional baggage. As a rule, this will be a more expensive fare, but it often helps to carry non-standard-sized luggage, for example, some musical instruments. Each airline has different requirements and conditions for such baggage transportation.

For example, in the airline "Ryanair" when buying a ticket, you must specify EXTRA in the First name column and ITEM SEAT in the Last name column / That is, you get a passenger with the name EXTRA ITEM SEAT. This ticket is valid in conjunction with your main ticket.

4.3. Check in baggage marked "FRAGILE"

Some people think (and I have heard this many times even from experienced travelers) that the “Caution glass” sticker will solve all problems. It wasn't there! Your luggage will travel with all other luggage, and only in some cases, if the movers see this sticker, will they treat it more carefully. I wouldn't count on it.

A much safer way is to check in a separate carriage for fragile baggage. At the time of acceptance, a special sticker will be stuck on it. I usually ask you to stick it on both sides at once, so that the loaders can see it for sure. At the same time, your luggage will be separately and carefully lowered by elevator, manually loaded onto the plane and, just as carefully, unloaded from there.

By the way, you don't have to pay anything for it. This service is free of charge for all airlines. At least I have not had to deal with asking for an additional fee for this.

In this case, your baggage will not move along the belts and you will need to receive it at a separate airport point for issuing fragile and oversized baggage. This is visible in the photographs. All pictures are clickable and open in full screen.

I want to note that no one has ever checked with me whether there really are fragile things in my suitcase or not. This means that in this way you can transfer any baggage, which is desirable to be treated with respect.

Of course, all these methods do not give a 100% guarantee of the safety of your luggage, but they greatly increase the likelihood of safe transportation of even the most fragile cargo.

I am glad if, thanks to my advice, you save something necessary and valuable for you.

The head of the KSP is Yuri Fedorov.

The article was written on the road Vilnius - Riga - Berlin, April 2016.

Have you ever carried fragile items in your luggage?
Share your experience, both positive and negative, in the comments below the article.

The rules for carrying alcohol on an airplane depend on the age of the owner of alcohol, on the requirements of the carrier company, customs regulations of the country of export and import of alcohol, the strength of the alcoholic beverage, the volume and packaging of alcoholic beverages and do not depend on the place of purchase of alcohol (supermarket, wine cellar or Duty Free shop) and citizenship, nationality, skin color of the alcohol owner.

The rules for carrying alcohol on the plane allow you to take with you in your hand luggage only one souvenir bottle of alcohol with a volume of not more than 100 ml and all bottles bought in Duty Free in a branded package and with a check in a conspicuous place. Attention! The shopping bag must not be opened before arriving at the destination. If you are making a transfer in a Schengen country, then purchases from Duty Free must be packed in luggage.

The norm for transporting alcohol to Russia per person for personal use is 5 liters with a strength of less than 70 degrees.

It can be beer, sparkling wine, liquor or stronger drinks. Of these 5 liters -3 liters per liter, regardless of where it is purchased. (Alcohol can be purchased at a general store, given as a gift, won in a lottery, or purchased at a duty-free shop.) For example, you were presented with 1 liter of Czech beer Staropranen, and you bought 4 liters of Henessi in Duty Free in Paris. Arriving in Moscow, you will have to pay a duty of 20 euros for 2 liters, and you import 3 liters for free.
If you want to bring into Russia more than 5 liters of alcohol with a strength of less than 70 degrees, then you need to declare it, keep a receipt for the purchase of alcohol and pay the duty for excess, excise, VAT. On domestic flights of the Russian Federation, drinks with a strength of up to 24 degrees are carried without restrictions, but only by adult passengers

The norm for transporting alcohol across the Ukrainian border- You can import 5 liters of beer, 2 liters of wine and 1 liter of vodka. There are no regulations for the export of alcoholic beverages.

Each country has its own rules, which are constantly being adjusted, so they need to be clarified in the customs code right before departure.
For example, alcohol can be imported into Finland only if the stay in the country is more than 72 hours. If the owner of alcohol is over 20 years old, he is allowed to import 1 liter with a strength above 22 degrees, and if he imported over 18 but under 20 years old, then he has the right to import only 2 liters with a strength of less than 22 degrees. It is forbidden to bring alcohol or powder for making wine into Finland.

The following example, passengers over 17 years old can import alcohol into Germany, and only passengers over 18 years old can export alcohol from Germany. If entering Germany from outside the EU, you can import 1 liter with a strength of more than 22 degrees or 2 liters with a strength of less than 22 degrees. If you enter Germany from an EU country, then the rules are completely different - you can import 90 liters of beer or wine, or 10 liters of strong alcohol, with a strength of more than 22 degrees, without duty. You can export from Germany without paying a fee only 3 liters of any alcohol. If you want to take out more, then only if you pay a fee of 10 euros for each liter.

Aeroflot does not allow the transport of alcoholic beverages stronger than 70 degrees on its flights. So the purchased green Absinthe will either be confiscated and disposed of, or you will have to urgently drink it so that the good does not disappear, but in this case they will not be allowed on the plane from exceeding the blood count and aliens walking around the airport. If you drink your Absinthe in the emirates of Fujairah and Sharjah, then you will be prosecuted for appearing in a state of intoxication in a public place. When traveling around the world, remember that in the UAE, even a package of alcohol bought in Duty Free cannot be carried along the street - features of the East.

In the United States, alcohol is sold only to those over 21, so often there are ads on the door of a liquor store - “if you are under 40, present documents confirming your age.”

In Singapore, you can import 1 liter of alcohol of any strength without paying a duty.

It is strictly forbidden to legally import alcohol to the Maldives, even bought in dute free. If a tourist brought alcohol of any kind with him, then they will pick it up at customs, carefully store it until departure and return it upon departure. During customs inspection, all bottles are checked for smell.

In Thailand, the import norm for alcohol is 1 liter of hard liquor.

After a holiday in Cuba, tourists are allowed to take out of the country only 2 bottles (750 ml each) of the famous Santiago rum or any other alcohol.

We know from Hollywood movies that you can drink alcohol on an airplane. But when it comes to flying, it's best to find out about the rules for carrying alcoholic beverages on aircraft in advance. Otherwise, you may not be allowed on board, your alcohol will be confiscated, or you may be forced to pay a fine.

First you need to decide whether you will carry alcohol in the baggage of the plane or want to drink it on board. In the first case, everything is much simpler. On inside Russian flights Alcohol in checked baggage is subject to the following rules:

• alcoholic beverages with a strength of up to 24% are carried without restrictions by all passengers over 21 years old;
• alcohol with a strength of 24-70% can be carried by all adult passengers, but not more than 5 liters per person.

On international flights the rules depend on the customs laws of the country you are flying to. They can be clarified before the flight with the travel operator, the embassy or the airline that sold the ticket. Usually, 1 liter of hard liquor, 2 liters of wine and 1 block of cigarettes can be exported from Russia to another country. But this is an average amount that needs to be clarified. For example, alcohol is not allowed in Saudi Arabia.

It is allowed to import two liters of alcohol of any strength into the territory of Russia. You can do more (up to 10 liters), but then you have to pay duty, excise and VAT. It won't be the best buy.

Now let's figure out how much alcohol you can take into the cabin. Carriage of alcohol in the cabin of an aircraft is governed by the rules for carrying hand luggage. According to these rules, a passenger has the right to take 100 g of alcohol with him in an undamaged factory container, which is packed in a transparent plastic bag with a zipper. Before boarding, you will definitely check the integrity of the packaging.

On international flights, it is allowed to carry alcohol from Duty-Free, packed in special packages of these stores. But even here difficulties can arise. If you are flying from a non-Schengen country and you have a transfer in a Schengen country, you will be asked to put alcohol in your luggage when you transfer. In the cabins of US aircraft, you can only carry alcohol purchased in duty-free stores in this country.

The right to carry alcohol in the cabin does not mean that alcohol can be consumed on board. It all depends on the internal rules of the airline. In most cases, for example, on Aeroflot aircraft, you can only drink alcohol purchased on board. There are carriers that have introduced prohibition on their flights. Therefore, the rules for the use of alcoholic beverages should be clarified with the airline that sold you the ticket.

I also advise you to remember that alcohol at an altitude of more than 3000 meters slows down the breathing rate and increases oxygen starvation. Hence the advice - reduce your usual dose several times, then during the flight you will not get drunk to the point of insanity.