I've travelled fairly often with wine and spirits and never lost a bottle but do feel it is a matter of time and therefore my advice would be to plan for things to go wrong therefore containing the potential mess is the number one concern. Do not put them in the same suitcase as anything that might be impossible to clean (silk, suede, other delicates), electronics or anything that you'd be heartbroken to lose - red wine is of course worse than white in terms of ruining clothes. Regardless of bubble wrap, each bottle should be at least double bagged to contain any broken glass as otherwise this makes dealing with the contents downright dangerous as well as messy. You may also risk your dripping luggage being pulled from the system by a concerned baggage handler and potentially delayed - my husband had this happen to him years ago and the luggage being delayed and sitting soaking wet for a week was probably worse than the original liquid damage.

If you decide to risk it, my tips for packing are:

- Hard sided suitcase for preference. If not, at least one with structure rather than a duffle bag.
- The bigger the suitcase the better so that the bottles are further from the sides.
- The suitcase needs to be full and densely packed so things can't move around.
- Bottles should not directly touch each other without some padding (bubble wrap, clothes or cardboard).
- Even if boxed, each bottle should be wrapped within the box and as above double bagged to contain glass.
- The necks are a weak point so need to be wrapped to be the same diameter as the rest of the bottle. If using a box then make sure you pack all the extra space around the necks. Pairs of socks are good for this.
- Think about what might be most damaging for wine bottles. You do not want a direct blow to the base of the bottle or to the neck. Therefore under no circumstances should either end of the bottle be against the side of the case even if it is hard shell. Pack clothes etc very tightly between the bottle ends and the case wall.
- Make sure nothing hard or spiky is pointing towards the bottles, so no plugs or adapters (point them away), hairbrush handles (lie them parallel to the bottles) or high heeled shoes.

By doing this I managed to bring five bottles back from the USA last month including domestic flights, but no guarantees!

Definitely do not expect the airline to pay any compensation for damage - this is all very much at your own risk.