Has anyone else experienced the frustration of airlines coming up with their own odd policies, based on what seem to be inaccurate interpretations of the IATA guidelines for alcohol in checked baggage? Of course airlines come up with their own policies based on IATA guidance, but it seems like something has gone awry. I would like to see airline partners, especially those that may be jointly owned (such as Delta's 49% ownership investment in Virgin Atlantic), follow the same policies in a passenger-friendly fashion.

I have found that debating the intent that guidance with the customer service department of Virgin Atlantic is useless, even with emails from the IATA explaining the policy. Perhaps the airlines are just lazy and don't want to trust passengers to accurately account for the ABV of alcoholic beverages in your luggage?

I would love to hear your experiences. I would also love to hear if you have any thoughts on how to get more of these airlines to understand the intent of the IATA guidance. Thanks for reading!

Here are some details:

From the IATA Dangerous Goods guidelines:
2.3.5.7 Alcoholic Beverages
Alcoholic beverages, when in retail packaging s, containing more than 24% but not more than 70% alcohol by volume, in receptacles not exceeding 5 L, with a total net quantity per person of 5 L for such beverages.
Note: Alcoholic beverages containing 24% or less alcohol by volume are not subject to any restrictions.

I have received verification directly from the IATA that the guidance in 2.3.5.7 is exactly as it says: alcoholic beverages containing 24% or less alcohol by volume are not subject to any restrictions. This includes, of course, table wine, which is always between 12% and 17% alcohol (with rare exceptions).

Airlines often reference Table 2.3.A Provisions for Dangerous Goods Carried by Passengers or Crew. This is perhaps where the confusion lies, because the statement specifically excluding alcoholic beverages containing 24% of less alcohol by volume does not appear here. Even so, the sentence in both references, on its own, is a complete thought, yet several airlines apparently don't see it that way.



All major US-based airlines (Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, United, etc.) seem to understand that there are no restrictions on the per bag and/or per person quantity of wine that can be checked. The challenge occurs with certain airline partners based abroad. Two examples are Virgin Atlantic and Air France. Of course it depends on which agent takes your checked luggage as to whether the alcohol content of your bags comes into question, but nevertheless, there is a consistent pattern of verbally stating that only 5L per checked bag is allowed by both Virgin Atlantic and Air France at least at JNB. Curiously, the Air France written policy states that only 5L per person is allowed. Virgin Atlantic's policy is a copy and paste from the IATA guidelines, yet they interpret this as 5L per checked bag.

As another example of misunderstanding the IATA guidance, Fly SAFair tried to keep my wife and I from flying CPT to JNB with more than 5L of wine per person just three days ago. Luckily, I was able to get an authority from the IATA in Switzerland on the phone and convince the operations manager to let us check our 4+ cases of wine. The representative from Fly SAFair stated that "this is how they've been trained" to interpret the IATA Dangerous Goods table. The IATA representative said "you've been trained wrong."

Air France Baggage Guidelines


Virgin Atlantic Dangerous Goods Guidelines