How to fly a bottle of Scotch...?
 

Hi all! New member, first post. :)

I'm flying from Europe back to Canada for Christmas, and I'd like to bring home a nice bottle of Scotch The good stuff is pretty darn cheap here!

I know that I am allowed to bring one bottle, but given the ever-changing rules on air travel, I don't know HOW to bring it....if I put it in my checked luggage (ignoring risk of breakage), would a baggage scanner flag it as suspicious, leading to a major behid-the-scenes hassle, getting my bag a week later, stuffed in a plastic bag, a bottle short, and the remaining contents reeking of Scotland's finest?

Of course, it would be much simpler to bring it on-board as carry-on, but I could see that being an entirely worse decision wrt security.....and I really can't chug a good bottle of Scotch at 7am!

Finally, if I make it all the way to Canada Customs, do I then have to declare the bottle or can I just go through, as the volume is within my limit?

Thanks in advance...(flying Swiss Int'l, in case that matters)

First, Welcome to Flyertalk!

Transporting liquids can be tricky. While policies vary depending which cities / airports you are going through/to, you can probably count on the following.

1. You won't be allowed to bring alcohol (or any liquids > 100ml) purchased before you go through security at your point of departure. So to even get it on the plane, you would need to buy it duty free post security.

2. If your flight is not direct from origin to destination ie. there is a connection at another airport, the chances are good that you will get any liquids confiscated there before boarding your next flight.

3. If you are flying just a single, direct flight, I would call the airline and ask about their policy (though you would almost certainly have to buy it post security).

4. I don't know if it has the potential to cause trouble or not, but I have flown with spirits in the checked baggage many times. No hassles, no breakages. I haven't done it from Europe to Canada, so I don't know if it's the sort of thing that those particular security people might have an issue with.

Basically, a few people who think that it's ok to blow up planes have created a crazy number of hassles for the rest of us, and this liquids issue is just one example.

Good luck, and may the Scotch be worth it!

You can't bring it as carry-on, it will be confiscated at the first security check point. You can pack it in your checked luggage. I just brought back 6 bottles of wine from Argentina, wrapped in t-shirts and packed in the middle of two checked bags. Worked fine, and all arrived intact in Seattle.

Yes you will have to declare the value of it on the landing card. 1.14 litres is the allowable volume limit for spirits.

if it's available from duty free on the plane, and you aren't connecting at the entry airport, you should be okay....good luck...

My brother brings whisky from Scotland to Canada all the time and has never had a problem. He puts it in a hard cardboard tude type container and places it in the center of the suitcase surrounded by clothes and copious quantities of Cadbuy choclate bars. He declares it at srrivals in Canada. All good. Try a bottle of Fettercairn if you can track it down, it is called old socks in our house!:D

Never heard of that one before....I willl keep an eye out for it in future, but I'lll stick with the Speysides that I know well for this mission...but thanks!;)

And to everyone else on this thread, thank you so much for your responses.....I will go with packing it well in my checked bag, and hope that the luggage handlers aren't as anxious for some holiday cheer as I fear!

I did a bottle from LHR to LAS in hand luggage. I bought it after security, they took the bottle out of the boxing (was in some special box) and put some sort of netting around the bottle then put it in a sealed bag, same as the cigarettes.

Then it went through fine, although the box its self caused issues with one of the checking people, because he thought the bottle was still in it.

Put the bottle in a plastic bag, wrpa the bottle and bag with bubble wrap, put the bubble-wrapped bottle in another plastic bag. Then roll the double-bagged, bubble-wrapped bottle in a pair of jeans or slacks. Then pack it in your checked luggage, preferrably a hard-sided bag (not a duffle bag). This will give your liquor plenty of padding.

STBCypriot

Good packing advice, thx...per your summary profile, I gotta ask: what is the situation in Sofia? I have had many people advise against going there due to an immense crime problem...is it THAT bad, or are there any other issues there as well?

Welcome to FT! It will not be a big problem. Wrap it well so that there's a low chance of it breaking. There will not be a problem behind the scenes. I've carried a lot of alcohol this way.

I've got a cardboard box lined with foam that I use for just this very thing. Bought it from an AF desk a few months back. I just pack the bottle in there. Having said that.....being Scottish I just need to drive up the road for a few hours and the stuff comes from the taps ;D

I fly with bottles in checked baggage all the time and haven't lost one yet. They are surprisingly sturdy. Be sure to put some clothes around it.

I have sent you a message.

Best way is to buy at duty free and just carry on.

Otherwise put in ziploc/plastic bags in the very small chance it will leak.

Then find the most secure place in luggage (metal frame) and wrap in abundance of clothes.

Enjoy your scotch!

Depends on the duty free retailer really. LHR tends to have a pretty decent selection of whisky but in other places the range of product is pretty poor.

Well, that's really a big part of this whole issue for me...my experience is that Duty Free Shops are just about the biggest ripoff in all of retail. They don't charge any duty on the booze...that is true. They just wildly overcharge for products that a lot of pepole don't know the price of and assume they're getting a deal. Not me.

What is your favorite scotch
 

I might be bringing back a good bottle of scotch for my boss when I visit the island of St. Martin soon, but what do others find to be their favorite scotch?

I have done that many times, never had a problem,, I bought a bottle of Vodka in Moscow, wrapped it in a towel, then wrapped it in a coat and placed it in the middle of my suitcase,, I had two transfers and it did NOT break :D nor my luggage was delayed.
This year however, I decided to buy a bottle of whisky as a Christmas present for my dad. I have to transfer in Amsterdam and I made a reservation on their Christmas shopping webpage (duty free shop),, so I'll carry it on. It was actually cheaper as it is in the local store.

As others have said, no problems with it in checked luggage. Just package it appropriately.

But the more pressing question is which whiskey you are planning to take?

LHR is basically a shopping mall pretending to be an airport with an extraordinary percentage of space devoted to all kinds of shops. There is a main duty free retailer in all terminals with a big range of standard brands at prices which are lower than standard retail in the UK but higher than easily available in California. However, Terminals 1 and 4 have outposts of a specialist whisky shop and here you should be able to obtain some interesting bottles which are less generally available. As always with airport shopping, the prices tend towards the outrageous.

on a recent trip back to the US through Canada (i took a few days layover in toronto), I bought some jwb at HKG after security, and put it into my bag as a carry-on, no issues. On my flight back to the US, i wrapped it and put it in my check-in and it was fine coming home. good luck and safe travels!

I just flew some champagne yday from duty free with no issues at all. Just bought it, an this time they sealed everything in the bag incl the box. Had no questions asked about it at all.

Duty Free.....but not cheap!
 

So here's a real example of the Duty Free scam, IMO...I checked this one out last week, specifically to post the result on this thread.

In Vienna, Austria a 750 ml bottle of 12 yr. Glenlivet ( a very basic and popular single malt) is available at several grocery stores for 19.99 euros....that's the regular price, not a sale.

Meanwhile, the exact same bottle costs 34.99 euros at the DF shop at Schwechat airport (VIE). That's 75% higher.

From a quick scan, I'd bet that every scotch carried in that airport DF shop (they have several) is at least 40% higher priced than local retailers.

Caveat Emptor.

I guess it depends on where are you flying from,, If you fly from Sweden,, it's definitely cheaper to buy it in DF shop (i'd guess the same goes for the whole Scandinavia) :D

Sometimes my families and friends in HK would like us to bring the some Canadian Maple Syrup whenever we fly back to HKG from Canada. Usually we would wrap them with those plastics with pimple pops (gosh till now I still don't know the right word for that thingy) and then place them in the middle of the clothing stack in our luggages. Has worked out fine each time and the bottles never broke nor cracked.

I personally find AKL as a wannabe shopping mall more than LHR.

Maybe so. But until you actually check prices, you might be making the precise mistake I'm talking about....that is, assuming you're getting a deal (after all, it's "Duty-Free"!) when in fact you are getting taken.

'Definitely' and 'guess' ? Without the numbers, I'm not buying it....;).

Well, I allowed myself to use the word "definitely", since I travel from Sweden very often and it was never cheaper to buy alcohol in systembolaget (which is the only store where you can buy alcohol in Sweden).
However, I actually do have numbers of my latest purchase;

Johnnie Walker Black Label (0,7L) costs 379kr (= 55$ or 41€ ) in Sweden, compared to 23€ (1L) at Amsterdam Schiphol.
Chivas Regal 595kr (= 87$ or 65€) in Sweden, compared to 42€ at DF.

An exception to that, would be wines that cost more than 1000kr in Sweden.

I "guessed" it goes the same for the whole Scandinavia, since alcohol is more expensive in Norway and only a tad cheaper in Denmark.

Okay, well done. And FYI, a very important insight is included in your answer. The only place ot buy liquor and spirits in Sweden is from the government-controlled monopoly distributor (same as Canada). Which means, almost 100% certainly, that a major chunk of the retial price is simply the Government mark-up/tax/duty. That's how government monopolies work (or more accurately....don't, IMO).

So I can see that Scandinavia is a very good candidate for DF shops with real deals. Cheers!

I'd just add this bit: Even though Canada has the same Gov't monopoly on booze distribution, the DF shop prices in Canadian airports are nowhere CLOSE to being bargain-priced. They are clearly run on the premise that they can charge whatever they like, and the unsuspecting traveller will simply walk in with a blank stare and open wallet......

I believe you're talking about bubble wrap, and that's exactly how I get bottles home in my checked luggage.