Flying with champagne bottle - thoughts/tips?
 

Welcome to Flyertalk, Cdanner09. I often bring California wine to friends in Europe and pack them in this product: Wine Mummy - Wine Travel Bag
Works very well. Have yet to have anything spill or break.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding,

Thanks, obscure! The Wine Mummy looks similar to the Wine Diaper - I’ll definitely check it out.

I use wine diapers when flying with wine and I have never had an issue. If the box does not fit in a wine diaper or mummy. You could create your own by wrapping the box in bubble wrap and taping it. When you pack it make sure it is surrounded by soft items and is securely in place.

I would be tempted to put the bottle in the wine wrapper sans box and pack that well in my baggage. Then put some lighter items in the box and pack that well in my baggage.

FWIW I have done the elcheapo method and wrapped bottles in cardboard surrounded in paper in a big ole box but with nothing else.

Brought back 3 bottles in 2 Wine Diapers in 1 suitcase. Worked like a charm.

And don't forget to let it 'settle' for a months before opening (and not because of the bubbles)! :D

I've brought back wine from Europe very safely with those padded suitcase shipping products, but before I had those, I did well with just a really good packing job. That box looks pretty good, but just to play it safe I'd still cushion it on all sides.

One thing to note - if you pack it well, you should be fine, but you may want to but a plastic bag around the champagne OR whatever else is in the suitcase...just in case the worst should happen.

Congratulations, and have a great time!

Hope you have a great time... not a fan of Ace of Spades but I know its a trendy brand with big marketting budgets to cover.

We often carry fairly expenses bottles of wine/spirits with us in our checked luggage. To date we've simply wrapped the bottles in something like a t-shirt and ensured its in the middle of the suitcase. Thankfully to date we've had no breakages. We did used to put them in plastic bags too just in case but have become a little lax after so many years of no incidents.

I had a bottle of Jameson Distillery Reserve stolen out of my checked bag somewhere between when I checked it at JFK and when I retrieved it from the carousel at PDX. It was packed in a cardboard tube inside a plastic bag, packed in the geographic center of our largest suitcase, firmly surrounded by 2 weeks worth of dirty clothes from our trip to Ireland. When we opened the bag at home, we had the plastic bag to remember it by.

It wasn't crazy expensive - $60-$70 iirc, but it was the principle. And the fact that you can apparently only buy that bottle in one place in the world.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions!

I’ve decided that I will use the original box it came with, pack in any extra space with bubble wrap and packing paper. I’m going to wrap the box itself in bubble wrap, tape it up, and pack in the center of my suitcase surrounded by clothes.

This has been extremely helpful. Thanks again!

I know the bottle has significant meaning to you, but can I recommend an alternative? Enjoy the bottle at home! I've read reports on how bubbly can lose some qualities when in the non pressurized cargo hold.

I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as a "non-pressurized cargo hold" on any of the US domestic carriers anymore (and hasn't been for quite some time). It's why your shaving cream can doesn't explode (or at least spit the plug out and vent a couple cubic feet of foam into your suitcase).

I don't believe that there are any aircraft servicing a Mainland-HI route which have unpressurized holds or that there have been any such aircraft on those routes for the past 35+ years.

Ah ignorance is bliss. Commercial aircraft do indeed have pressurized cabins and baggage/cargo holds.... however aircraft are not pressurized at sea level pressure and long flights would expose the wine to the lower pressure. A number of carriers use older aircraft to Hawaii which can pressurize at 7 or 8,000 feet but newer aircraft will be about 4 - 5,000 feet. There is also a lack of humidity in aircraft ventilation though newer equipment like 787 partially addresses this. Again on long flights this may effect corks in a wine bottle.

Don't believe it? Take the bottled water you get on the plane, drink the water so bottle is full of air whilst at cruise altitude. Screw up the top tightly and watch what happens to the bottle as you descend...