So you’re stuck trusting the airline and security staff with your booze.
Your alcohol doesn’t always make it unscathed.
Language in this video, from a very unhappy passenger, is very much not safe for work (or for work from home):
So an employeeIt’s had to pin this on United, but they’ve appeared to accept responsibility for similar incidents in the past. When you check a bag with an airline, the airline is responsible for it even though they aren’t the only one that touches it.
You may have seen the slips that TSA sometimes sticks into bags saying that they’ve opened and inspected it, for instance. And when there is more than one airline on your itinerary, it’s the last airline before your destination that is responsible for it even if they aren’t the one that loses it.There are plenty of stories I’ve seen about items being taken out of checked luggage, or entire bags being stolen (sometimes at baggage claim by another passenger – again, not the airline!). But it’s the last airline on your itinerary that’s generally on the hook.
Earlier this year a United Airlines passenger checked a bottle of expensive whiskey and got it back one-third empty. Until then I’d never seen a claim of a baggage handler drinking on the job between the time a bag is checked and when it is loaded onto the aircraft, or between the time it is unloaded and brought to baggage claim.I wasn’t even sure when they would do it? Is there someone sitting, hiding, inside the baggage conveyance system of the airport, pulling checked bags off the belt knowing there’s alcohol inside… downing one third of the bottle, zipping the bag back up and sending it on its way? And why on earth would someone be taking one third of a bottle of scotch, instead of just taking the bottle of scotch?