Based on what you’ve said it sounds to me like their experience is that there’s a lot of breakage regardless of how people claim they have protected the bottles. Then there are probably claims of mishandling, plus sometimes damage to other people’s property. You could imagine why they might just want out. It would also explain why they could make an exception, as it’s a risk/risk trade off rather than any legal issue or policy coming down from some governing entity.
Glad it worked out for you!
I wonder if this is only a barcelona thing, or other AA locations as well? I used to check wine all the time flying back from europe, only once had a minor problem out of Berlin. Haven’t done so since 2017 from Paris. Is there some way to know ahead of time what local rules are?
I would remind them of the AA Conditions of Carriage (which is the contract between you and AA when you buy the ticket), as it explicitly allows wine in checked baggage, and 5 litres of alcoholic beverages between 24-70% ABV per passenger, as long as they are in unopened retail packaging.
Wow, I’ve flown AA and put checked wine in my bag for decades. That would caus me conniptions too.
It does say that in the contract of carriage and specifically mentions wine as an example. Odd re liability, because a long time ago, AA used to make me sign a waiver for breakage (out of SFO).
Thanks for your PSA and sorry for the grief you went through. Not sure if you read/post in Flyertalk, but it would be worth a post there.
I am a lowly Platinum (lifetime ) these days but I still have my wife’s bag checked under my name because however poorly you are treated when your bag is lost, you are treated worse if you don’t have status.
We of course showed this information at the counter - pulled it up on my phone and pointed right to it. They didn’t care, they said they know that’s what AA says. They are not employees of AA. They are employed by the outsourced company that doesn’t have any such promise to the flyer, but has told its employees not to take any bottles (remember, not just wine - alcohol or otherwise), and has (we were told) contracted with AA including a statement that they will not accept bottles for check in. Should AA have agreed to something that directly contradicts their own stated policy? Absolutely not! But I can see how the third party employees don’t really care about anything but their own employer’s rules or policies.
Other than customs allowances and airline policies on their website, I don’t think there is a way to know, though I could be wrong. I did search while standing there at the counter and could find nothing, but I have not done a deep dive since. I asked them if it’s written anywhere and was told no. I asked “So could I possibly have known this in advance?” She shrugged and said “It’s a rule, I know you could not have known, but it’s our special rule here at BCN with AA.”
I’d expect a decent chunk of miles coming your way from AA, as their agreement with their 3rd party contractor should not interest you in any way. And if they would have refused carriage altogether, I would have sent them a bill for replacement.
Generally, AA used to be the best in biz for ExPlats to make things right for them, these days I’d say they are the worst. It all changed at the merger when US Airways management took over and brought their culture of blame and punishment to the frontline employees.
I think this is very likely the case - many pictures of the box, the styro, the bubble wrap, the listing on Amazon for wine shipper boxes were taken, texted around, and discussed in Spanish. Then the final agreement was that we had to wrap it (stupid), so at least the front line excuse was that it could break and be a risk.
I’m tempted next time to check a bottle completely unprotected inside a suitcase full of hard sharp objects to make sure it breaks, and then charge them, as allowed by the Warsaw Convention, the value of the bottle.
Be lucky to get more than just a few thousand given they ultimately relented.
The first response won’t even reflect her complaint, they’ve dumbed down AA customer service so much. Hopefully Sarah has an email into the executive offices.
Neat idea, and hopefully the ban on wine checking spreads to other locations as a precautionary measure
@Sarah_Kirschbaum i hate that you went through this ridiculous exercise, but I appreciate you posting the warning. We fly AA out of BCN next June. Looks like I’ll do more drinkin’ and less carrying’
Glad my bad experience could save someone else an issue! I suspect if you put something quietly in your suitcase, they’ll never know.
Checked-in bags are x-rayed at BCN.
To what extent the x-ray information are used, e.g. whether they report back to airline ground staff, I wouldn’t know (can’t recall ever flying AA at BCN).
It’s only the check-in at AA staff that can’t accept bottles. Not the totally different staff that would be Xraying at gate security. If all other airlines are allowed to check bottles, which is what they told me, the Xray at security would have no way of connecting any particular bag back to a single airline. When we asked if we could just put our bottles in our suitcase, the answer was that they wouldn’t take it, because they would know it was there. Not that it would be caught at the security checkpoint.
Without going into too much detail about SSI and airport security, lets just say no one cares about liquids in checked bags.
If you read the whole thread, it’s teally obvious AA cares about bottles with liquids in checked-in bags, given how AA is “specifically” treating check-in bottles at BCN. Until now this issue is unheard of, at least everywhere I’ve flown from.
I’m just providing fair warning on possible repercussions of sneaking in bottles.
No. AA doesn’t care. Their outsourced staff company cares.
So AA doesn’t care. But they’re paying an outsourced liquid-bottle police that cares.
Makes sense.
personally rarely check bags except golf clubs
sometimes throw a bottle or 2 in the golf bag
overall, buying wine to check on your flight back from Europe is over rated by far
Maybe. We brought a case from home for the trip and had several bottles we didn’t consume. There are many scenarios beyond your obvious basics. Everyone is different. I consider golf clubs a waste of time, space and attention, lol. 