Love wine? Love taking wine home when you travel?
We do too.
Alaska Airlines has a long-running and very popular Wine Flies Free program that allows members of its mileage plan program to check a case of wine without having to pay an extra baggage fee when flying from 32 West Coast cities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California.
As a great and valuable bonus, in Oregon, Washington and Idaho your Alaska Airlines boarding pass gets you free wine tastings at participatng wineries.
Now Avelo Airlines is joining the wine-flies-free bandwagon with its own version of the program.
The airline doesn’t service as many cities as Alaska does, but beginning on National Wine Day (May 25), Avelo customers can begin checking a case of wine for free from the Bay Area’s Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS) in Santa Rosa, CA.
Avelo currently offers nonstop flights from Sonoma to Salem, Oregon (SLE), Bend/Redmond (RDM), Boise (BOI), Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) in Kalispell, MT, Las Vegas (LAS), Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and Palm Springs (PSP).
“We know that visiting the vineyards and sampling Northern California’s world-famous wines is one of the most appealing reasons for visiting the Sonoma County region,” said Avelo Airlines Founder and CEO Andrew Levy, “It is our hope Avelo’s new Wine Travels Free program will make our Customers’ trips to California Wine Country that much more enjoyable and memorable.”
On both Alaska and Avelo, you must be at least 21 years of age to take advantage of this perk. And on both airlines one case of wine is considered to be a single box or case containing up to 12 bottles and weighing 50 lbs or less.
Let’s raise a glass to airlines that let wines fly free.
(photo courtesy Flickr Commons)