Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
There no violation of Shari`ah at all in travelling with airlines that serve alcohol or any other prohibited materials.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
There is no need for us to be overly rigid in such issues. We know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as well as his companions used to partake foods and drinks from their pagan relatives and friends who used to drink.
Moreover, although drinking alcohol is haram in Islam, in an Islamic state, this prohibition does not apply to non-Muslims. Therefore, even though we don’t drink, we don’t need to be concerned about the non-Muslims who drink.
Having said this let me also add: If you have doubts as to the permissibility of flying on airlines that serve alcohol, then you may do well to avoid them. That is closer to piety for you.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.