You may have mastered the 3-1-1 rule for carry-on liquids by now, but what about duty-free liquids, like perfumes and liquor? My husband just returned from a trip to Honduras. Because he’d had little time to shop during his stay, he bought a few bottles of rum in the airport before flying back to the United States. He thought his duty-free rum would be able to accompany him in the cabin all the way back to San Francisco.
Usually when we travel, any bottle of tequila, rum, or other spirit we acquire gets packed securely in our checked baggage for the trip home. We’ve even taken rolls of bubble wrap to Mexico to pack the bottles of tequila we knew we’d buy. And that’s why he didn’t know about the rules regarding duty-free liquids, gels and aerosols.
If you’re returning to the United States on a nonstop flight, your duty-free liquids (purchased in an international airport) will be permitted through the checkpoint only if they meet the U.S. requirements for tamper-proof bags. According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), “duty-free delivered to the aircraft for passenger pick-up, bought on the plane or purchased after the security checkpoint are allowed.”
But, if you then connect to another flight, you have to place that liquid in your checked baggage. It will not be permitted through a U.S. security checkpoint. Considering that you’ll have to claim your checked bags when you pass through customs, there’s time to get that bottle of perfume or whiskey into your bag before you re-check it for the final flight home. But if you forget and get turned back from the next checkpoint because you have liquid in your carry-on, you’ll have no choice but to either leave that bottle behind or pay for a box to pack it in when you check it. And in these days of paying for practically anything that’s checked, the cost of the box plus the cost of a second (or first) checked bag might amount to more than that souvenir bottle is worth.
It’s good practice to brush up on your TSA rules periodically because they can change. I only just realized that metal scissors with sharp tips (under 4 inches), like those used for cutting fingernails, are now allowed in carry-on bags.
What happened to the rum? My husband packed them into his carry-on bag, checked it (paying a $25 fee for a second checked bag), and crossed his fingers that they wouldn’t be broken when he arrived in San Francisco. Luckily, all four bottles made it through intact.
