Originally Posted by
Scots_Al
I've never understood why the US has this completely bizarre system of having to collect your purchases at the gate, and why they can't operate like most other places - i.e. you buy at the shop, you take your goods there and then... it's not like (most!) people are going to crack open their cheap bottle in the airport whilst waiting for boarding!
It seems like incidents such as the OPs are bound to happen on a regular basis.
Easy example of what the US wants to prevent. A person buys a fully refundable ticket to any intl destination, shops duty free, picks up merchandise, leaves the secure area, cancels his ticket, and goes home with his duty free purchase.
In the US, as far as departures are concerned, there are no international terminals nor international zones. In other countries, duty free stores are located in international zones which are behind emigration control. No way for people to just leave after buying their goods.