Originally Posted by
SJOGuy
Doesn't the person who hands you your duty-free purchases usually stand on the jet bridge beyond the point at which the GA scans your boarding pass? How would the GA know that you had such items at all? Or is it different at POS?
So POS is different. They hand you the duty free sealed back at the gate around 10mins before boarding. Also, if you buy duty free after security screening, you're allowed to take the bag with you instead of having someone bring it.
Originally Posted by
Often1
Whether an item is taxable has nothing to do with one's carry-on allowance. The space OH and underseat is limited and thus this is a zero-sum game. With the exception of certain carefully excepted items, the limit is two items of specified dimensions.
The fact that duty free is sometimes distributed after the gate reader is a matter of logistics, not AA rule.
Bottom line, for every person bringing a third carry-on with them, there is someone who must gate check something (presuming full flights and the like).
Originally Posted by
mvoight
Some airlines do not count Duty Free purchases in your carry on limits. AA is not one of them. Nothing on the website indicates Duty Free purchases are exempted from the carryon limits
I'm honestly fine with duty free counting as part of the carry-on allowance, but I've never seen it enforced (nor was aware that it was a rule) at MIA, JFK, and POS with AA. I'll just need to plan for it next time.