Originally Posted by
TWA884
I bought a few bottles of wine at the duty-free shop at TLV. They were sealed with a visible receipt in a transparent security tamper-evident bag (STEB). At JFK, the TSA screener cut the bag open and put each bottle through a bottled liquids scanner. The analysis of each bottle took approximately a minute. He then placed the bottles back in the bag and sealed it with a tape marked with "Transportation Security Administration INSPECTED."
Today's experience, not great, but we'll see the outcome.
Background - I haven't purchased duty free for years. The last time was in 2015/2016 when I was passing through NRT and bought a bottle of Johnie Walker Blue that was about 1/2 the price in the US. In my county, the government has a monopoly on the sale of spirits, but the pricing has always generally been less than duty free. That said, I figured departing from Dublin, I'd check some pricing on Irish whiskeys. I can do this because the county pricing is public so an apples to apples price check is easy. With one exception, everything was 10-25% more at duty free. The single exception was the 'Middleton Very Rare Irish Whiskey', which was about 30% less than the county store and is on allocation at the county store. Picked up a bottle, went to checkout, and I quizzed the agent about duty free and entry into the US. She explained the procedure (which I already knew, but wanted to double check - it was a pricey purchase). Made the purchase and flew DUB CPH JFK. (All of this was yesterday.)
Went to TSA Pre at LGA this morning. Of course the bottle was flagged as I knew it would be. Agent swabbed the bag, carefully opened it and removed the product. She asked me to remove the bottle from its box - actually a box within a box. She swabbed the bottle and then placed it into the liquid scanner. The result was 'inconclusive'. She not only tried a 2nd scanner and then a 3rd scanner, all with the same result. She came back over to me with the bottle and told me that she'd knew that I was going to have an issue and she had already notified the supervisor.
Supervisor came over and proactively acknowledged that I had followed all of the rules and was apologetic about the situation (as was the original agent). My choices were to discard it or to check it. Given that I had a lot of time, he told me that it is not unusual to go back to the check-in counter and ask to have my check bagged retrieved and just to pack the bottle in my checked bag and recheck it. My question was 'if it didn't pass this scan why would it pass another and then what happens'. He told me unless a lot of electronics were detected in the checked bag, the liquid itself should not set off any alarms, but no guarantees, 90% chance the bottle would arrive at IAD with the bag. The original agent, very gently, repackaged everything, and resealed the duty-free bag.
(Glad I got to LGA 3 hours in advance.) UA Premier Services agent started the bag retrieved and it came out on a designated carousel. Packed the bottle. Rechecked the bag. That took all of 30 minutes tops.
I'll report back if the bottle is not there at IAD. Otherwise, I'm not sure I'll ever do duty free liquids again. Not sure that it is worth the headache. (And by the way, the bottle was fairly clear, and the liquid not really dark, so not sure what 'inconclusive' means.)