Eastbay1K

Mmmmm. Gato. Mmmmmm. Gatolicious!

SoFlyOn

♫
Don't box me in,
I told you not to
Don't box me in
Let go
♫

Gaucho100K

Gato...? Not quite. If you want boxed wine, the brands to look out for on the right side of the Andes are....

- Resero
- Termidor
- Toro

Eastbay1K

I see you are not easily humo(u)red when joking about boxed wine from the right side (flying southbound, of course) of the Andes.

MrHalliday

I thought it might be a tough crowd
to get an answer from on this!
Those names will save me some time,
thanks !

I may also grab some boxed wine at SCL,
maybe at SCL arrival duty free which I expectmight exist...
prior to heading out to IPC for 5 nights.

Eastbay1K

Although there is SCL arrival Duty Free, I don't think there is much if anything in the wine department. Few people would be arriving in Chile to pay airport (albeit w/o tax) prices on wine - especially boxed wine, which you can find very cheap in most stores. (This is different than imported spirits, which arriving passengers might be very eager to buy.)

The same stands for EZE arrival Duty Free.

Gaucho100K

The above is correct, there is no boxed wine at EZE Duty Free.

Eastbay1K

I don't even think there is any wine at the arrival duty free shop.

Gaucho100K

I will yield to your experience here.... I never even look at the on arrival duty free in EZE, I just want to escape the dump when I land...

Eastbay1K

I do too, but sometimes waiting for the WWII-era baggage carousels to crank up (seriously, on one trip the mechanics were hammering on the thing), I end up walking the 10 seconds back and forth to the DFS. I just try and steer clear of getting shpritzed with the Eau du Stink du jour.

Gaucho100K

Eastbay1K-- on a different note... if you are a serious Jumbo Mas member and points -collector, you can actually cash them in for LanPass kilometers...

Eastbay1K

One day soon, maybe that information can be placed in a LAN forum! Actually, with the new Jumbo walking distance from my place, I may frequent it more often.

Now, back to the topic - for both SCL and EZE departures, while both airports have respectable wine selections, I wouldn't wait until I got to the airport to make my more serious wine purchases. The value isn't there, and if anything is going to need to go into a wine shipper for the connecting flight, you are going to be out of luck. Also, and I don't recall if it has been discussed, supra, there are liquid "traps" that the infrequent traveler might not think of, including:
(1) You will lose your liquids on your last departure point to the US, so if you are flying, i.e., EZE or SCL / LIM / US, you will have a gate liquids check @ LIM, and they will be pulled, even if purchased duty free elsewhere. (A lot of people figure they can just put them in their checked luggage at their first entry point in the US, but that is not the case). LAN makes announcements about this on their flights, and warns people not to even buy in flight liquids duty free until the last segment.
(2) You run the risk of losing your liquids if you have a LIM stopover even on the same flight number. If you are on a "crew change" flight, everyone has to get off the plane and in fact, your continuing segment may be on a different aircraft. (i.e., LA2608 GRU/LIM/SFO) You will have a gate security check for liquids. On the SCL-originating northbound to US flights, the crew and aircraft generally remains the same. Usually, your SCL Duty-Free purchases will be fine, as you don't leave the aircraft, and get them at the gate @ SCL while boarding. However, every once in a while there is an aircraft change - it doesn't happen very often (in fact, only twice in 10 years) but if it does, you lose your booze.

All this is to say that generally, unless you are flying nonstop from EZE or SCL to your final destination in the USA, it is just easier and often the same price or less to buy what you want during your trip, have it packed suitable for shipping, and not have to worry about all of the things that can go wrong, leaving you 'high and dry' and poorer for the experience.

loofa133

Picked up a case of wine from Alex last week and flew back through EZE to IAD on United.

Checking the wine with United was zero problem. At IAD, used Global Entry but truthfully answered the questions triggering an "X". Went to the CBP desk and the person was entirely confused on what to do with the "X" card and went on for five minutes on how I was idiotic to declare my wine, how it didn't matter if I answered the questions truthfully, etc. etc. She logged into my CBP record that I brought in a case of wine, handed me back the "X" card and sent me on my way to get my baggage.

At the area where the CBP person collects the forms issues started. Why do you have an "X" card? What is in your box? etc. etc. Finally decides to send me to the "C" area where another CBP person gets annoyed why I am in that line, that he has to search all of my luggage, etc. I get another 5 minute speech on why I was stupid to declare my wine and tell the truth on the Global Entry computer.

After the search, the CBP person marked my account stating I brought in wine over the limits, but it was duty free this time. He told me if I brought wine over the limits again in the future, I would be charged duty.

Moral of the story - don't declare your above-limit wine at IAD.

Fredd

IMHO the fact you have Global Entry (which we just obtained but haven't yet used) possibly complicated the issue. We've imported wine at IAD, declared it, and just been waved on because the paper work costs far more than the modest amount of money that would be collected.

It's sounds as if you ran into two cranky officers who were irritated at the thought of the paper work and gave you very bad advice. Everything that was drummed into us about NEXUS/Global Entry ensures that I'll continue to declare everything scrupulously. YMMV.

Eastbay1K

That moral doesn't quite compare to bringing pointy and bangy items through the security checkpoint, but I doubt next time, if you have an issue and say "the other officer told me not to declare it next time," you will still be crying as (1) you never see the specially-selected wine again, (2) you pay a penalty, and/or (3) your GE disappears.

I always fill out the paper card, even with GE, in case (1) the machine answers aren't quite good enough, and (2) the machine isn't working.