I have a rather unusual question (so mods, feel free to move it to the appropriate forum).

I am traveling with a large group on a long transcontinental domestic flight for spring break. Two of the people I am flying with are desperately afraid of flying, and alcohol is the best solution for them. We have a two hour layover in Atlanta, and I was wondering how the duty-free stores work. Do I need an international ticket to buy a bottle of liquor from them? Could I theoretically take the train to the duty free in the international terminal and buy a bottle of liquor to bring on our transcontinental flight?

Feedback/suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

duty free is only for intl departing pax & is delivered to the gate is the us....

To buy duty-free in an US airport, cashier will request your boarding pass to make sure you're actually on an eligible (i.e., international) flight. Then as clacko mentioned, your purchases are bagged up and delivered to your gate. Varies slightly from airport to airport, but in most I've seen, your purchases are waiting for you on the jet bridge after your boarding pass is scanned.

Some duty free stores in the US are now selling to all passengers (but non-international travelers will pay regular taxes on the items). I don't know what the specific situation is in Atlanta (although according to the Atlanta airport's web site, the Duty Free store is only for international passengers).

That being said, since you're not allowed to consume alcohol that you bring on board yourself (well, technically, you can consume it if a FA serves it to you, but I'm not aware of any US carriers that normally allow their FAs to serve alcohol that isn't supplied by the airline), I'm not sure what you are looking to accomplish. While it may not be the cheapest solution, your best bet is to bring your credit card and buy it on-board.

There have been threads here about BYOB, as EnhancedByCO mentioned it is against FAA rules, but some people do it. You are limited to how many 3 oz. bottles you can fit in your freedom baggie, so unless one or two drinks is enough, just stay legal and buy from the airline.

Couple brews in the terminal...one or two more onboard...that should do it. Even if they don't like flying, I wouldn't advise them to release their inner Boggs on the flight...they'll just end up hating life on the other end. You won't have access to a bottle of hard liquor, and that is a good thing.

Oh, and two-fist those beers with water.

You could pack quite a few 3 oz bottles into one quart sized bag........

Duty-free shops always remind me of this scene from Seinfeld. I'm in general agreement with George....

Kramer: If anything, we�ll probably get there early. I�ll have a chance to
go to the Duty Free shop.
George: The Duty Free Shop? Duty Free is the biggest sucker deal in retail.
Do you know how much duty is?
Kramer: Duty.
George: Yeah, �duty�. Do you know how much duty is?
Kramer: No, I dunno how much duty is.
George: Duty is nothing. It�s like sales tax�
Kramer: I still like to stop at the duty free shop.

Depending of course on whether you actually *need* any liquid toiletries

Both domestic and international passengers can shop at the duty free stores in Atlanta. I assume the domestic passengers do not get the "duty free" portion of the duty free store!

Thanks for the responses, everyone. So this means I can bring in a bunch of airplane bottles in my quart-sized bag? Or do I need to go out and get those mini-toiletry containers and put the alcohol in those?

I've never carried minis but there have been posts where people claimed to do it with no problems, as long as they fit in the baggie.

I think I've had up to 6 or 7 mini bottles stuffed into my quart-sized bag and was able to clear multiple TSA checkpoints with no issue. (They were given to me by an FA on the first flight of a six-segment trip.)

But as mentioned above, FAA rules do not allow you to simply serve yourself alcohol on-board. Plus, you will have to comply with the open container laws of the particular city/state. Just be careful in the airport and on the plane. Otherwise your group may get a visit from a local Law Enforcement Officer, which would be a rather unfortunate/unpleasant start to your spring break.

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread but if I am leaving from the Intl terminal on a domestic flight (out of SFO) can I shop at duty free and just pay tax? There are some liquor bottles that are duty free exclusives I would like.

Thanks!