Duty Free from Aruba to Boston via AA

[theringnebula]

Hello,

I have searched the forums and the Internet and cannot find a good answer to my question. The official line is that you cannot carry on duty free alcohol purchase if you have a connecting flight.

Our flight is from Aruba to Boston and we connect in Miami. It is all through American Airlines. I would like to purchase some duty free liquor in Aruba to bring back. The connection in Miami is in the same terminal area and does not require you to leave a 'secure' area and have to go through security again. Given this we should be ok with carrying on our duty free purchase from Aruba. Does anyone know if this is ok or have any experience with this? We have done this flight for several years and have never had to go through security in Miami.

Thanks,

Wes

[corona]

Hi Wes. Welcome to the forum.

I'll tell you our experience with duty free. We've never carried duty free back until our last trip a few weeks ago. We bought our liquor at the airport after we had checked our bag at the counter and were thinking we could just put it in our suitcase after we picked it back up to go through customs. When we asked the custom's officer on duty (where you put your suitcase back on the conveyor belt), he asked us if we had a connection. When we said we did, he wasn't too pleased with the person who sold us the liquor. He checked our receipt and put a call into someone. He said he'd watch us put the bottle in our checked bag but that someone from the duty free shop should have asked us if we had a connection and accompanied us there. As it was, when we got to Philly (our connection), we almost had to leave the secure area, which would have made us go back through security again, which would have posed a big problem had we had the liquor. There's some kind of construction or something, and the gate we had to go too, had two ways to get there. We had opted to walk, which would have made us go out and back through security. We didn't want the hassle and had plenty of time, so we backtracked, and took the bus over which didn't require a security check. So, you just never know. My husband flies through Philly all the time, and he'd never run into that before.

[Arubalisa]

Short answer, buy it duty free at the airport and have them give you lots of packing material. Partial airport departure is below. BEFORE you place your luggage on the conveyor, pack your alcohol into your suitcase and forget about it until you arrive home

• Duty free shopping
• Retrieve you luggage
• Take your luggage and go through US Immigration
  
  
• Place your luggage back onto the conveyor belt to be placed on the plane

Easy answer, buy your alcohol at the supermarket in Aruba and pack it in your suitcase wrapping it really well amongst your clothing or bubble wrap you had packed with you from home. Skip shopping at the airport and then having to pack it into your luggage before placing it on the conveyor for the last time.

Originally Posted by theringnebula

Hello,

I have searched the forums and the Internet and cannot find a good answer to my question. The official line is that you cannot carry on duty free alcohol purchase if you have a connecting flight.

Our flight is from Aruba to Boston and we connect in Miami. It is all through American Airlines. I would like to purchase some duty free liquor in Aruba to bring back. The connection in Miami is in the same terminal area and does not require you to leave a 'secure' area and have to go through security again. Given this we should be ok with carrying on our duty free purchase from Aruba. Does anyone know if this is ok or have any experience with this? We have done this flight for several years and have never had to go through security in Miami.

Thanks,

Wes