StoreNever Trust Airport Vendors for Customs Advice
I know so many people who’ve been burned by airport vendors selling them goods they then immediately lose at customs. If you ask a vendor if it’s okay to bring the items they’re selling into a country, agricultural (flowers, plants, etc.) or otherwise, they’re almost always going to say yes as they want to make a sale—or they just don’t know. When in doubt, just look up the item you want to buy on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection site to see if you can bring it home to the U.S.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Tried this tip? Let me know in the comments!
Want to see more tips? Click here for all 154!

Want even more travel tips? Subscribe to the Daily Travel Tip newsletter! All you have to do is sign up for the weekly newsletter by filling in your email address and checking the Daily Travel Tip box in the top-right corner of the homepage.

If you already subscribe to the newsletter, fill in your email and check the Daily Travel Tip box in the same top-right corner of the homepage and you’ll receive an email with a link to update your JohnnyJet.com preferences. On that page, just click the Daily Travel Tip box and Update Profile and you’ll have Johnny’s best tips, straight to your inbox each day. And don’t worry—it’s easier than it sounds!

4 Comments On "Travel Tip of the Day: Never Trust Airport Vendors for Customs Advice"
  1. NAOMA@CHEERFUL.COM|

    Truth spoken here. Do not believe anyone who sells you something “outside of the area
    where it is permitted as duty free.”

  2. Craig McMullin|

    Another thing to watch for – buying liquor or wine at a foreign airport and flying back into the U.S. (at least through DFW). You clear through Customs/INS and THEN, have to reclear through security. That liquor, wine you bought – unless you can pack it and recheck it after Customs/INS clearance, you will lose it at security.

    I almost got burned by this when coming from GRU to DFW and doing an ITI to YYZ (ITI – international to international – your bags are cleared straight through to destination hence, no checked bags to pack your liquor into in Dallas). Fortunately, AA bag recheck had a spare box I could pack the liquor into and rechecked it.

    If you are going to a domestic U.S. destination, your bags will show up for you to clear through customs. After clearing through customs, you could pack your liquor into them prior to rechecking for the onward flight.

  3. Jonathan Sacks (@JonathanSacks)|

    Excellent tip. This is especially important when you are coming back from Australia, where the duty-free shops have kangaroo jerky. Upon re-entering the U.S., I was asked 5 times whether or not I had any kangaroo jerky, since apparently I look like the sort of person who would try to smuggle kangaroo jerky into the United States. For the record, I did not.

    1. Johnny Jet|

      Good to know! I almost bought some of that jerky

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *

Recent posts