Duty-Free Liquid Sales - Does Confusion Still Abound?

In my Nov. 20 post, I spoke about a press conference I attended featuring TSA Administrator Kip Hawley, Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato and Air Transport Association President and CEO Jim May on holiday travel tips. 

During the Q&A section of the program, the issue on how duty-free liquids were being handled in the U.S. and the rest of the world came up.  It dovetails perfectly with a post from our friend Mark over on the Upgrade Travel blog about a particular incident he had at Munich Airport.   Mark writes that on Oct. 13, the duty free shop refused to sell him a liter of anything, saying "that it wasn’t permitted for flights to the United States." 

But we know from looking at the TSA's web site, that this is incorrect.  The actual policy is that on non-stop flights from Europe to the US, duty-free liquids bought after security that are delivered to the passenger onboard the aircraft or bought inflight are allowed.  But if you are transferring to another U.S. point, then the liquids must be put in checked luggage or it will be taken away.

ACI-NA's Principato noted that he had just come back from Cape Town, South Africa, where Airports Council International held its annual worldwide assembly, and a major topic of discussion was making rules for purchasing and transporting duty-free liquids more clear.  He also noted that duty-free shops have seen a drop in sales as confusion still abounds with customers not understanding when they can and cannot transfer liquid purchases. “The EU, Canada and the United States were able to come up with a uniform liquids policy and I expect we’ll do the same with duty-free purchases,” said TSA's Hawley.

Nice sentiment, but how long will it take?  During the press conference, an example to illustrate the point was used.  I'll use my own here.  Let's say our friend Mark is flying from Washington Dulles to Barcelona on British Airways.  And Mark wants to stop at the Vino Volo wine store past security and buy an $85 bottle of 2001 St. Emilion Bordeaux from Chateau Figeac for his good friend Xavier Marcé i Carol, the vice chairman of the Catalonia International Film Festival, because he's just that nice and has great taste in wine.  OK, stay with me here.

So Mark buys the wine and slips comfortably into his World Business Class seat (because he knows how to upgrade properly) for the flight to Heathrow.  But when Mark transfer's to BA's Barcelona flight, he can't bring that $85 bottle of wine he bought for Xavier at Dulles.  You can see the full explanation here at TSA's web site. 

My question is if the United States, Canada, Europe and 30 other countries can get together on the liquids policy, why can't they iron out differences on duty-free liquid sales?  Many airports rely heavily on the revenue from duty-free stores as a source of non-airline revenue used to keep them in the black financially.  There has to be a reasonable way to balance the need for security with the needs of shopping passengers and the airports that want to serve them.

EDITOR'S NOTE - Mark has switched blog providers for Upgrade Travel and his old site will no longer be updated, so be sure to bookmark his new URL.  BJW