The Critical Thing To Remember When Packing Booze In Your Carry-On Bag

If you plan to visit a winery or distillery while on vacation, you may go wild in the gift shop and then need to figure out how to lug all those boozy purchases onto your return flight home. That new bottle of wine will have to fly in your checked bag, as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has specific requirements for how much booze can travel via carry-on.

Any liquor carried on is limited to a mini bottle — the size equal to what you may be served on the plane. These bottles are regulated by the same standards as other liquids and must comfortably fit within a quart-size bag. This can be an everyday Ziploc bag or any of the TSA-approved clear plastic toiletry bags on the market; you just have to be able to fully close the bag with all of your liquids inside.

Any mini bottles brought onboard the plane must arrive and remain unopened. This extends to any drinks you may have at the airport bar, as to-go cups of alcohol can't be carried onboard a plane. Passengers must be of legal drinking age in the airline's home country to travel with liquor bottles, but you are not allowed to consume the alcohol you bring on board. Many airlines offer a variety of liquors that can be purchased at appropriate times during travel, and flight attendants will not overserve drinkers, so travelers can breathe easy knowing their fellow passengers won't get too drunk or rowdy. 

An exception to the mini bottle rule is alcohol purchased at an international terminal's duty-free shop. These products don't carry a customs tax as the liquor leaves the country from which it was bought. Any alcohol purchased at a duty-free shop outside the United States should be sealed in an official, transparent, tamper-proof bag. As long as the bottle of booze remains in this special bag and is clearly unopened, you can bring it home in your carry-on luggage — even if the bottle size exceeds the usual TSA requirements for taking liquids onto a plane.

If interested in purchasing duty-free items, be mindful of any connecting flights. The transparent sealed bag only grants your booze travel from its departure airport, so if you have another flight once you reach the U.S., you will be asked to pack that purchase in your checked bag upon visiting customs. You also cannot purchase duty-free items at your domestic airport terminal; these rules only apply to bringing liquor home from abroad. Be sure to hold on to your duty-free receipt, as you may need to prove in a security screening or customs check that the alcohol was purchased within the previous 48 hours.