Duty free to connecting flight at FRA?

[Mark in CA]

I'm flying BUD to SFO via FRA Thursday and would like to buy a bottle of alcohol that's priced best at the BUD duty free shop (and may not even be available at FRA duty free). Will I have any issues when I try to get this bottle of liquid through security on my way to my U.S.-bound connecting flight at FRA?

[ptr120]

I assume that you are travelling on 1 ticket so won't have to check in again at FRA? You'll be fine - just make sure that in BUD they put it in a sealed bag with the receipt (which they will probably do by default). Note that if you have a connecting flight in the US you will have to put this in your checked in luggage when you clear customs and recheck your luggage at your first port of call in the USA.

[Mark in CA]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I have a single ticket through to SFO, no connections in the U.S. (SFO is the final destination). I don't have to check in again at FRA, but will have to go through security again with all my carry-on stuff, including the duty-free bag, to get to my connecting flight there. Your answer confirms what I suspected.

[SeenItAll]

I disagree. You will not be fine. Two years ago I flew on a single KLM ticket from Stavanger to Washington, DC connecting via Amsterdam. I bought of bottle of Aquavit at the dutyfree in Stavanger. It was in a sealed bag. They wouldn't let me get on the U.S-bound plane with it at Schipol. They do a final security screening for U.S.-bound passengers at the gate. The security said they would be OK allowing a sealed bottle from the Schipol dutyfree through, but they couldn't trust any other airport's dutyfree.

That said, if you put the bottle into your checked baggage at the connecting airport you are OK. Just don't expect to be able to carry it onto the plane in your hand baggage.

[Capetonian]

Generally duty free goods cannot transit as hand baggage unless they comply with the Liquids and Gels criteria - obviously a normal (750 0r 1000 ml) bottle of alcohol won't. It is possible that there are exemptions within the EU but I am not aware of any and would be interested to hear other views on this.

Edit : Doing a websearch, I found this : Confiscation of duty free liquids at EU airports - guide — EU business news - EUbusiness.com (http://www.eubusiness.com/topics/transport/duty-free-liquids/) but it doesn't state if this directive has been implemented. Like most things to do with the EU it's as much use as a fart in a thunderstorm, a paper fireguard, a chocolate teapot, or a pub with no beer.

[radeng]

I have transited at Heathrow off a BA flight from the US with my bottle bought (and suitably sealed) onboard the BA flight, without a problem. Wasn't changing terminals, though.

My experience of FRA is that they are an awkward bunch, so I doubt you'll manage it there.

[Mark in CA]

Here's what happened at FRA. Inbound flight arrived at Terminal A, per usual. Outbound flight, however, also departed from Terminal A. Therefore, I never left the Terminal A sterile area, and there was no security screening at all! Just passport control.

Usually, the U.S. bound flight departs from Terminal C, and to get there, you have to go out of the sterile part of Terminal A and then through security again to get into Terminal C. But not this time. I could have walked on that U.S.-bound flight with gallons of booze brought from BUD! :)

[BEagle]

There has been some redesign of FRA airside, so it may well be a straightforward as at MUC nowadays.

FRA security has quite rightly been criticised for being rude and heavy-handed in the past - perhaps they've finally got the message?