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I have seen both Duty-free liquids on a connecting flight in the US and Can I connect through the USA with liquid duty-free purchases? but as the situations are different, I'm not sure whether they answer my question.

I am flying

Lima (LIM) -> Dallas (DFW) -> Vancouver (YVR)

All flights are with American Airlines and I switch planes in Dallas. As I understand it, there are the following options if I want to buy some scotch:

  1. Purchase in Lima. If I have access to checked baggage in Dallas, I pop the bottle in and re-check and I'm good. If I don't have access to checked baggage I'm in trouble.
  2. Purchase in Dallas. Same as above.

It seems like I need access to my checked baggage in Dallas in order to buy a bottle. Is this the case? If so, then will I have access to my checked baggage in Dallas? If not, then how does it work if I don't get access to my checked baggage?

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Scott H.
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1 Answers1

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All passengers arriving in the US, regardless of whether they are connecting or not, need to collect their bags and pass through US Customs with them. If you have a connecting flight you can then drop your bags for the onwards flight. This is true both for domestic and international connections.

Thus you will definitely have access to your bags in DFW, and will have time to put the duty free into them before re-checking.

As you are connecting to an international destination you can also purchase Duty Free once you have cleared security in DFW for your flight to Canada, and then carry it on for your flight.

Doc
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