If I go and buy a small bottle of something at a duty free store and put it in my carry on, not take it out the whole flight or declare it, will anything happen?
I've been thru customs before and never have been searched or anything. I just fill out the card and hand it in and get my stuff.
Am I remembering wrong?
*entering thru Newark*
Both links below of Official US Agencies are very clear of the fact that persons under 21 are not allowed to import alcohol into US.
If you will attempt to do so you are in peril since those people mean business and they are trained to spot people that have something to hide. However cool you may be. there is always that little something they are used into spotting, and can give you away.
Anyway, you are entitled to act according to your own decision and we only can tell you what legally you can do.
At the duty free store at the airport you have to show them your boarding pass to prove you are leaving the country. Since the policy in most places is to ID everyone who appears to be under 35, they will ID you. And seeing you are departing for the USA, they will refuse to sell to you.
These stores know that the legal age in the USA is 21 and they need to not get into trouble with the USA a lot more than they need the money they will get from you for selling you some booze.
It is illegal for you to bring alcohol into the US if you are less than 21. If you declare the alcohol, it will be confiscated. If you fail to declare the alcohol and are sent through secondary customs inspection and the alcohol is discovered, then you are guilty of lying on an official US form. The alcohol will be confiscated plus you face fines.
You can bring back a certain amount of alcohol- a couple of bottles I think. Put it on the customs form they give you, which you hand to the customs official as you walk through. Why do you think they have the duty free stores in the airport? Here's the only problem- do you have a connecting flight in the U.S.? If so, you'll have to get your luggage and walk it through customs. When you do that, you have to put the bottles you bought in your checked luggage, because you can't take it through the security check for the next flight. If you're flying directly to your final destination, there's no problem.
