Expert: Roberto Gomes - 2/11/2008

Question
My 17 year old daughter is flying to Florida in 2 weeks from New York and she is
staying with her grandparents. I wanted to send along some Crown Royal as a
gift with her but I am not sure if she checks it in her bag if it will be confiscated
or if she will get in trouble for having alcohol. I have traveled with her to
Scotland before and put a bottle of wine in her checked bag, but I was with her. I
am wondering if she will have any problems because she is by herself?

Answer
Dear Meghan,

The TSA staff, who is responsible for checking bags
and docs at the checkpoints do not have an authority
to confiscate anything that is not contrary to the
safety and the security of the airport and the
aircraft operations.

This is not applied to checked baggage, since the
screeners do not know how old is the person whose
baggage is being checked. However they can request the
presence of the proper authority if any item found can
be considered as suspicious and after this a
conciliation with the bag and his/her owner will be
made.

Hope this clarifies your question.

Best Regards,
R. Gomes