Bringing home olive oil

If it is checked bags, it should not be a problem. Were you trying to carry on the bag on your connecting flight?

We do this all the time with wine and olive oil. Same rule as all other flying: no liquids >3 ounces in your carryon bag. It doesn't matter if you bought it at the duty free shop in the airport, or how its packaged. Once you get to the US and through passport control, you have to pick up your checked bags at the baggage claim to go through customs with all luggage in hand. You have to take any bottles out of your carryon and put them into your checked bag, and then re-check the bag with the airline at the drop-off after customs. Perhaps you missed the point where you re-check your checked bag for the connecting flight.

Look for olive oil in metal one-liter or half-liter tins. You can then easily pack them in your checked bags. No chance for breakage, no worrying about transferring. The tins usually have colorful illustrations printed on them, which look great in your kitchen.

We bought three tins of olive oil at the airport duty free shop in Palermo. We carried them on the plane to Zurich then switched planes in Zurich to Boston. Carried them on the plane and had them in our hand at Boston Logan airport customs. They are now in my kitchen cabinets. We had no problem with carrying them on all planes.

Joyce, did you at anytime have to go back through security after purchasing the olive oil? If so, it should not have been allowed.

@joyce, yes it's not a problem if you don't have to get on a connecting flight where you have to go through another security screening, as Diane says.

But if you are landing in the US, flying from Europe, and then connect to a US domestic flight, you WILL have to go through security to get to that domestic flight and carry on liquids from that point on are limited to the 3-1-1 baggie (and other medical, if needed). However, as noted above, you also will have to pick up your bags, walk them through customs, and then re-check them BEFORE going through the US TSA security lanes at your entry airport. Thus, if you purchased any liquids larger than 3 oz in an airport shop, enroute to the US, you will have the opportunity to put them into your checked bags before re-checking those bags. This scenario holds whether you land in New York, Boston, Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dulles, etc. etc. ... The salespeople at various shops in European airports know this, but I've seen them neglect to tell their customers. Example: I was in Rome FCO airport a couple of years ago, watching two US citizens in conversation with a saleswoman at a duty free shop, and they were about to purchase several rather expensive bottles of wine and olive oil. "Can we carry them onto the plane?" they asked. "Oh, yes!" she replied. "Of course." I spoke up from behind them: "Are you connecting to another flight, once you land in the US?" "Yes," they said. "Well then you will have to put it in your checked baggage once you land in the US, before you continue onto your connecting flight, or TSA in the US will confiscate it." They looked at one another, realized that they did not have baggage space to do that, so put the bottles back on the shelf. The saleslady scowled at me. I smiled. "You might want to let your customers know, because they would have this wonderful oil confiscated," I said mildly. Her response was a continued scowl. She knew....Maybe, Carol, she was your salesperson in Italy??

You can check your carryon bag with all the olive oil or wine. I just wrap them with my dirty clothes and have not had a problem. I'll also put it in a plastic zip lock bag, just in case.

Checked luggage or have it shipped home - only way unless you purchased at Duty Free in Italy.

I'm no oil connoisseur, but I question whether it is still necessary to bring heavy olive oil home to the U.S. Even outside the large cities, places like Williams Sonoma and even Trader Joe's offer premium products. I've given up bringing back cheese, although I did bring back Parmiggiano Reggiano in the 1980's, when it wasn't widely available here - as it certainly is, today.

I respectfully disagree with some of the above posters.
If you purchase in the duty free shop, the oil can be carried in hand luggage on all flights. It must be sealed in the secure, transparent bag with the receipt from duty free.
This applies to alcohol and all liquids.
This has been the rule for a few years now.

I'm no oil connoisseur, but I question whether it is still necessary
to bring heavy olive oil home to the U.S.

I wholeheartedly agree. Is the olive oil in Italy that much better to make it worthwhile to shlep back? Do stores allow you to taste it beforehand? There are plenty of gourmet online stores where you can get (expensive) quality olive oil if need be (Eataly, Williams Sonoma, iGourmet, etc.). The Sicilian olive oil I get from my local Trader Joes is excellent.

@ Tim & Agnes, yes of course you can get good stuff here. Its about having a connection to a place you've been to. I cant tell extra virgin from motor oil, but a bottle of oil from a small town you visited, or a bottle of wine from a vineyard you toured, has value beyond just its food properties, at least to some of us.

@ WendyG, the duty-free plastic wrapper may get you through the first flight (since you've already passed security screening), but its irrelevant to the TSA screeners on the next flight when you're connecting in the US and have to be re-screened. No liquids >3 oz in your carryon has been the rule for a while. Any terrorist with half a brain could fake the duty-free paperwork.

I've bought olive oil to bring home. We get a lot of cheap, low quality oils at home. Fresh, high quality oil cant be beat. If you buy at duty free and it is in sealed bag with re opt no need to pack in checked luggage. You just take it out at security for them to check the date on the receipt and to scan through the xray.

No Stan, that is not correct. You can bring them in carryon baggage to a U.S connecting flight.
TSA does allow this since 2014. I’ve done it numerous times.
The duty free shops use a certain type of packaging and seal. The seal cannot be broken.
A quick google search will give lots of info.

Wow, Wendy G., that is remarkable, amazing news. Your experience was so unlike my past experience, that I took your advice and did some googling. In particular, I went onto the tsa.gov website for the most specific information. Lo and behold, there is this information at the bottom of the "Liquids Rule" page. (And of course, this ONLY relates to liquids purchased in duty free airport shops. This will not apply to that lucious olive oil that we picked up at the Tuscan farm, or the limoncello from that cute little shop in Naples...)

*****Inbound International Flights
You may carry duty free liquids in secure, tamper–evident bags, more than 3.4 oz or 100 ml in your carry-on bag if:
The duty free liquids were purchased internationally and you are traveling to the United States with a connecting flight.
The liquids are packed in a transparent, secure, tamper-evident bag by the retailer and do not show signs of tampering when presented to TSA for screening.
The original receipt for the liquids is present and the purchase was made within 48 hours.
The items inside the secure, tamper-evident bags must be screened and cleared. Any item that alarms or is unable to be screened will not be permitted in your carry-on bag. We recommend packing all liquids, gels, and aerosols that are over 3.4 oz or 100 ml in your checked baggage, even if they are in a secure, tamper-evident bag.

Liquids more than 3.4 oz or 100 ml not in a secure, tamper-evident bag must be packed in checked baggage.*****

OK I stand corrected. Good to know.

If this is the case, I’m surprised and fear terrorists will attempt to find a way to use this workaround. Sounds like a dumb thing to allow.

Any time you must go on a connecting flight, this problem arises. I remember coming through Toronto to go to Chicago. We went through US customs, and then we were out of the checked area. I had purchased a bottle of scotch whiskey in Duty-free in Warsaw, and it was still in the duty free bag. Well, that didn't matter in the slightest. As it was over 3 oz, it was going to be confiscated. Luckily, I had a bag that could be checked, and could check a bag for free. I put it in that, checked the bag right there, and went through TSA inspection. I noticed that they had dozens and dozens of bottles of liquor, olive oil, wine sitting there, and I bet the TSA people just took them home.

While Wendy's comment about duty-free has been supported by TSA official postings, I personally don't believe it. If you are going to buy from Duty-free in Poland and carry it on and have a connecting flight, your success at getting that through depends on the TSA agent. I'd make a copy of the TSA web page and carry that on. Remember that TSA agents are low-level workers, who do not have any interest in helping you, but are more interested in ensuring that the rules are followed and that they are not responsible for a breach. I'd put bottles in checked luggage. Since I don't check luggage, I no longer buy stuff to take home.

As far as I know, if you follow the rules for duty-free purchases then you should be able to bring them home to the States. Then again, I saw a couple on our last flight - a couple we'd seen at the duty-free store - who had all their stuff trashed by TSA for reasons I did not overhear. I don't know if they opened their duty-free-compliant bags or just had the bad luck to have a person who didn't care. Their stuff was trashed, and this included non-liquids which they'd purchased in the duty-free area. I didn't hear their entire conversation, but I was glad that I'd only purchased the tiny bottle of Limoncello which fit into my 3-1-1 bag.

As far as the connecting flights, you will have to pick up your bags and recheck them before going through TSA at the US airport unless you're flying through an airport with TSA outside the country (like Dublin or Tortono, for example).

If you have olive oil that you purchased in Italy, pack it into your checked luggage. Don't have checked luggage? Pay to check one bag so that you can bring home your olive oil. You can also look into shipping it home via commercial package shippers.