Lono and Air_Pirate, I had the same thing coming back from the islands of Portugal and had a bottle of wine bought from the duty free shop in a secure area and sealed in the approved bag that was supposed to be good for 24 hours of flying and allowed to be carried as long as the bag was not opened. I flew 3 legs of a SATA flight while carrying it on board but when I hit the states TSA tried to confiscate it. If it wasn't the fact that I had an extra hour to kill, I would have poured it down the drain and thrown it away before giving it to those morons.
They had escorted me out of the secured area where I proceeded to check it as second luggage and to my surprise it made it back when I got home. There were no mail boxes I could find to send it back and I went straight back and logged a complaint against the TSA at that airport. I no the complaints won't do anything but it gave me something to do while I was extremely mad. One TSA employee just laughed at me when I got the complaint card from there supervisor telling me that I could complain all I want but it want do anything, so I added her name on my complaint as well. I know were powerless against the actions and there needs to be some checks and balances but what I do is only fly when I have to. I have virtually stopped flying except to go overseas many years ago because of the TSA and will only drive if I need to go in the states. It's my opinion that the terrorist won 9-11 due to the stupidity of our government to treat there own people that fought for this nation and built this nation and treat them like enemy combatants. Well the end result will be less airlines and revenue of businesses due to cut backs in travel.
Sorry, I'm venting again.........
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Failure is not an option!
USMC Jungle Environmental Survival Training PI 1985