Bringing alcohol into the Kingdom

[topjohn5]

I am going to The Philippines after my Thailand trip and have a need to take 2 bottles of good champagne with me to The Philippines. My understanding is that there is a limit of 1 bottle of alcohol comming into Thailand (The Philippines has a limit of 2). So, what will happen with the 2nd bottle at customs in Thailand?
I assume they will just hit me with some duty on it and, how much might that be? Or, will they confiscate it (I hope not but, if this is a possibility I'll just bring a lessor bottle as the 2nd one, lol)? :drunken:

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Do not carry it in a duty free bag. Just stick it in your carry on. They're only looking at duty free bags most of the time.

[topjohn5]

Do not carry it in a duty free bag. Just stick it in your carry on. They're only looking at duty free bags most of the time.

I can't do that as you can't bring bottles of booze according to TSA on the airplane....so it will need to be in my checked bag.....
Are you suggesting I do not declare the booze and let them find it maybe?

Checked baggage is fine. Just don't prance through with a duty free bag full of clinking bottles, and you'll be fine.

[krobbie]

This is my dilemma also. I wish to bring some Champagne and white wine with me from NZ. I will get the fizz in duty free and pack the white (only a bottle) in checked luggage. I was just looking at wine prices again in Thailand and I cannot believe how much in taxes the government must make. A $NZ25 bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc goes 3-3.5 thousand baht! Yikes. Mind you, that is in a restaurant. Not sure how much at Tops or Lotus.

I have just looked on the Bangkok Wine Society web site and I find that there is 60% import duty and 200% excise tax on wine. Asked and answered.

Cheers (I hope)
krobbie

[topjohn5]

This is my dilemma also. I wish to bring some Champagne and white wine with me from NZ. I will get the fizz in duty free and pack the white (only a bottle) in checked luggage. I was just looking at wine prices again in Thailand and I cannot believe how much in taxes the government must make. A $NZ25 bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc goes 3-3.5 thousand baht! Yikes. Mind you, that is in a restaurant. Not sure how much at Tops or Lotus.

I have just looked on the Bangkok Wine Society web site and I find that there is 60% import duty and 200% excise tax on wine. Asked and answered.

Cheers (I hope)
krobbie

Yes, I found the duty and tax also and its insane...
But, it is what it is so what I am going to do is bring two bottles and one of them a lessor one. I'm going to just pack them and not declare them. This way if I'm caught, and after explaining I am going to take them to The Philippines which allows both bottles, and they want to tax me I can see how much they want and decide if it's worth the duty/tax. If not, they can have the 2nd bottle as my gift, lol. My guess is it will not even be on the radar but who knows.....

Are you suggesting I do not declare the booze and let them find it maybe?

This Is Thailand. The likelihood that as a tourist your checked baggage will be searched on arrival tends to (but is not quite) zero. Surely you haven't reached forty without realising that keeping any law (and I mean any law) is optional. How else did gay Western men survive in English-speaking countries otherwise? It's a matter of assessing risk (of getting caught) vs. reward. You could ostentatiously carry one bottle in a duty free bag as a decoy, I suppose. And in Thailand the law is a very flexible concept

Were you planning to flap your arms and fly from Thailand to the Phillipines under your own steam? If not, bring one bottle of bubbly from the US to Thailand and buy the second duty free after you exit Thailand - preferably on the plane or on arrival in Phillipines (In Thailand, the duty is almost entirely replaced by excessive profit.) Another regular poster has just come from the Phillipines, so he should be able to advise whether there's a duty free shop in arrivals if you PM him. (Think his name's Wesley, but wouldn't swear).

play it dumb put them both in your luggage

After you collect your luggage on your way heading out, the custom check point often asks people to run their luggages through their x-ray scanner. I suppose they can tell how many bottles of liquid you have in the luggage in this scanner. :bounce:

... the custom check point often asks people to run their luggages through their x-ray scanner.

Often? I travel through the airport frequently and have only ever seen Thais being subjected to the x-ray machine