Duty free wine .

[trubrit]

Does anyone know what the score is on bringing wine through duty free in Bangkok .I can't find anything in customs regulations that spefically mentions wine , just 1ltr alchohol.I have some friends coming from UK soon and they want to bring me a box each of a decent wine. I know they will have to pack it in their check in bags, not carry on, but it's the customs thing that worries me. My wife goes to Laos frequently with a friend in the motor and they always bring back at least 4 boxes between them in the boot and when stopped, not often, they have never had any trouble, although they also have a 1ltr bottle of spirits each as well. As non smokers they never have ciggies and it seems the customs are more concerned about having them than anything else .Anyone have recent experience in this ?

[BobHelm]

Everything that I have managed to find all say

* 1 liter of wine or liquor.

although none of them were an official Thai Government site.
With that requirement you might be better off asking for a nice bottle of scotch..

The most 'official' looking sites I stumbled across that said that were..
http://phuketairportthai.com/en/819-phu ... s-services
https://uk.tourismthailand.org/About-Th ... mmigration

[Barney]

If you are bringing it in checked bags then it is still 1 bottle of wine. The law should say up to 1 litre.

Any airport duty free shop should ask you where are you travelling to and advise accordingly.

If you want to run the risk of putting more in checked in luggage be prepared to go through the stress of perhaps being randomly checked for screening at the green or red barriers in BKK airport customs on arrival.

[trubrit]

If you are bringing it in checked bags then it is still 1 bottle of wine. The law should say up to 1 litre.

Any airport duty free shop should ask you where are you travelling to and advise accordingly.

If you want to run the risk of putting more in checked in luggage be prepared to go through the stress of perhaps being randomly checked for screening at the green or red barriers in BKK airport customs on arrival.

Not looking to put my visitors at risk by doing anything illegal, that's why I'm asking. It seems if one litre is the max then that puts paid to boxes of wine forever as they are all over that size. Strange though why the duty free shops over the Nong Khai/Laos border are still stocking them though, who's buying them if they can't be brought into Thailand? Is this just a new thing as my wife's last trip was just over a month ago, has anyone a more recent experience, good or bad?

[BobHelm]

I don't think it is safe to compare what happens at the Nong Khai border with what is the law, or, more importantly what the view is at Suvarnabhumi.
I have never had a problem staggering back over the Nong Khai border with a box of wine & would happily add a bottle of spirits to that if I could physically carry it!!
Suvarnabhumi is a different proposition & I would not attempt to come through there with anything more than a bottle..

[grievous]

Thai customs look to be cracking down a bit on the import rules. I seen signs saying No meat, fruit etc and they mentioned on my QF that the Thai government has now banned importation of meat. Definitely 1 litre of grog be it wine or spirits Its just a matter of if you want to take the risk of being caught. I used to pack a few bottles of wine but not anymore.

[papafarang]

if anyone has been taking a couple of cases of wine across the NK border they have been taking a huge risk. I know people that paid out 50.000b just for having one extra bottle of whisky, as for Laos and and who buys it , well look at the way its set up , where do you think locals buy there JW red lable, not in a local shop for sure when you can just buy duty free anyway, and as for the sellers , they will tell you that 1000 boittles of whisky is ok. what do they care lf you end up in the monkey house as a smuggler

[AlexO]

When I was working in Laos it seemed as if it was far easier to bring additional to the allowance over in the boot of a car or one of the cross border taxi's who never seem to be checked, especially at busy periods. Slightly more ass clenching walking through customs with the xray machine etc. Thats probably mucked it up for a few, but really seemed so easy using private transport.

[rick]

When i used to do the 3 monthly border runs to Nong Khai me or the wife would frequently bring back duty free. Got stopped a couple of times but only asked about spirits and cigarettes, ignoring the 4 litre wine box which they could plainly see. But as said, i wouldn't try it at Swampy.