Duty-free idea...want to know if it's legaly possible..
 

International flight out of ORD, and I parked my car at one of the airport lots....go through security, bla-bla-bla...go to a duty-free store and buy as much stuff as I can. Leave the terminal and go back to the parking lot, put the stuff in my car, and return to the terminal. Would that be allowed? Since I'd be departing I wouldn't be going through customs in any way. Thanks in advance!

Interesting concept..........I have no idea if it would work, but I'd love to hear a definitive answer!

Is it legally possible? I doubt if it's legal, but it might be possible.

I thought duty free purchases were delivered to you as you board the plane. That would ruin your plan I imagine.

Yes, duty-free items are delivered to you as you board the plane or once you are already on board.

Why would you even think of doing anything like this when it has to do with US customs? Being blacklisted or your passport flagged comes to mind?
Duty free items are always bought after security and then brought to your flight's door with an exchange of your receipt for the bag.

I believe you have to show a boarding pass for an international flight in order to purchase from duty free.

Sorry, I just noticed that you have an international trip.

As mentioned, dutyfree items are delivered to you when you board the plane. Not at the store.

When I buy my duty free stuff in the international departure terminal I am handed it in the store????

How much duty are you saving, and at what retail markup? Duty free does not mean cheap.

Last time I did a check a few years ago the net price for the exact same wine, whiskey, and perfume in the expensive airport shop was about 30% higher than I could get a my local liquor store or department store. The difference was even greater when I applied a dept store coupon for the perfume.

Ok, so you have the international boarding pass and can legally shop duty free. Most purchases made will be given to purchaser right away. This may be a gray area, but since you are actually flying international, it may be ok. What really is the difference if you purchase the items on the way home and carry them with you. I would check the customs web site just to be sure.

Most of the purposes of my idea is:
#1: To buy them, store them in my car while I'm overseas (obviously no perishable items!) so I don't have to lug them around with me my entire trip. The will be in my car when I get back to Chicago.
#2: I like to travel very light...only a carry-on+personal bag ( to avoid extra $$ and another long line)
#3: Yes, cost savings!

Don't know 100%, but what I've been told is at ORD (O'Hare at Chicago...fyi) has duty-free shops in almost all areas, but you can look, but only purchase buy showing a valid boarding pass (which I would have obviously)

U.S. does not have "duty-free arrivals" laws yet...only a hand-full of countries do right now.

My cousin told me you can get a case of cigarettes (that's 10 cartons!) for about the same price as a carton at a gas-station.

Have you considered strapping illegal drugs to your body under your clothes too? If you're looking to do something illegal and against international customs, this could be a far more profitable venture than just a few cigarettes or perfume.

Add....I'm just going on gut instinct here, maybe different countries, maybe different airports, maybe even different airlines...have different policies regarding duty-free stuff and if they are required to "personally deliver" the stuff to you once you are actually on the dpearting aircraft.

As I would be a departing passenger on an international flight...there would be no involvement with US customs, going through customs only applies to arriving international passengers.

Hey Neo...I have a good supply of condoms, so I'm prepared!

Oh, good. Then you practice safe smuggling?

The laws on duty free in the US indicate that you cannot bring those items back into the US (even if you carry them around for weeks while you are traveling).

Whether your duty-free items are delivered to your aircraft or whether you can take them with you from the shop depends on how the international gates are set up.

My experience with duty-free shops in the US is that the prices aren't much different from retail. I don't know about cigarettes. But you may find duty free shops outside the US have beter prices than US duty-free on some items. So you may want to buy your cigaretts at duty free at your international airport and bring them back with you.

Well, from a different travel forum, I might have found a detail that I didn't think of that might kill my whole idea:

Do my idea, but your boarding-pass gets stampted (after purchase of duty-free stuff) with some sort of ink, so when you re-enter your terminal, TSA will see that and possibly deny you entry past that point.

I'm not trying to do anything illegal, just trying to save $$ on cigarettes for my own use!

I can tell you as someone who lives in the Chicago area and flies alot that our liquor in Chicago is usually way cheaper than at a dutyfree store.Places like Jewel/Osco are less expensive than at the airport and you don't have to be hauling anything. Seriously,in all my years of flying for the airlines I cannot think of one "deal" that is worth buying or that I couldn't have gotten cheaper at home. Just saying....