Did you know this TSA regulation? Ron didn’t

It was all rather innocent. At least it started innocently as Ron Upshaw wrapped up his recent trip to Mexico City and was taking home a bottle of tequila for his co-host Don O’Neill, and in turn, a segment on their KIRO Radio show.

But that was before the airport. Before customs. And before TSA.

“I went down to Mexico City, and I took this tour of a pyramid and the guide I hired &#8212 Miguel, great guy &#8212 he hooks me up with this very special alcoholic beverage that they make with an agave plant at a pyramid,” Ron told Don. “And I said, ‘ya know what, I’m going to buy some of this. I’m bringing it back for the whole show, we’re going to have a shot,’ and there’s a whole spiritual thing I’m supposed to do with this.”

But once at the airport in Mexico, things started to go downhill.

“They say that you can’t take this on to the airplane,” Ron said. “There was no other explanation. They were speaking Spanish and I’m not very fluent in Spanish.”

The bottle was taken, but Ron wasn’t going to give up.

Ron found a new bottle of tequila in the duty-free area that he felt would work for the show.

“I pick out this tequila, pure agave, only available down there. I’ve been to the tequila museum so I feel like I’m educated,” he said. “I get the receipt, put it in my bag, fly to San Francisco, California.”

But now Ron must navigate through another round of customs and checks to get on another, domestic, flight home.

“I walk about 19 miles to get out of the international flight area,” he said. “TSA pulls my bag out and says, ‘Sir can you meet me over here at the stainless steel table?'”

Ron initially thought there was a problem with a bottle of water that he negligently left in his bag. But that wasn’t the offense and agents with the Transportation Security Administration wanted to take a closer look.

“The woman puts on some blue latex gloves, she opens my bag up and now I got a woman and a man assisting me on this tequila purchase,” Ron said. “They pull out this box and I’m like, ‘No worries padre, let me produce the receipt. It’s duty free!'”

But Ron was informed that he was supposed to have the duty-free bottle placed in a plastic bag before leaving Mexico.

“I said, ‘Dude, it’s a sealed bottle inside of a sealed box,” Ron said. “I have the receipt from four hours ago and the product is on the receipt the same day.”

The TSA agent wasn’t interested in Ron’s receipt. A TSA manager was called in.

“Now I have a woman who has confiscated my bottle of tequila and going through all my clothes in the bag, they’re all over the place,” Ron explained. “I got the TSA guy over here sort of amused by the whole thing, and the manager comes up and she also says it’s supposed to be in a plastic bag.”

But how was Ron supposed to know this? The TSA manager informed him that he should have checked the regulations listed on the TSA.gov website.

Ron was frustrated. He wasn’t going to let it go and decided he would destroy the bottle so that nobody could enjoy the tequila. The TSA agent began to move to a doorway with the tequila.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, we’re not putting it back in the room. We’re either pouring the bottle out or we’re destroying the bottle,'” Ron said, while getting out a pencil and paper to write down all the TSA agent’s names in order to file a complaint.

But the TSA agents had run out of complaint cards.

“So you think they want your bottle of tequila,” Don said.

“Of course they do,” Ron responded. “It’s Mexico only!”

Ron then attempted to bring the bottle to a bathroom to pour it out. That wasn’t allowed. Then he tried to take it to a trash can where he would break it open into the can and destroy it. That idea was also vetoed. So he thought about it more.

“I had to let it go. They had no complaint cards. I turned on my heel, I walked away,” Ron said. “And I was proud of myself because 10 years ago, I would have been in handcuffs in this situation.”

An anonymous TSA agent from SeaTac Airport &#8212 we’ll call him George &#8212 called Ron to offer another perspective. He said that the agents were in the right and Ron was wrong.

“You cannot let any liquid on even though it was sealed and in a box. That could have been purchased, opened up, resealed professionally unbeknownst to anybody and had something other than alcohol in it,” George said. “And even if there was only alcohol in it, you take the lid off of that and it’s a molotov cocktail.”

But he did fault the agents for not letting Ron know a simple solution to the problem that would have saved his bottle.

“It’s in his carry-on bag,” he said. “You just take the carry-on bag out to the ticket counter and check it.”

As for Ron’s assertion that the agents were trying to get away with a free bottle of tequila only found in Mexico?

I don’t know what happens [to the confiscated items]. It just gets thrown away as far as I know,” George said. “No TSA person that is on staff can take anything that is confiscated. That is put into bins and taken away. And there are 50 cameras at every check point and they are watching TSA more than they are watching people.”