In a recent holiday trip to Europe, the Thai tour guide told us that we can bring in 2 bottles of spirits if we had no cigarettes.

I bought 2 bottles in Europe, put them in the same bag, and then passed customs in Suvarnabhumi and passed the same bag through the customs scanner where they could easily see the 2 bottles together.

I was not stopped nor questioned, and they didn't even check to ask if I had any cigarettes which would cancel my "2-bottle privilege".

Question: Was the tour guide correct? Or, were the customs officials just lazy?

*(Sensible answers please... not the usual imbecile answer "Of course they were just lazy! They're customs!" by posters who know nothing about it but who just wana make a point for their endless "crusade"..)

I doubt the tour guide was correct. The limit is one litre. You cannot exchange one item on the list for another. I have never heard of this happening in any country. It is more likely that the customs officer ignored the second bottle or incorrectly assumed that one was spirits and one was wine. Perhaps he was just being generous.

You have contradicted yourself, your title say's 2 liter's, then you say 2 bottles.

the limit is one litre alcohol and 200 stick cigarette, the only substitute I have seen on the land border duty free on Lao/ Thai border is a case of beer (24cans) in lieu of

the 1 litre alcohol.

...or incorrectly assumed that one was spirits and one was wine.

Now I'm a lil' bit more confused... spirits and wine are counted differently?

You can bring one bottle of spirits and also one bottle of wine... total of 2 bottles??

I forgot to mention... almost all the Thais in our tour group did the same thing... no one was stopped when their "2-bottle" luggage bags went through the customs scanner. But... we did not go through together (this is to prevent farang posters' common conspiracy theory "it's because they're thai and so the customs gave them unfair advantage, etc.).

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I doubt the tour guide was correct. The limit is one litre. You cannot exchange one item on the list for another. I have never heard of this happening in any country. It is more likely that the customs officer ignored the second bottle or incorrectly assumed that one was spirits and one was wine. Perhaps he was just being generous.

nonsense

spirit and wine doesn't make a difference.

One Liter is allowed, and that's it

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Traveller/TravelEng.jsp?menuNme=Travel

You have contradicted yourself, your title say's 2 liter's, then you say 2 bottles.

Not at all, you can buy spirits in litre bottles as well as the regular 70cl bottles.

Twice I have brought in 3-litre bottles of Cognac from Malaysia.

Totally visible because I was on border runs.

No problems in customs.

The Tax free shops on the Maly border also says bottles not litres.

Most Thai customs do not care as long as you do not flog it in their face.

Sorry, posted in wrong place

I doubt the tour guide was correct. The limit is one litre. You cannot exchange one item on the list for another. I have never heard of this happening in any country. It is more likely that the customs officer ignored the second bottle or incorrectly assumed that one was spirits and one was wine. Perhaps he was just being generous.

Might be even a better chance that nothing would come of it if not declaring anything, therefore not bringing the needed attention. Customs procedures and infrastructure, for the average everyday, will be akin to casual indifference. Not that I'm a rule breaker, but an example of me coming through Swampy with 5 litres of spirits and 3 cartons of cigarettes would almost be undetected because of my intended silence combined the the general {any given day} lackadaisical approach amongst the customs officialdom. As they're not looking to enforce such mandate, but instead looking for a easy buck.

No famous costoms alcohol case it seems. People had big fine for cigarettes but maybe never for alcohol ? (about alcohol, you are anyway limited by the weight of the bottles)

Who knows, when I arrived in Feb. people were being hearded toward scanner I figured first time for everything then I was flagged by, I was on a flight from Taiwan I guess the scanner crowd on a flight from middle east.

When I returned last week there's a big sign at the green channel tjat is clear that it's 1 litre of alcohol and 200 cigs.

No more.