Fearing that a change is afoot in American Airline’s policy of waiving the checked bag fee for one box of liquor, Gov. John deJongh Jr. wrote to an airline official urging that the free checked box continue to be allowed.
“There have been lots of rumblings by visitors who understand the waiver may be removed,” Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson Doty said Wednesday.
Doty said liquor purchased at the airport store located past the passenger inspection area can be carried onboard, but people who buy it elsewhere have to check the box because it contains more than the three ounces allowed to be carried on in a quart-sized plastic bag.
Making people pay to check their liquor box will have a big impact, Doty said. “It becomes a significant cost to the traveler.”
The governor wrote in his letter to Art Torno, American’s vice president for Latin America, the Caribbean and Miami, that adding liquor-box fees would affect a large and key segment of the territory’s commercial trade.
He said the Virgin Islands is world-renowned for duty-free shopping, with a wide selection of retail offerings, including many spirits and locally produced rum. Those retail goods attract travelers from around the world, deJongh said.
“The waiver safeguards a significant source of revenue for the Virgin Islands,” deJongh wrote.
The governor asked Torno to consider that revenues generated by the new policy must be “set against the loss of goodwill from travelers and the effect on continuing business, not to mention on our local industries and economy.”
DeJongh said he or Doty would be happy to discuss the matter further with American Airline executives.
American spokesman Martha Pantin did not return several phone calls requesting comment.
