Duty free - why carry it on?

[Memetic]

I have often wondered why, when we are not allowed to drink it on the flight, we are encouraged to take our heavy, flammable, duty free booze onto the aircraft, and why airlines continue to carry carts full of the stuff. (Ditto ciggarettes people can't smoke etc.)

Don't get me wrong, I know its a vital revenue stream and with the duty we pay here in the UK I am all for stocking up, but why can't I collect on arrival?

Afterall I can already buy electrical goods duty free on arrival in many places. It would not be hard to organise, just like Argos (A catalogue shop.) place the order here - where physical goods and samples are on display, then collect ....some time later....there.

Do the pick up between the arrival gate and the baggage pick up and it might even reduce the carousel scrum, by spreading out the arrivals.

It might also cut down on late departures due to "lost souls" between check in and gate and the time taken to stow all the carry on items.

If its argued it would cut sales, maybe it would, but it would also save weight on every flight, reduce the risk of in flight drunks etc. and who is to say that it would not increase sales as you would get impuse buys on arrival!

Anyone know if this has been tired or considered on major routes or by any airlines? If not why not!

[zed3]

For arrival duty free shops - Iceland and Singapore come to mind . Why it hasn't caught on , I don't know , probably afraid of revenue loss .

[redsnail]

Sydney airport has arrival Duty Free.

[PAXboy]

LHR T1 + T3 has arrival Duty Free, not sure about the others as I have not been through them recently. I believe that they also allow collection of said items purchased on outbound. You might want to check www.baa.co.uk although it is not always an easy site to navigate.

[Eboy]

I think Memetic makes good points. I guess if smoked or drank more, I'd buy more duty free. Now, to me, it is annoying to have the duty free cart rolled through when I'm trying to sleep. Memetic's proposal would help there also.

As Memetic says, it apparently is a money-maker, but I have trouble seeing it making enough money to be worth the in-flight hassle.

[Fraudsquads]

You can even buy duty free in arrivals in Cyprus so that must tell you its catching on. They've had the shop in LCA for at least a couple of years.

I can remember a time when you couldn't buy duty free when back within UK airspace or a return flight.

Can't say my colleagues in Customs and Excise like it too much
though.

FS

[Alpha Leader]

I think up until recently, in most countries the law was such that you could only purchase duty free items when departing.

The other issue is that departing passengers usually have more time to spend (or waste), which explains why the duty free shops in the departure areas are so prolific and those (where available) in the arrivals area are not. Particularly when faced with the prospet of queues at immigration, most pax just want to get off the plane and through immigration presto.

[Samuel]

Wellington and in fact all NZ International terminals, and those in Australia, allow purchase of Duty Free for collection on return.

Why carry Duty Free both ways? I always buy an additional bottle of Single Malt and leave the mini-bars well alone!

I don't know why anyone would buy anything at all at Theifrow. Compared to Sydney it's prices are outrageous.

[gofer]

There is just a little profit in the Duty Free trade. It also requires a little time to do the transaction.

Airlines started missing out when the Departure area's expanded their Duty Free's. Then the rules changed in some places - so that the arriving PAX could save transporting all that inflammable weight.

What I've been waiting for for years, is for the airlines to:
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Ban taking Duty free on board - using the space argument - or charge just a little extra for the transportation !
Expand their own in flight catalogues - like some of american ones - but offering anything they want - they have the captive audience after all
accept the purchase in the air and transmit the resulting transactions to the arrivals airport
deliver the goods on arrival with amount and credit card slip for the signing - this allows for corrections in case a article has become out of stock.
[/list=1]
This would give the Airlines the business back (and profitable it is) but it would also stop having to cart junk around, burning up fossel fuels for nothing. Double benefit - and the current stores could also get in on the acts as they are there already, so its no extra staff for the airline and less stress for the sales (sorry delivery) people.

I wonder just how much AvGas or JetAv is used per day to turndle those trolleys and plastic bags around the sky ? Anybody like to submit their assumptions and the result ??
:p

[PAXboy]

gofer - agree 100%. The weight and danger of all those bottles of whiskey. :rolleyes:

For myself, when travelling VS I use their pre-order service. This saves the hassle of buying, especially if delayed in 'security' and then carrying it around.

They send you a catalogue and you pre-order by phone (I dare say they will make it online in due course). Onboard, when the trolley arrives, I hand over the recipt that I have been sent and they go and collect my order. This is handed over towards the end of the flight all sealed in a see-through carrier. I also score extra FFMs by pre-ordering.

It is not the answer but it is an alternative.

[reynoldsno1]

I agree with Samuel! I used to live in the US and just about all the LHR "duty-free" prices were more expensive than the local supermarket!

[PAXboy]

A large part of it will be the convenience of knowing that you do not have to buy it any where else and get it to the airport.

Since you no longer have your main luggage with you, it is easier to pick up the booze.

However, when I leave South Africa, I always buy my booze off site, as the duty free shops are very poor. They are getting better but the range of wine and brandy was always limited to govt sponsored ones in 'the old days' and it has taken a long time to change.

[big.al]

Funny, but I have thought for years that arrivals-lounge duty free might be a better option in some ways. Good to see some at last.

1. - airlines get the first shot at selling duty-free goods, as the pax won't have already stocked up before boarding (perhaps the airports won't like that!)

2 - airliners would save the weight of all those duty-free bottles that pax bring on board, which is in addition to checked baggage and hand luggage, but then the airline may have to carry more bottles to sell because of point 1 above some perhaps some of the weight reduction (and fuel saving) will be lost here

3 - definately would reduce the risk of delays due to missing pax. Returning from ATL to MAN in May, there was a queue of about 20 people waiting to be served by just ONE person working in the duty-free shop. Despite joining the queue 30 minutes before departure, we then had to RUN to the gate in order to ensure we didn't miss the flight. And there were people behind us in the queue for on the same flight. Only when we had paid for the duty free did we learn that you cannot carry it to the 'plane at Atlanta - they have to take it to the gate for you. There were around 30 people waiting inside the 'plane for the trolley to come along with their purchases, and it arrived about 30 secs. before the door was closed. Apparently it's quite common for pax. not to get their purchases in time, even though they've been seating and waiting on the a/c for some time, and they then have to obtain a refund (ok assuming you've paid by c/card, but what about if you paid cash?). Ludicrous situation.

The only thing against arrivals duty-free is that pax just want to get bags and go, especially on return flights, and so revenues may drop. Plus, looking around the duty-free shop in departures for the umpteenth time at least whiles away some of the time during delays....