Garish Duty Free rat runs.

[ExXB]

Originally Posted by crewmeal

if you're travelling within Europe it's VAT free and you can bring in what you like.

If you're travelling within Europe you pay the VAT of the country of purchase. As you've paid VAT there there is no limit on what you can take to another EU country. (Within reason, personal use, etc.)

But when you are travelling to Switzerland (or the US, or Canada, etc.), for example, they still charge you the price inclusive of VAT. They then scan your boarding card to prove you exported it, and then pocket the 20 odd percent.

One of the biggest rip-offs on the planet.

[Heathrow Harry]

"What I find incredible is that no one has ever investigated the price fixing of fragrances."

and it's only really coloured water in the first place................

Duty free is useful if it has some local booze you can't get at home at a reasonable price but if it's a major brand it is almost always cheaper outside (except maybe in Norway)

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by GrahamO

I am reliably infomed (maybe not) that 28% of the GDP of Dubai, is carried out in the duty free area of the airport

I think you may have confused the Duty Free shops at DXB (which in my experience are rather a poor selection) with the various Tax Free business zones like Jebel Ali where international businesses are not assessed standard tax treatments (not that there's a lot of tax in Dubai anyway).

[Davef68]

Originally Posted by Capot

At meetings about extending the time passengers are forced to be in the departure lounge (increasing "dwell time"; a management KPI), .

Presumably the same reason that most airports now have moved most of their 'buying opportunities' 'downstream' of security. (Glasgow being the worst) - add in the fact that screen announcements don't announce delays etc until after security, it all funnels people to the shops.

I suppose it also deters lurking spotters

[pwalhx]

Truth is it is the price we pay for the price we pay to fly nowadays. Airports have to gain revenue lost from airlines from somewhere.

However always amazes me how much it distresses people having to walk through these area, it is no big deal, maybe adds a few minutes on to your walk but it is hardly difficult.

[mrben09]

To be fair most of the booze in DXB is sold on the way in, in the sizeable Duty Free shop in arrivals. If you have ever had a Dubai booze licence and tried to buy a bottle of Whiskey in Spinneys, you will then understand why most (expat) locals buy on arrival.

[Capot]

One of the biggest rip-offs on the planet.

To put numbers on to that, in the shop I mentioned earlier, the airport, ie us, bought from a supplier and ran the shop; only later passing it over to a concessionaire who ran it better than we did.

A figure that has always stuck in my mind was that we bought Johnnie Walker (1 litre bottle) in bond for about £3.50 per bottle, and retailed it "Duty Free" for about £2.00 more than the high street "duty-included" price, which also included the retailer's reasonable profit. I think our price must have been about £15.00, maybe a tad less, but memory fades.

People bought it because of the "Duty Free" sign.

The rip-off continues today. The difference is that the proceeds are not used to pay airport running costs in most airports now; they go straight into the profits of the owner, usually being extracted to overseas holding companies as "management charges" and the like to minimise tax, and to maintain the fiction that the user charges are required to pay the airport costs having taken all other revenue streams into account.

[SpringHeeledJack]

However always amazes me how much it distresses people having to walk through these area, it is no big deal, maybe adds a few minutes on to your walk but it is hardly difficult.

These things are relative and compared with really distressing things, well they are just 1st World problems, but when one is subjected to all the obligations of funneling before security, then security and then to be subjected unwillingly to a shopping mall before getting to a holding area before going to the gate, it's just another stress. If one likes to shop, especially in crowded spaces it must seem like nirvana

[DaveReidUK]

to maintain the fiction that the user charges are required to pay the airport costs having taken all other revenue streams into account

So airports could scrap user charges and still break even purely on the revenue from their retail activities?

[poke53281]

Used to be a fun novelty in the 80's getting some new shades and a bottle of old spice on the way to the Costa's .

Now its Costa freakin Cofee in every corner, and the horendous bright lighting of these malls only serve to trigger a migraine on top of a already stressful situation.

I hate airports.

[Capot]

airports could scrap user charges and still break even purely on the revenue from their retail

Probably not, and I didn't say that. But any assertion that all retailing and car parking revenue is used in some kind of central pot to keep the charges as low as possible is a fiction.

So when airports make the case for higher charges, you will find that most if not all the retailing net contribution has been squirrelled away by some accounting trick or another; inter-group charges are the favourite and, when they go overseas, reduce the tax bill as well. Trebles all round.

[easyflyer83]

My personal opinion is that we should really man up. Unless you have kids, for MOST people the airport shouldn't really be that stressful. You turn up leaving enough time, be prepared to queue and be prepared to take your shoes off etc at security. Nobody likes to queue but we all manage it at Alton Towers or wherever else it occurs and we generally don't go into meltdown.

As for the shops. Well there is usually an aisle through there with shelves and merchandise at either side. So yes you have to walk through the duty free but what's it matter whether there are walls at either side of the pathway or duty free goods? I have never been forced through a duty free shop where I've had to walk round a maze of shelves and displays... There has always been a clear path through.

For many passengers, admittedly mainly leisure travellers, the mall experience is part of the holiday. My partner loves to turn up hours before so he can get the full airport experience and he's not alone.

[ExXB]

I believe the OP was specifically targeting agressive sales staff:

where one is bombarded with salespersons hawking free samples of perfume/food/whatever. I'm polite (mostly) but after a few "No thankyou's" and finding one's forward passage continually impeded by shoppers, sorry, travellers who DO want to go shopping, the stress levels started to rise.

Airports need to make the experience less stressful, not add to it.

[easyflyer83]

I've never really experienced that but then again I am always happy to be offered free samples. I really don't see what is stressful about that. Never been actively asked if I want to but anything, the odd 'can I help you' but that has been when I've been looking at their products.

[pwalhx]

Agree with easyflyer, I still fail to understand why people find walking through a duty free are so stressful. As has been said it's a first world problem and really pails into insignificance when compared to what is happening in the wider world right now.

[Capot]

Coming back through Gatwick last night reminded me of the blatantly dishonest rip-off that is the "last buying opportunity" that passengers are forced to walk through after clearing Customs on ARRIVAL. The claims about saving money over that mythical place "the High Street" are otherwise known as lies, or even fraud.

Perhaps "obtaining money from gullible visitors by deception" is the best description.

Mind you, I've never ever seen anyone actually stupid enough to buy anything in those traps, but the fact that they are still there shows that someone occasionally does, I suppose.

Here's an extract from the Gatwick website. I'm not sure if the shop they are talking about is the one after Customs, or another one on the way to Customs if there is such a thing; regardless, it's entertaining to tot up the misinformation, distortion, contradiction and downright lies they have managed to fit into two short paragraphs:

International travellers arriving at Gatwick can now shop at the World Duty Free Arrivals Store, which offers a selection of goods that passengers normally only see on their departure, sold at tax free prices.

The range of items available include fragrances, cosmetics, confectionery and electrical goods. There is also a wide range of duty paid spirits, wines, champagne and beers, together with tobacco at duty paid prices.

[Hotel Tango]

Birmingham has a similar "duty free" store after customs. I too have never seen anyone purchasing anything there on my forty odd arrivals since it was opened. I guess that enough pax must use it or it would have long gone. But I must also state that, unlike the departures store, I have never been approached by sales staff as I exit, which is fair enough.

[ExXB]

The range of items available include fragrances, cosmetics, confectionery and electrical goods.

Why would these products be free of UK VAT? Are they zero-rated in the UK? At least they are honest that cigs and booze prices include the VAT - however since I'm usually arriving from outside the EU I should get it free of UK VAT.

Duty free, on arrival, is possible in a number of countries but I'm not certain if the UK is one of them. In any case if you are arriving from an EU airport you cannot be exempted from any local VAT.

I once went to a Currys at LGW and asked for the price of an iPad. The price they quoted was higher than the VAT inclusive price at the Apple Store, even though the clerk swore up and down it was 'tax-free'.