Duty Free

I as unsure on location to post this topic (here vs. Asylum)…but anyways…

Is there any reason for duty free? More so in the traveling from outside the US into the US.

The only thing that I’ve seen would be the opportunity to purchase something like Cuban cigars or rum (illegal unless coming from Cuba). Yes, there are liquors, mostly scotch, that are duty free specific but overall I really don’t see any value in purchasing something and carting it home.

Am I missing something?

Are there better deals to be had when departing from a specific country, etc…?

Michael:

It really depends on the item. Cigarettes (and I assume cigars, but I don’t smoke either) are MUCH cheaper when purchased overseas due to the taxes on tobacco. Alcohol can be a bit cheaper too and, additionally, they will sometimes have limited editions liquors only available at duty free stores (the most famous of these was Johnny Walker Green).

Other items are a bit of a crapshoot. I know of a couple people who purchase Hermes ties at duty free, though some duty frees are reported to be cheaper for the same merchandise, than others.

Except for a few ‘travel exclusive’ scotch whiskies and cuban rums, no. Depending on where you are traveling, cuban rums may be considerably less expensive in regular shops outside of airports.

Most 'travel ‘exclusives’ aren’t very good, often at the bottom of the range, and may be sold in litre bottles rather than 700s. There are exceptions that have been very good (Macallan Cask Strength many years ago) to excellent (Laphroaig Double Barrel 20yo, Laphroaig PX Cask) to great (Laphroaig 21 bottled in 2008 to commemorate the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5). But the very good to great expressions tend to be few and far between.

Johnnie Walker Green 15 blended malt isn’t travel exclusive any longer. For a short while it was more readily available as a travel whisky than part of the regular range, during the three year period that Diageo wasn’t bottling it for regular distribution (but it was still around, if one knew where to look). Back to full production and distribution now.

Canada is a 1 mile bridge or tunnel from downtown Detroit. The tunnel duty free has great prices. I will drive to Windsor, turn around and go to the duty free on the way home. Duty is never more than about$2-3 per bottle. I usually buy 2 cases at a time.
I stopped buying when flying because carrying it is too much trouble and airport duty free prices aren’t that great

http://www.tunneldutyfree.com/ecom.asp?pg=specials

Duty free is most often a rip off price wise IMO. I have used it a few times when travelling out of Miami to various Caribbean islands where liquor is even more expensive or the selection is terrible.

George

Great deals on cosmetics. I priced some before I left and purchased some at CDG. For example, over $100 savings on Chanel moisturizer.

I’m in the midst of an around the world trip right now, and have scouted out multiple duty free locations at Heathrow, Haneda and Narita during the trip. As mentioned earlier, cigarettes are substantially cheaper via Duty Free than in-country. At Narita, I bought a couple cartons of Marlboro Golds (aka Lights) for $51 USD to give to my in-laws in South Korea. Single packs of the same sell in stores for $4, so it’s almost a 40% savings.

Alcohol isn’t cheaper unless you’re traveling to a resort destination that has high markups, and you didn’t feel like packing your own to begin with. The days of getting 1L versions of Johnny Walker Blue, Macallan 12 or 18, or Remy Martin XO for the equivalent price of a 750ml in the US are long over, unfortunately. The most egregious markups nowadays are with the Japanese age-stated whiskies (Yamazaki, Nikka, Hakushu, etc). Because of the intense demand for them, they fly off the shelves. At Narita, all the duty free locations were sold out of the 25 year Japanese bottlings that were priced at 250,000 yen apiece, with a maximum of 1 per person.

And as mentioned before, the luxury boutique stores are also a good value if you happen to be in the market for a luxury item. My wife bought a Chanel purse at Heathrow. She priced the same purse at a Chanel boutique in Tokyo, and the price was 10% higher. Will be interesting to see what the price is back in the states, with sales tax included.

Agree. A fifth of Stoli is US$20 in Michigan. A liter of Stoli is US$11-13 at duty free.
My buddies have nicknamed me Capone.
For Candians the savings are even higher

I purchased a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon 1000 ml for ~$22 USD at Niagara Falls DF. The 750 goes for mid $30’s locally.
I’m flying out of Toronto next month. If anyone has an opinion about the DF shop, I’d like to know.

Mark, do you remember the Laphroaig 10yo ‘Cask Strength’ (57.3%, OB, First Edition) released in 1995 and only available in 1L format from either Heathrow Duty Free or the Laphroaig sales room on Islay? The one with the green stripe (there were other green stripe bottles in 1998 and 2000, I think, but no released in 1L). About $60 at the time and it was smokin’ good (no pun intended). Now, if you ever see it, it’s more like $500.

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Good adage from an old friend: “Remember, duty free doesn’t mean profit free.”

Yup. I still have an unopened bottle remaining of the first green stripe. Good stuff.

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I would argue GREAT stuff. Prefer it over the 21yr Terminal 5 by a large measure. I think we have two or three left as well. Those were the days.

Know the going prices. Caveat emptor. Saying that it has been 6-7 years since I have purchased any duty free liquor.

Anyone with recent experience out of GVA or ZRH over AMS or CDG?

Never found much of interest in Duty Free until two weeks ago. At CDG and found a bottle of Comtes de Champagne Rose 2008 for 166 euro. Yes please!

Duty free almost universally poor value these days, typically being cheaper outside the airport than in it. Most down to the rents charged for delivering a captive audience to them being very ‘commercial’ indeed.

It’s a long time since I’ve seen an exception, which used to be more likely in smaller / older airports, and in such situations they tended to showpiece local products.

I wonder if some are still cheap for tobacco products? I recall picking up some up from Dubai for a work colleague, that he was delighted about the pricing (about 1/6th of the UK retail pricing). That was ~ 20 years ago though.

What are they useful for? Situational purchases could occasionally work out, e.g. buying wines because you could take them in carry-on, but that wasn’t allowed bought from anywhere else. Other than that, it’s a good sign of which wineries are treating their product more as a commodity, getting larger displays in these shops. There’s one Barolo producer that I’ve found typically prominent, and that tallies with their wines being less than interesting.

No opinion on the value proposition of duty free stores, but there is a great book called “The Billionaire Who Wasn’t” that is all about the guy (and guys) that pioneered the duty free concept. Interesting anecdotes about bidding on airport contracts, global roll-out, blocking out competitors, etc. The back half of the book is all about how the primary entrepreneur, Chuck Feeney, quietly gave away all of his money, which is pretty compelling on its own. Recommended.

The DF exclusive Blantons is a worthwhile get. I’ve also heard that Middleton is a bargain at UK/Ireland DF.

It makes sense if you are buying for consumption on the trip, and it’s not a great destination for alcohol.

For example, going to Egypt after a stop in London. I bought a small bottle of decent scotch.

Going to Bali after Malaysia, bought a bottle of Dom at duty free.