No more inflight duty free with QF after 31 Dec 2017

[AustraliaPoochie]

Less things filling up my international flights seat pocket!
End of an era for duty-free shopping on Qantas flights

 

[cmon0005]

To be honest on pretty much any airline these days i very rarely see someone purchasing duty free.. Emirates seems to be the exception where i often see a number of pax purchasing in the Y cabin even on mel-akl.

I also won't miss it, especially when the prices sometimes seemed not much different to retail prices on the ground.

Now..if they would only get rid of the maze of DF shops as you enter intl departures airside in mel and syd i would be a happy camper!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I also won't miss it, especially when the prices sometimes seemed not much different to retail prices on the ground.

That's the thing isn't it? Duty free doesn't equal 'profit free'. And many airport simply bump up their profit margins rather than passing on the savings to customers. Same as many airlines.

I was surprised the other day that SYD duty free was selling apple for only a 5% discount on what was available from a regular store. I asked why the GST wasn't removed... the answer was 'Apple bumps up their prices artificially in the city'. If the airports took off the full GST I'd be buying there. Same with a whole range of other good. But instead SIN gets my business.

 

[BD1959]

Buy in the sales, claim back duty via TRS. Huge savings over the airport Duty Free.

Plus I *HATE* the way Duty Free Stores rip you off. You stagger off a 14hr flight in Y and are greeted with this (below) - how much is the twin pack of Bombay Sapphire?



Regards,

BD

 

[TomVexille]

As we know, Duty Free is not aimed at the average Australian resident, but at certain overseas groups who will buy just about anything and everything.

I mean why else would KE have opened an actual shop in their A380s at the expense of seats? It must be profitable.

 

[Jack_OC]

There are actually some bargains to be had in the duty free when it comes to buying spirits. For example, as shown above, a 2 x 1 L pack of Bombay Sapphire is $73.50 at Melbourne Airport ($3.67 per 100 mL), compared to 700 mL for $40 in Dan Murphy's ($5.71 per 100 mL). That's a saving of 36%, and sometimes they genuinely do have offers of 2 L for $65 at the airport, which means the saving is even greater. Similarly with Four Pillars - $64.99 for 1 L in the duty free compared to $73.99 for 700 mL in Dan Murphy's - a saving of 38.5%.

On board, it can be even cheaper. The last time I flew with EY I got 1 L of Bombay Sapphire for $26, which was a saving of 55% compared to Dan Murphy's.

It's true that some other products, notably wine, can actually be more expensive than in normal retailers, but don't dismiss the whole concept because of that!

One other use of duty free is when you want to take a bottle with you on holiday - e.g. if you're going somewhere where liquor is expensive and/or it's not easy to get your favourite tipple. Due to LAG restrictions, you can only bring stuff from home if you're willing to pack it in your checked luggage - which adds weight and can risk breakage. Buying duty free can get around this.

 

[serfty]

One other use of duty free is when you want to take a bottle with you on holiday - e.g. if you're going somewhere where liquor is expensive and/or it's not easy to get your favourite tipple. Due to LAG restrictions, you can only bring stuff from home if you're willing to pack it in your checked luggage - which adds weight and can risk breakage. Buying duty free can get around this.

This!

It's about my only use for DF these days ... although I did bring home two bottles of Bombay Sapphire from SIN for SGD38 all up last month ...

 

[drron]

There are actually some bargains to be had in the duty free when it comes to buying spirits. For example, as shown above, a 2 x 1 L pack of Bombay Sapphire is $73.50 at Melbourne Airport ($3.67 per 100 mL), compared to 700 mL for $40 in Dan Murphy's ($5.71 per 100 mL). That's a saving of 36%, and sometimes they genuinely do have offers of 2 L for $65 at the airport, which means the saving is even greater. Similarly with Four Pillars - $64.99 for 1 L in the duty free compared to $73.99 for 700 mL in Dan Murphy's - a saving of 38.5%.

On board, it can be even cheaper. The last time I flew with EY I got 1 L of Bombay Sapphire for $26, which was a saving of 55% compared to Dan Murphy's.

It's true that some other products, notably wine, can actually be more expensive than in normal retailers, but don't dismiss the whole concept because of that!

One other use of duty free is when you want to take a bottle with you on holiday - e.g. if you're going somewhere where liquor is expensive and/or it's not easy to get your favourite tipple. Due to LAG restrictions, you can only bring stuff from home if you're willing to pack it in your checked luggage - which adds weight and can risk breakage. Buying duty free can get around this.

But in Florida I can get 1.75l of Bombay Sapphire for just under $A40.

 

[TomVexille]

But in Florida I can get 1.75l of Bombay Sapphire for just under $A40.

That sounds about right

 

[mannej]

Buy in the sales, claim back duty via TRS. Huge savings over the airport Duty Free.

Plus I *HATE* the way Duty Free Stores rip you off. You stagger off a 14hr flight in Y and are greeted with this (below) - how much is the twin pack of Bombay Sapphire?



Regards,

BD

Clearly the box is an extra - $8.50 worth

 

[RichardMEL]

G&T's must be high volume comodity in Florida... oh wait.. yeah that makes sense

I don't mind duty free it has it's place. I recently did a daytrip through AKL and picked up some booze for my boss at a fair saving for him and no sweat for me to bring back so hey why not? win/win.

I do agree the shos are annoying to go through, specially at places like MEL or AKL where you're forced through them just to get to the gates and lounges, but that's of course purely by design. I just ignore them unless I have a specific target in mind.

As for inflight yeah can understand why it's being dropped. I never buy in flight.. maybe I should on my LAX trip next week just for fun lol

 

[BD1959]

Clearly the box is an extra - $8.50 worth

Exactly my point - but not one which was highlighted until payment-time. When I pointed this out, I was told I was mistaken and that the price label was in the middle of the display and didn't relate to that shelf. By this time, there was a A380 size queue behind me, hence I took the photo next time through, just to prove the point to myself.

If this isn't deceptive conduct then I don't know what is.

Add in the cc fee; add in the bag-fee ... Welcome to Corporate Australia!!

Regards,

BD

 

[TomVexille]

G&T's must be high volume comodity in Florida... oh wait.. yeah that makes sense

I don't mind duty free it has it's place. I recently did a daytrip through AKL and picked up some booze for my boss at a fair saving for him and no sweat for me to bring back so hey why not? win/win.

I do agree the shos are annoying to go through, specially at places like MEL or AKL where you're forced through them just to get to the gates and lounges, but that's of course purely by design. I just ignore them unless I have a specific target in mind.

As for inflight yeah can understand why it's being dropped. I never buy in flight.. maybe I should on my LAX trip next week just for fun lol

Nah, that's pretty much standard US pricing. You can get something like 1.75L Canadian Club for ~A$24. Or half the price of a 700ml bottle here

 

[kpc]

Good! The onboard duty free PAs interrupt my video screen!!

 

[Denali]

Ive made a bit of a profit reselling some of the limited edition packaged booze that I bought at duty free.

If your thing is Wild Turkey or Royal Salute, Bundy ect and theres a special, limited edition, numbered display box with it - you or someone that loves you will buy it for the pool room.

Back in the late 90s, we bought about a dozen Bundy black bottles at $40 each, currently selling for $800+.

I remember buying something in NZ (just after the World Cup/they won) duty free and it came with a jersey and limited All Blacks print with AB DNA (blood) in the mix. Cant remember all the details but the item cost us about $180 and we sold the print only for about $160. So the bottle and licensed jersey cost us $20.

 

[Limewood]

Buy in the sales, claim back duty via TRS. Huge savings over the airport Duty Free.

Plus I *HATE* the way Duty Free Stores rip you off. You stagger off a 14hr flight in Y and are greeted with this (below) - how much is the twin pack of Bombay Sapphire?



Regards,

BD

We just buy booze once on the ground, the Bombay Sapphire twin pack think was about $50 , half price to retail. Have a couple watched Mrs lime bought on flights. still sitting in ad raw.

 

[eminere]

Exactly my point - but not one which was highlighted until payment-time. When I pointed this out, I was told I was mistaken and that the price label was in the middle of the display and didn't relate to that shelf. By this time, there was a A380 size queue behind me, hence I took the photo next time through, just to prove the point to myself.

If this isn't deceptive conduct then I don't know what is.

Add in the cc fee; add in the bag-fee ... Welcome to Corporate Australia!!

Regards,

BD

That is highly misleading and deceptive conduct.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Good. One less annoying announcement interrupting the inflight entertainment on every international flight.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Ive made a bit of a profit reselling some of the limited edition packaged booze that I bought at duty free.

Tongue in cheek that you mention "a bit of a profit", I hope, as you are "really" not supposed to resell those items, as they don't have the duty/GST levied on them.
Personally, if I was doing something like that, I would not mention too widely about that due fact you are going it.
Edit: to add, I don't dare nowadays look up in the duty free zoo at AKL/MEL/SYD/ADL airports anymore.
Head down, straight to immi processing and smartgate processing.

 

[Must...Fly!]

That is highly misleading and deceptive conduct.

The only time I have bought a double pack of 1L spirits, the 2 for $xx included the double packs and scanned at the reduced price. Does OP of photo have a higher res version with T&Cs visible?