V-Flyer

Hi would like to know what the prices are like for duty free
flying to las vegas, on virgin do I buy at Manchester or wait and buy on plane

For me, Duty Free alcohol disappeared around 1999, the few times the tiny sub selection available for outside the EU has offered anything I wanted, it was like 2-3 quid below what Tesco offered. Its usually the basic standard brands: whyte and macakay, Smirnoff, Gordons. Barely worth carting around the world (and given a gin broke in my bags once, I don't think ever really saved anything).

With cigarettes, its even worse. Not particularly good from the US side either.

Onboard can be good value, its where I buy the ciggies for friends (at 400 for 37 quid, its by far the cheapest of any airport duty frees). Has good tequilla too, discounted well, which you might find on a the US end of those routes.

But I'd order it over the internet, for the legs of the flight, needs to be at least a week in advance. The service in the cabin of duty free has been very bad quite a few times, like the time they skipped even asking me both ends, forgot till the end (when nothing was left), and the time I found they'd given me the wrong thing when I opened the bag when I got home...

The VS duty free prices can be seen at

http://www.retailtherapyshopping.com

Where you can pre order if you want.

I'd recommend preordering.

On a recent inbound, I had pre-ordered good value duty free scotch as a gift for someone. It was given to me onboard during the return flight so I popped in my my hand baggage. Sorted. y)

I basically agree with what Smid has said. Onboard prices can be tempting. I've occasionally found decent offers in the US, but it does vary.

On board prices for certain jewellery items are good too...Pandora trinkets and a nice Rotary watch are particularly good for Christmas shopping at 38,000 feet!. ):

I've got to say that as good as most of my flights have been I only seem to recall being offered DF a couple of times

Blacky1 wrote:I've got to say that as good as most of my flights have been I only seem to recall being offered DF a couple of times

This surprises me Blacky as the CC get commission on the sales...unless Joey was on your flights and there was nothing left ):

Petmadness wrote:

Blacky1 wrote:I've got to say that as good as most of my flights have been I only seem to recall being offered DF a couple of times

This surprises me Blacky as the CC get commission on the sales...unless Joey was on your flights and there was nothing left ):

Or I was in too much of haze to remember ): but seriously I do remember getting off some flights thinking it was strange that they hadn't been round offering it , never buy anything apart from maybe ciggies anyway so was never that bothered but I gave them up 5 months ago so I'm definitely not bothered now y)

Just got 2 bottle of Johnny walker double black from heathrow on arrivals at 65 quid. That was a price I couldn't refuse

Blacky1 wrote:I've got to say that as good as most of my flights have been I only seem to recall being offered DF a couple of times

In UC they sometimes ask if you want any while they're taking your meal order.

starquake wrote:Just got 2 bottle of Johnny walker double black from heathrow on arrivals at 65 quid. That was a price I couldn't refuse

Quick google: http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-15667.aspx, one bottle 32 quid. Seems like it wasn't a bargain. Ok, I suppose if its a litre, then perhaps.

Ok, found that at litre: http://www.worlddutyfree.com/index.php? ... 1003349818, 37 quid.

Kind of demonstrates my point that its not particularly cheap, and I'd be quite surprised if such a niche product was actually "duty free" vs the much larger selection of "duty paid" booze.

gumshoe wrote:

Blacky1 wrote:I've got to say that as good as most of my flights have been I only seem to recall being offered DF a couple of times

In UC they sometimes ask if you want any while they're taking your meal order.

I suspect in hindsight I may have been asked more than I think I have ,see what happens in a couple of weeks

shirley wrote:Hi would like to know what the prices are like for duty free
flying to las vegas, on virgin do I buy at Manchester or wait and buy on plane

I would be surprised if the prices are wildly different, however the benefit on the ground is going to be a much bigger selection and of course any seasonal offers across brands that may not be available in the air.

What products are you looking for? The average V-Flyer mind, it appears, heads straight for the alcohol aisle

Petmadness wrote:

Blacky1 wrote:I've got to say that as good as most of my flights have been I only seem to recall being offered DF a couple of times

This surprises me Blacky as the CC get commission on the sales...unless Joey was on your flights and there was nothing left ):

Ha ha ha ha ha ii) I am not that bad Mark.

Interestingly, I have found the question posed to be quite passive in its wording as to whether or not you will be considering a Duty Free purchase. It is not so much of a hard sell as in ECO and PE it seems, I can understand how Blacky might have missed it.

joeyc wrote:I would be surprised if the prices are wildly different, however the benefit on the ground is going to be a much bigger selection and of course any seasonal offers across brands that may not be available in the air.

What products are you looking for? The average V-Flyer mind, it appears, heads straight for the alcohol aisle

They are quite different in price, especially on the UK side, the airport owners seem quite uniform in their lack of actual duty discount, but with most of their flights being inside the EU, they don't get the tax saving for most of their sales. So the airport is engineered towards duty paid products, with only a small amount actually duty free, and those not greatly discounted.

I was flying regularly to Europe when all the duty free stopped 1999? 2000?, and Dixons kept the VAT free shops with their discounts for a while, those eventually were priced virtually one penny less than the amazon.co.uk prices. I don't even visit their shops in the airport anymore.

Onboard will have a limited selection if you are simply going to walk on and read the brochure, but reading the online selection and getting that ordered gives you the internet level of choice, with the duty free price.

If I recall the difference, for instance with cigarettes, I think it was 37 quid for 400 malboro light, vs close to 57 quid in the airport (and that was duty free price, you don't get duty paid ciggies in airport, and those would be around 140 quid duty paid).

Smid wrote:Ok, found that at litre: http://www.worlddutyfree.com/index.php? ... 1003349818, 37 quid.

Kind of demonstrates my point that its not particularly cheap, and I'd be quite surprised if such a niche product was actually "duty free" vs the much larger selection of "duty paid" booze.

Indeed, it's not super cheap compared to online, but I rarely buy whisky online. Compared to prices in "local" places, it is a steal - local supermarkets sell it in past for 37-47 pound range per bottle for 700ml, and not 1l. And yes it was 2x1l for 65, which represented a decent saving.

The other good deals I find are ex-US - on high end Gin/Whisky priced in USD. Some whiskys are only available in travel retail, such as the JD "master distiller" series, which my father is particularly a fan of. Ex-US these can be half the price of the UK duty free - and as they are only available to travel retail, there is no equivalent high-street/online offer.

Alcohol for me is needless to say the main duty free choice!.

If you like the "not grot" tequilla, then the ex US is often good for a decent litre of tequilla at a bearable price. Not guaranteed though, got them out of SFO and JFK but not LAS.

Smid - the list of airports is interesting as different chains appear to run the duty free ex-US, so you get very different offers

My personal "best" alcohol duty free offers have been seen at MCO and MIA in last 12 months - both reasonable for whisky and gin. I wasn't super impressed with JFK in last 12 months - more expensive in some cases than UK, so skipped. LAS had some good JD pricing in November on the boxed 1l "travel retail" JD No2 master-distiller bottles, about $30 a bottle, which was a good price.

The trick is as ever knowing the price for things in the UK on both retail and duty free - and comparing, as prices do change...

starquake wrote:The trick is as ever knowing the price for things in the UK on both retail and duty free - and comparing, as prices do change...

Surely someone's going to come up with an App.....

I'm not one for buying on-board, but on my recent trip, I saw an offer too good to refuse.

1 Litre bottle of Smirnoff Blue Label Vodka £10 per bottle (RRP £23)

Managed to buy 2 x on outbound and pre-order 1 for return.

before you ask. I have 2 daughters (both 20+) who love vodka. The extra one was purely for experimental purposes

Be aware, Retail Therapy are changing suppliers so right now it is not possible to pre order for flights after 8th April

MoJoJo wrote:Be aware, Retail Therapy are changing suppliers so right now it is not possible to pre order for flights after 8th April

Is there any update to this? Just looked online and it seems you can order for delivery on board. However, the choice of cigarettes is limited, I usually buy 200 superkings which aren't available.

Does anyone know if there are further choices if you call. Too late to call today to ask.

Jilly