Posted on 08/14/2006 10:23:33 AM PDT by markomalley
The Aug. 10 arrests in Britain of 24 men suspected of plotting to use liquid explosives to blow up jetliners have set off a global panic about what should and shouldn't be allowed on planes. In this climate, the duty-free industry finds itself in an unenviable position: It sells flammable fluids in airports.
The $26 billion duty-free industry has branched out beyond alcohol, tobacco, and fragrances to sell international travelers everything from clothing to electronics. Still, alcohol and perfume remain mainstays, accounting for more than half of sales in some areas, according to Michael Payne, executive director of the International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores (IAADFS).
Already, Payne says, a few international outlets have adjusted their policies, and it has hit them in the pocketbook. Argentina and Brazil have suspended sales of spirits and scents to U.S.-bound passengers and to those flying on U.S.-flagged planes.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It seems that the easiest solution is to allow travelers to shop duty-free AFTER they've reached their destination and still make them show their ticket as proof.
That's not going to be a very good solution. When I fly internationally, I am highly likely to shop in a duty free shop in my departure airport where I've got time to kill anyway. However, I am highly unlikely to shop in a duty free shop at my arrival airport, where (a) I am usually tired and cranky, and (b) I just want to get out of the airport as quickly as possible.
Friggin US AIR crew comes in, buys their bottles, and hops back on the plane. Us commoners, however, get our carry on baggage searched as we board.
Rant off....sorry about that...I was thinking, though, that the duty free shops have to be hurting.
The big beneficiaries of this will be the airlines. Now everyone will be buying duty-free on board the flight, picking up their stuff when they arrive instead of shopping at the duty-free shops before departure. The airlines will clean up on this. I've never bought duty-free from them before but now I'll have no choice.
You forgot (c) You need to run to make your connection because your flight arrived 1 1/2 hours late.
On my last trans-Atlantic flight, the plane arrived on time but then we had to wait 45 minutes on the tarmac for them to assign us a gate. Delta. Fortunately I didn't have a close connection.
My next-to-last international flight we arrived on time but it took over an hour to offload the bags. Delta of course. Instead of taking our time between flights we had to run to make our connection.
That too. The problem is that there is nothing I can buy in a duty free shop that I really NEED. So, there is no way I am going to shop in one just to buy something I like at a good price unless the shopping fills up time that I have no better use for.
You're right, it is a good way to kill time at the terminal before leaving. This is just a nuisance all around. There must be some way for the duty free shops to certify that a bottle of perfume or vodka was just purchased and safe to bring aboard. This can't be that hard.
The obvious way to do it would be for the shop to deliver all goods directly to the plane in bags marked with the passengers' names. The flight attendats could then keep these under seal and deliver them as the passengers left the plane or even deliver them to a table in customs where the passengers could pick them up. However, that is a lot of coordination and work, and I don't see it happening.
Personally I think it's time for both travellers and governmental regulators of airports to rethink what airports are for. If we're going to get serious about security, airports need to be about security and travel and nothing else. The notion that security measures need to fit around the industry of selling "duty free" luxury items that nobody needs is just plain stupid.
I agree with you on this one, GS.
Sometimes pigs DO fly :-)
It really worries me that so many Americans still seem to have their heads in the sand, acting as if all the Madison Avenue-promoted fantasy life stuff is reality, and terrorism is just a boring annoyance that they're not going to let interfere with their fun. You'd think 9/11 would have shaken people awake, but I'm increasingly concerned that it's going to take something a whole lot worse to shake a critical mass of them awake.
Last week the NYT ran an article full of anecdotes about what went on at airports on the first morning of the ultra-tight security restrictions. One lady begged and pleaded and wheedled the gate agent endlessly, because she just couldn't throw away her lipstick because it was her favorite shade. The gate agent told the reporter "She just wouldn't get on the plane without it." Solution? The sympathetic gate agent (Delta) scribbled down the woman's address, got a few bucks from her for postage, and stood in line at the airport post office after her shift to mail the idiot lady her lipstick. I'm sure the gate agent meant well, but any passenger who doesn't cooperate promptly with something like this after being told "No", should find herself being scruffed by a burly law enforcement officer and escorted off airport premises. The above scenario simply could not have happened at an Israeli airport, because a critical mass of the Israeli population was shaken awake a long time ago.
The duty-free shop at Ben Gurion Airport is one of the largest and nicest that I have ever seen.
We have been a very spoiled people. That is about to change.
That's the way it's done at LAX w/ delivery to the departure gate.
I agree.
Take a look at most big, Intl. airports these days. They are shopping malls that sideline in airplanes.
No one to buy their overpriced junk?
And (d) You need to get to baggage claim before some joker steals your luggage (assuming the staff hasn't already gotten anything valuable).
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