kins

Having flown through Schipol last year I want to know why all airports don't have art galleries and tulip shops.

AmerLisa

The exact reason we can't bother buying anything they have selling at airports. I'm always amazed with all the shops, it looks like a shopping center rather than an airport. Do people actually go early enough to shop and then haul all that extra stuff on board a plane? Or do they not pack for their trips and just buy everything at the airport?

scrubbedexpat091

Yes I understand that, but states don't regulate duty rules.

Federal law requires duty free items to not be given to customers until they are exiting the country, and depending on airport as some don't have dedicated international departure terminals, this may not occur until you are entering or already on the aircraft.

I know when I worked in Phoenix, when the Mexico and London flights were going out, passengers who bought duty free could not remove the items from the store, they had to collect them as they boarded the aircraft.

At the time Phoenix had no (may still not) dedicated international departure terminal, so departing passengers going international mingled with domestic passengers as well.

This is from the website of the duty free shop in Phoenix "Take the items with you into another country (As required by U.S. law, you will receive your items as you exit the country, either as you get on the plane or as you drive across the border)."

Casual Observer

the law is probably a better reference source than an airport website It is a local decision and not federally mandated on a nationwide basis. In PHL for example you buy your duty free and walk out of the store with it just the same as in the UK.

(b) Procedures required. Each duty-free store must establish, maintain, and follow written procedures to provide reasonable assurance to the port director that conditionally duty-free merchandise purchased therein will be exported from the customs territory. A copy of any change in the procedure will be provided to the port director before it is implemented. However, receipt by CBP of the procedures of any change thereto must not be construed as approval by CBP of the procedures. The port director is responsible for ensuring that each enterprise has established guidelines with CBP and is complying with those guidelines, giving assurance that proper supervision exists when delivery is made to the purchaser at or before the exit point. The port director may at any time require any change in the procedures deemed necessary for assurance of exportation.

19 CFR 19.36 - REQUIREMENTS FOR DUTY-FREE STORE OPERATIONS.

Yorkieabroad

Sorry, to clarify, we originated in Houston, transited Heathrow.

ETA..in post 35 you alluded to some way of getting around the problem I had...just wondered if you could expand on that, as I'm not sure what I could have done differently....although I'm not likely to be buying duty free again in the foreseeable future...

Yorkieabroad

No, one of them was a Geordie lady who sat across the aisle me on the IAH - LHR leg, and she definitely had hers on the first leg, and hand carried on the UK domestic leg.

Would you even be able to buy duty free in LHR with a LHR - NCL boarding pass, even if you had come in on an international flight? It's so many years since I've bothered with duty free, I don't know what the rules are on that. Slightly different, but still similar, I know from old shipping days that the ships we were running weren't allowed to break bond if they were UK coasting (ie going from one UK port to another). They could only do so if one end of the voyage was international.

Yorkieabroad

And casinos!

scrubbedexpat091

True true. But as I suspected duty free is federally regulated and not state regulated which is what I was attempting to do..

steveq

....and the Sushi Bar...and the noodle bar, and the bar - bar.

Casual Observer

The feral duty is federally regulated, the state duty is state regulated

The exportation of duty free is overseen federally, the mechanism of that exportation is overseen locally.

1-1

Yorkieabroad

Never used the sushi place, but #2 son would have lived at the noodle bar if we'd let him

tonrob

Yes, you can buy if you're flying domestically - different price.

Anyway - if you're interested here's some Flyertalk discussion about duty free when transferring at T5:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...minal-5-a.html

Uncle_Bob

Last time i went home to the UK i was impressed with Heathrow terminal 5.
That was until i departed, in the gate area after getting the underground shuttle there were basic shops and toilets and a prayer room. It said multi faith but it was a tile entrance with a foot height shower, smelt like stinky feet and someone left a pair of old flip flops behind. Muslim prayer room was what the sign wanted to say. Nothing at all multifaith about it. RIP UK.

I doubt you would see such a room in an American Airport.

Yorkieabroad

Presumably a non-duty free price. Given the duty free prices seem (from above posts) to be not very competitive, makes me wonder why folk would buy at non DF prices.

On the FT thread, mine clearly fit in category 2...purchased in a US airport, sealed bag, proof of purchase within 36 hours....so still none the wiser as to why I was "disallowed".

Yorkieabroad

According to crescent rating.com, "the worlds leading authority on halal travel",Houston intercontinental has 2 multi-faith prayer facilities. Who'd have thunk it!