Delta to discontinue Selling Duty Free Aug 8th

[BABABOOY]

Great news for many.
Delta today announced starting tomorrow August 8, 2014 they will no longer
be selling in-flight Duty free.  🙂

 

[metopower]

Good news. More hassle then profit. Plus a lot of you hated doing it.

 

[WorldTraveler]

and a lot less weight.

 

[eolesen]

Good move, but it's going to drive the non-US customers nuts if they don't advertise this. They like their duty free cigarettes and alcohol, and there's nowhere to buy it on arrival in a lot of airports...

 

[WorldTraveler]

DL has more than enough experience in Asia to know the risks of doing this.

DL is far from the only source of duty free.

They will undoubtedly avoid carrying hundreds of pounds of duty free merchandise, reduce administrative and tax burdens, and free up FA time on the aircraft - and reduce the number of announcements that ALL customers have to listen to.

I'm not interested in a debate about what airports have duty free sales on arrival but it certainly does exist.

But it doesn't matter. If DL was making money, they would offer the service.

The notion that DL should provide a service for prestige that they lose money on is the way AA has been run, not DL.

the fact that Parker is willing to cut service offerings at AA to the howls and cries on here shows that he isn't afraid of doing the same thing.

It's a business, not a utility.

 

[Kev3188]

Good move, but it's going to drive the non-US customers nuts if they don't advertise this. They like their duty free cigarettes and alcohol, and there's nowhere to buy it on arrival in a lot of airports...

No chance for advance notice; it was rolled out yesterday, and went into effect almost immediately. I'm assuming the F/A's had some notice, though.

Dumb question, but can one not still buy them at their departure airport (assuming it has Duty Free)?

 

[BABABOOY]

We were given the same notice.  Evidently the possibility of discontinuing has been known for awhile however negotiations have been ongoing.  They just broke down.  I can only imagine if they gave us a few more weeks of selling.  Some times items have a way of disappearing as is.    
Most airports have duty free for OUTBOUND International passengers.  Haven't seen too many
airports where passengers are able to buy once they arrive. 

 

[Kev3188]

Thanks for the info.

That's kinda what I was driving at. Assuming a passenger originating in, say, FRA knows they won't be able to get anything in the air (or at the arriving airport), they still pick up some stuff before enplaning, right?

Also, are we one of the few US carriers that won't sell Duty Free, or were we one of the last holdouts?

 

[metopower]

Inbound airports are quite a lot. And growing. Dubai ,Sydney ,JNB, Hong Kong ,Singapore .seems all the newer airports..It's all about the money.

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

Yes, but none of them are in the US. And presumably 50% or so of DL intl flights terminate here.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

I don't think getting rid of the duty free is a big deal. From what I see on USA-oubound international fights, there are very few duty free items that are sold airborne. In contrast, some flights have quite the number of passengers picking up their duty free items on the jetway when boarding.

 

[BABABOOY]

Thanks for the info.

That's kinda what I was driving at. Assuming a passenger originating in, say, FRA knows they won't be able to get anything in the air (or at the arriving airport), they still pick up some stuff before enplaning, right?

Also, are we one of the few US carriers that won't sell Duty Free, or were we one of the last holdouts?

Yes exactly, most if not all airports have Duty Free products for those outbound passengers. 
it will take some advertising to just remind them to purchase before they board the a/c.
 
And from what I understand most carriers do sell duty free, I believe we join Air New Zealand in not selling.
I have a feeling Delta will be copying Virgin Atlantic's program.  If I'm not mistaken with Virgin Atlantic customers can pre-order online and
have it deliver to them at their seat.

 

[eolesen]

Pre-ordering makes sense, but the impulse/guilt buys are where the margins are i.e. husband forgot to get a gift for the wife, and now has no choice but to get something on the flight home.

Personally, I like CX's approach -- order it via the website, and have it delivered to your house or hotel after you've traveled. Gets around all the TSA nonsense about liquids...

 

[WorldTraveler]

if someone else takes the risk, Dl could consider it...and less weight on the plane

 

[NAPAUS]

Finally somebody stopped the silly madness of duty-free on planes. It was circa 1960 and needed to end ( IMHO ) 20 years ago.
Seriously good decision,Delta.