Originally Posted by
Smid
But back it hasn't really come. I was looking for some cheaper alcohol coming back from Hamburg in April, and it appears they just don't do any non-EU sales from there now, it's all the ol' inside EU prices.
They do on cigarettes, but not on alcohol. Makes sense for airports with relatively few non-EU flights I suppose. I've found it cheaper to buy at Heathrow on the way out and bring it back with me, and it's a shame you can't collect these purchases on return anymore.
Originally Posted by
bisonrav
The LCC business model relies very much on ancillaries - IIRC Wizz took 56% of their revenue from ancillaries in 2022 - and these include onboard sales.
LCCs also consider cabin baggage, hold baggage, and seat selection to be anciliary revenue. So I'm not surprised Wizz and Ryanair, the two most aggressive airlines on these items, make most of their revenue from these anciliaries.
Cabin crew have to be there regardless of whether they're selling anything, so it makes sense to push them towards selling stuff in what would otherwise be dead time. Even if the margins are low on on-board F&B (which on a lot of items I very much doubt), it all adds up. Selling a cup of coffee for £2.50 instead of giving it away for free turns a net cost into a net revenue.