Since many of you frequently fly out of the country or do international MRs, do you take advantage of the dutyfree shops and purchase cigarettes at a discount for friends or family members? That's probably the only substantial discounted item I see buying in dutyfree shops.

I don't smoke and definitely do not encourage people to, but I have friends who do smoke and I am often asked to buy cigarettes for them when I travel internationally. When I do, my friends get discounted cigarettes while I rack up some extra miles (albeit very few) on my miles earning credit cards.

I guess the more general question is: what is the least amount of miles you'll spend your time and energy to get?

I would probably buy a carton of smokes for a buddy if Duty Free really offered a huge savings. In my home state, it doesn't. Miles wouldn't come into play...I'd just do it as a favor for a friend if I lived in one of those seven-bucks-a-pack states.

I always buy single malt at Duty Free. Those prices ARE significantly cheaper than my home state's prices. I just blew through a bottle of Dalwhinnie, which means it is now time for me to take another trip.

Maybe I have been looking (or not looking) in all the wrong places but the prices I have seen in the airline duty free catalogs are no deal. The duty free airport shops don't seem to have very good prices either. It's as if they want you to get all excited about paying no tax so you will overlook the price.

That said, I did, only once, buy something out of the airline duty free catalog whilst in flight. It was a watch for my wife. I did not buy it because it was a great price, I bought it because it looked a lot like one she had stolen that she really loved.

Am I missing something? Am I shopping in the wrong stores? Set me straight if I am. I don't want to miss the deals!

[This message has been edited by pushback (edited Jan 28, 2004).]

quote:
---------------------------------------------Am I missing something? Am I shopping in the wrong stores?....
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Actually the booze prices that I checked in D/F stores at LGW are 30%-40% cheaper than in most states. In the near past it has not always been that way.

Smoking is a disgusting (and dangerous to all nearby) habit. Even Castro and Arnold gave up cigars.

MisterNice

Buzz?

Yeah, used to buy 25 cartons of Reds on the way into Canada for about $300 at the Duty Free shops. But you are only allowed to take 1 cartons into Canada legally on the customs form; most other countries have similar limitations.

Once on way back into the US, US customs pulled me for Declaration and made me pay about $1 per carton tax for bringing them into the country.

I wasnt trying to get miles, just cheap cigs.

with the exchange rates where they are, the london df is more expensive than buying booze & cigs at home..shannon had good prices on irish whiskey the last time i was there [aug 02].

Criminy! I just drive down the road and pick them up at the local Native American reservation store.

I get 'em for my wife at $8.99 a carton!

Sure, they're house brand, but other than the pack they look the same and taste the same.

Ahh, Dalwhinnie. Took a tour of their distillery in April 2001. Real cool how they make it. Samples at end of tour were nice too.

Wow...I just missed you. I stop at Dalwhinnie anytime I'm in the Highlands, and I was there in March '01.

Talisker is my other favorite: not so much because of the Scotch, but because of the wonderful journey out there. (It's tucked away on the Isle of Skye.)

Me too (duh). We were in St. John last week, & made a quick shopping trip to St. Thomas. A.H. Riise, who I thought had the best prices and selection on the island, didn't carry Oban. I had to make do with Glenmorangie (plus a few bottles of Grand Marnier).

[This message has been edited by singlemalt (edited Jan 28, 2004).]

Why would your wife need two watches, especially since she stole one of them?



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"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." -- Mark Twain

Real Duty Free has disappeared in Europe. Many items sold in the so-called "Duty Free: shops are more expensive than in cities.

Israel still does have duty free, but the only major bargains are on cigarettes, alchohol, and perfume/make up.

I can buy a carton of Israeli cigarettes for $12 or American for $18. Keep in mind, however, that it is illegal to bring more than one carton of American-made tax-free smokes into the States. I don't know how much you would really be saving for your friend.

American Indians and Alaska natives are more likely to smoke than any other group in the United States, with 40 percent of adults defined as smokers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. People of Chinese descent were the least likely to smoke, with just 12 percent reporting that they had smoked a cigarette in the past month, said the agency survey, which was released on Thursday.

Among adults, 25 percent of blacks said they were smokers, compared with nearly 26 percent of whites and 26.5 percent of the population overall. Among youths, 16 percent of whites and 7 percent of blacks said they smoked, compared with 13.8 percent overall.

The report, noted that smoking "remains the foremost preventable cause of death in the United States." Each year about 440,000 persons die from illnesses attributed to smoking, the report said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/na...pagewanted=all

MisterNice