Duty-Free Cigarettes on Delta Air Lines Flights
 

Dear FT community,

I hope this is not too off-topic but on my most recent BRU-JFK flight I noted a rather unusual (well at least I never heard of it before) advertisement of Cigrarettes on DL: The FA in annoucing the (always annoying) duty free sale started to explain at length the benefits of buying cigarettes on board and how much more expensive the stuff would be once in NYC.

Not that I do care all that much - I don't mind smoking as long as I do have a chance to escape - but I was amazed to hear this long and very excited ad for cigarettes especially since it then was repeated in all two additional languages.

Is this normal procedure now?

I think it is just Duty Free sales. Kind of a public service to those traveling to NYC and the high cost of cigarettes.

Cigarettes are a rather popular item in duty free shops, although that's one item I'd hope Delta wouldn't push too hard.

Ah yes, the duty-free push to the captive audience. I don't have any recollection of the pushing of cigs, and while I certainly don't advocate banning them, I agree that their sale probably doesn't need to be emphasized.

On a related matter, I saw a duty-free at CVG today that said shop duty free for domestic travel. I often see duty-frees, but I don't recall seeing similar language. I didn't have time to stop, but what is the deal with this?

I saw that same shop two Saturdays ago in CVG. They had another sign that indicated that liquor and tobacco were not available to domestic passengers. I assumed that this means that the prices of the other merchandise in their shop were not affected by customs duties, and therefore they could offer them to the general public.

Duty free sales seems to be an off and on thing on international flights. I was on AF in June, and going over to CDG I can't remember the FAs even making an announcement about it, but coming back, that particular crew worked duty free hard. On DL, some crews work hard at it, others want it to be over as quickly as possible.

The store is divided into 2 sections. The front sections sells items other than liquor and tobacco such as some watches, bags, etc to the general flying public. The back section sells the actual duty-free items that will be delivered to the boarding door of your international (not too many left in CVG) flight.

Thanks, got it. Now are there any deals in the first section or is is just the same elevated airport pricing?

If it is like other Duty Free shops, the prices are still lower than retail (sales tax still applies). I've bought cologne in SEA on a domestic layover because it was cheaper. There are a few airports that I have encountered that have this, but other examples slip my mind.