Duty free failed to arrive
 

My daughter boarded a UA 744 yesterday (SFO-LHR) but the duty free hadn't turned up at the jetway. She checked back twice during the boarding and was reassured by the FA's - "Oh, sometimes they're running late and they bring it to you on board". Doors closed for an on-time departaure and still no sign of the cigs and booze. Daughter was NOT happy, but nothing compared to the fellow-passenger who'd spent 500 bucks! FA said that the guy from Dfs had been paged but never showed up.

Apparently Dfs credit your card - hope that's so!

Is this sort of thing a regular occurence at US international terminals? I know if I was the Dfs Sales Director I'd be less than happy with the minimum-wage trolley pusher who caused us to have to put 1,000's of $$ worth of goods back on the shelves and credit the cards.

Note to self - NEVER pay cash. How're you ever gonna get that back!! ???

Your daughter shouldn't wait for DFS to fess up but call her credit card and contest the charge ASAP. Technically DFS has stolen her money here. Was it the whole plane that missed its duty-free bags, or just a couple of pax?

Nobody got their duty-free, because the muppet never turned up. Maybe he's still stood on the jetway now? - at the wrong gate!! ;)

Or throwing one heckuva party for 20 of his closest friends. ;)

OP - Don't be silly. Call the store, ask for the credit. DF hasn't "stolen" anything as others suggest, DF just missed the flight, that's all. Needless to say, if they don't issue the credit, you can contest. But, CC's track # of chargebacks because they are expensive for the CC companies. So, silly to chargeback when it's easily fixed.

Life is too short to spin up about every little mess.

Thanks Often1. Daughter's in UK and store's in US - which will often be the case in this scenario - so an international call is needed, which is expensive and inconvenient. However, the purpose of my post was to enquire if this is a regular occurence in the US and to caution against using cash. You're hardly going to fly back there to ask for your money back!

It's also too short to expect big companies to self-correct when they commit grievous errors. Why should the OP have to place an overseas call at his/her own expense to fix this? Dispute the charge via a quick local call and let others sort it out.

Big pet peeve of mine.

Not showing up is rare, but showing up late or very late, is common. On my last trip out of SFO they were already boarding zone 3 before the cart showed up. Part of the issue is the duty free store (or kiosk) is staffed with one person and they have to close their kiosk and head to the flight, which they can't do if they're serving other customers. I remember last year at LAS running back to the kiosk demanding my stuff telling them my flight was boarding. The flustered staffer had to close her kiosk while several puzzled customers continued to try to ask her dozens of detailed questions about scotch, none of which she could answer.

Adding to the problem is the fact that many US airports don't have "International Terminals" so you can't just take your purchases with you. As there are both domestic and int'l flights departing from a given terminal you're dependent on a clerk pushing up a cart.

It's pretty much to the point where I don't buy duty free departing the USA any more - Not worth the stress.

I think you'd be surprised at international rates, they're really not that much anymore (with my Comcast plan it would only be $0.08 per minute to call the UK, guessing reverse is similar, just wouldn't be with Comcast). Perhaps she could make a voice call through Skype too. Bottom line, the call will be WAY cheaper than losing out on what she spent.

Perhaps I'm dreaming here, but is it possible the store reversed all the charges when they didn't make the flight?

Thanks gglave. This is the sort of feedback I was looking for, both for myself and for other foreign visitors reading these pages. I visit the US twice a year and have never had a problem - but that's a pretty small sample size. Your greater exposure to it, and responding to the post, is most welcome!

I think that's what's supposed to happen - we shall see. Transatlantic phone charges from UK are ridiculous!. I think many foreign visitors use up the last of their dollars in duty free - and if it happens to them I think they're pretty much screwed!

Is Canada considered International....?:D


I know SFO doesn't think so.

Virgin Media (my provider) standard international call rate to USA? GBP0.30.6 per minute!! (That's about 50c US) :(

"Canada" is a grey area. I can purchase duty free, but I'm usually flying out of a domestic gate.

This happens all over the place though - at ORD you'll have a flight to Frankfurt parked next to a flight to Des Moines. Ditto DEN.