View Poll Results: With UA discontinuing inflight duty free after March 31, 2017
Have purchased UA inflight duty free in the past year
16
9.58%
Have not purchased UA inflight duty free in the past year
151
90.42%
Voters: 167. You may not vote on this poll
United discontinuing inflight duty free sales.
Mar 17, 2017, 7:07 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: EWR, BDL
Posts: 4,471
United discontinuing inflight duty free sales.
http://unitedafa.org/news/details.aspx?id=17708
Not surprised with this no one really uses it anymore.
Not surprised with this no one really uses it anymore.
Mar 17, 2017, 7:31 pm
#3
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM
Posts: 6,360
Not surprised and won't be missed (by me) but I find the speed rather fast: less than two weeks from announcement to implementation? That's quite radical.
Printed material is also still out there.
Will be some interesting interactions between FAs and potential shoppers on........wait for it.......April 1st!
Printed material is also still out there.
Will be some interesting interactions between FAs and potential shoppers on........wait for it.......April 1st!
Mar 17, 2017, 7:37 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2001
Location: RNO, NV, USA.
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 5,063
http://unitedafa.org/news/details.aspx?id=17708
Not surprised with this no one really uses it anymore.
Not surprised with this no one really uses it anymore.
Mar 17, 2017, 7:42 pm
#6
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,617
All Flight Attendant commission inquires must be reconciled by June 1, 2017.
Thousands of pax a day will now be spared the annoyance of having their IFE or sleep interrupted by FAs flogging "Duty free will be available", "Duty free is available", "We'll be coming down the aisle with duty free soon", "duty free will only be available for a few more minutes", "Duty free is closing" announcements.
Mar 17, 2017, 7:46 pm
#7
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
Programs: UA lifetime MM / *A Gold
Posts: 14,429
Yay!
Thousands of pax a day will now be spared the annoyance of having their IFE or sleep interrupted by FAs flogging "Duty free will be available", "Duty free is available", "We'll be coming down the aisle with duty free soon", "duty free will only be available for a few more minutes", "Duty free is closing" announcements.
Thousands of pax a day will now be spared the annoyance of having their IFE or sleep interrupted by FAs flogging "Duty free will be available", "Duty free is available", "We'll be coming down the aisle with duty free soon", "duty free will only be available for a few more minutes", "Duty free is closing" announcements.
Found announcements VERY annoying
Plus I felt for FAs having to hawk the stuff.
Mar 17, 2017, 7:50 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Platinum Elite, National Executive, United Gold
Posts: 1,181
I'll bet UA duty free would be more successful if there were UA-branded merchandise (like model airplanes) for sale... current iteration of the duty free magazine is just full of crap.
Mar 17, 2017, 7:51 pm
#9
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,145
Now if only we could buy DF liquids in HKG and bring them back to the US... love how the GA said, "Well, you can't bring alcohol or perfume, but they sell that in flight anyway." LOL.
Mar 17, 2017, 8:03 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,602
Mar 17, 2017, 8:26 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,026
I'm guessing Duty Free isn't particularly high-margin considering the weight/administration/catering relative to sparse sales. I think I've bought only one thing from Duty Free on any airline in the last 25 years. It won't be missed by the vast majority of flyers.
...and I did not know FAs got commissions.
...and I did not know FAs got commissions.
Mar 17, 2017, 8:31 pm
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: San Francisco/Tel Aviv/YYZ
Programs: CO 1K-MM
Posts: 10,762
Good riddance.
I found the announcements to be quite annoying, and I'd suspect that in general, the sales didn't justify lugging all that junk around. Then again, maybe the space and weight will allow more cargo/passengers.
I found the announcements to be quite annoying, and I'd suspect that in general, the sales didn't justify lugging all that junk around. Then again, maybe the space and weight will allow more cargo/passengers.
Mar 17, 2017, 8:37 pm
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,891
So we found a few things, including the model SQ plane to purchase. Turns out they didn't stock the SQ plane (as well as one of the other two things we wanted) - FA said they haven't seen the model SQ plane onboard for quite a while.