Do you need to actually be flying somewhere in order to buy alcohol duty free at the airport?
I live in Sydney. I was wondering if it would be possible to take a trip to the airport and buy a whole bunch of Johnnie Walker duty free. Do you actually have to be boarding a flight, or can you just rock up, splash some money around and go home?
If you absolutely must be flying somewhere in order to buy some booze, would a domestic flight be sufficient? I've been thinking of visiting Melbourne for a while, and if it were possible to pick up some blue label on the way home I wouldn't complain!
Best Answer
Duty-free shops (or stores) are retail outlets that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country.
Essentially, you can only buy goods duty-free if you're about to export them. Exactly which goods you can buy this way, and which duties and taxes they are exempt from varies from country to country.
You may be required to pay import duties and taxes at your destination on some or all of your purchases, and this, too, varies by country.
So, yes, you need to be going somewhere, and that somewhere must be a different country. Sydney to Melbourne won't qualify, but Sydney to Wellington, New Zealand, would.
Pictures about "Do you need to actually be flying somewhere in order to buy alcohol duty free at the airport?"
Can I buy duty-free on arrival?
Some countries allow arriving international travelers to use duty-free shops before leaving the airport, but the U.S. does not. Returning U.S. travelers can buy duty-free only at foreign departure airports.Can I buy duty-free and then leave the airport?
Duty-free shops (or stores) are retail outlets that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country. Essentially, you can only buy goods duty-free if you're about to export them.Can you drink alcohol you bought at the airport?
Can I drink a bottle of booze I bought in the airport? No, you can't. That bottle cannot be opened until you are safely at your destination.Can you go to duty-free without flying UK?
The only passengers who will not be able to buy Duty Free, are those travelling between two UK destinations, with no onward international travel. Domestic passengers will not be able to purchase any tobacco and will be offered a limited range of liquor at prices comparable with the UK average high street price.Duty free Schiphol Amsterdam | Duty free whiskey
More answers regarding do you need to actually be flying somewhere in order to buy alcohol duty free at the airport?
Answer 2
My experience is limited to CDG, BKK, SGN and MNL but I think it's same scheme in other airports. You'll need to have an international boarding pass, going through immigration and security check to go in duty frees and departure gates as already said.
BUT I'm not sure you can easily go back to exit, be preparated to have to justify why you want to go back, get a deep security check and customs check where they'll probably tax your 'duty free' as you didn't cross border.
When you go out of a plane you're able to go to exit (through immigration and customs) or to another departure gate (if you're in transit to catch another international plane), but I never saw a departure zone interconnected to an exit (it's kind of 'diode' in electronics), maybe it's possible but you'll find an human being requesting lot of explanations...
Also if you don't have checked luggage you'll already probably win a deep security check with lot of questions on your 'departure' way. If you had checked luggage but finally not fly they'll get probably angry having to unload it from the plane (security need) with lot of questions, if they consider you not wanted to fly possible you get fined or ban by flight company and/or authorities.
So I guess it's definitively not a good operation in terms of economical and time and future plane travel.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Kampus Production, Andrea Piacquadio, Andrea Piacquadio, Andrea Piacquadio