What is the biggest Duty Free Rip off you have seen?

[Ansett]

During a recent trip leaving from Sydney I saw that my favourite scotch was now available in Australia, Glen Deveron 30Yr Old, and compared to UK duty free pricing it was reasonably competitive at $449.00 a bottle.

On Friday we flew to New Caledonia so the plan was to order 2 bottles to collect on the return along with some Cognac for Mrs Ansett. Imagine my shock when I picked up the two bottles only to notice that with in a 2 week time frame the price had rise to $990.00 per bottle.

Yes that's right for the past 6 months it had been $449.00 but now overnight it went to $990.00. Reason given was that the supplier had increased its UK prices. I have checked on line and the price is still the same in the UK. Needless to say we bought neither the Scotch nor the Cognac.

This got me thinking what have you found to be the worst Rip Offs or Rorts at Duty Free Stores
How uncompetitive is Australian Duty Free on average?

Checked pricing on Perfumes and found Australia duty free shops were around 20% more expensive that other overseas stores on the select products that we use.

 

[drron]

No real point buying duty free in Australia unless just for the convenience of collecting on coming back.
Perfumes-cheaper in US Dept stores than duty free Australia.And if on special way cheaper.
Did a price comparison on Amarula on recent trip.Can get a litre for $A40 at any chain liquor store.Duty free-$A33.99.
On board SAA-$US9.33 a litre.Duty free EBB-$US10 a litre.
So looked up what I can buy it for in Florida at a liquor store as we will be there at Christmas-$US15.99.

 

[JohnK]

Some duty free is ok purchased in Australia. Jack Daniels twin pack is one. Johnnie Walker Red is another.

I think you'll only get ripped off that much if purchasing expensive alcohol.

 

[serfty]

Rip off? Nah ... since it's not illegal, it may be better to refer to some pricing as an "Opportunistic Markup" (or OM™).

I think the biggest such OM™ I see consistently with Oz based D/F groups is their tobacco pricing.

Excise+GST on excise for 1 packet of 25 cigarettes is $17.97 and on a 25gm pack of loose tobacco it is $21.22. D/F purchases of same exclude that.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Exc...oods/Tobacco-excise/Excise-rates-for-tobacco/

 

[opusman]

Anyone purchasing JW Red is by definition getting ripped off!

 

[TheRealTMA]

Hennessy Paradis - $1100 BNE duty free. $850 at Dan Mouphy.

 

[froggerADL]

Some duty free is ok purchased in Australia. Jack Daniels twin pack is one. Johnnie Walker Red is another.

I think you'll only get ripped off that much if purchasing expensive alcohol.

I always grab a Jack Daniel's twin pack on the way in. It's always cheaper than overseas in my experience.