Duty free still worth it?

[anxietyrus]

I go away Saturday and I neeeeed a new pair of sunglasses, perfume ..etc.
I was going to buy from duty free but is the discount even worth the limited range anymore?
Would you buy from a normal shop or not?
Thanks gurus 👌🏼

[chanie44]

Personally, I don't think it is. There are lots of offers and discount codes online.

I normally write a price list before I go so I can compare prices in duty free to the high street/online.

[anxietyrus]

That's a good tip thank you

[coldflange]

Where are you going?

I know that in the Canaries there are loads of 'duty free' shops in resort. They often have very good offers on - whether they are genuinely duty free or not the prices can be cheaper.

On board the airlines sometimes have promotions too. On a recent Easyjet flight there was Benefit They're Real mascara on for £17 - but they had a 20% off too, so I got it for £13 or so. It's £20 in Boots.

[anxietyrus]

I'm going to Portugal, Spain and Gibraltar. I didn't think about the on flight deals thanks for reminding me!
I'd rather buy after customs so it doesn't count towards my weight allowance which I understand is silly but that's my thinking

[UrethaFranklin]

There is no such thing as duty free if you are flying to/from an EU country, which you are. Prices may be slightly cheaper in the airport shops or on the plane but not a great deal.

[MinesaPinot]

The last time I flew was a couple of years ago, but I needed to get my Clinique Take the Day Off eye make up remover at Gatwick. I paid near enough the same price as normal but it was a 200ml bottle rather than the usual 125ml. Also on my Thomson flight I got a twin pack of the L'Oreal Revitalift Laser Renew Day and night cream, both full sizes (50ml) for £20. The day cream is usually £19.99 in Boots, so it was a BOGOF.

I also quite like the special travel packs that companies do; Lancôme for instance have always done a good makeup kit that has everything in it. In reality though, as a previous poster said, with all the internet offers, vouchers etc floating around, Duty Free isn't quite as good as it used to be.

[coldflange]

You can view the inflight brochures before you go to see what the offers are - see if they are better value than in the airport or wherever.

I used to always buy Ultrasun on board Jet2 flights as it was a bargain.

[anxietyrus]

Oh I didn't know you could do that cold!!

Thanks to all of you for replying.

[piddleypower]

You can also browse online all the airport duty free at whatever airport you are flying from, and order what you want online and pick up/pay in the airport to speed things up. I've used it and it's brilliant.
uk.worlddutyfree.com/uks_en/reserve-and-collect/

[4forksake]

Definitely check prices online before you go. Whenever I've looked for perfume & aftershaves in DF, they've always been quite a lot more expensive than in shops like Amazon. Things like make up tend to be a little cheaper but not hugely. Not sure about sunglasses. I bought ray bans in DF about 4/5 years ago & I think they were about £95 but never checked how much they were in stores/online