Duty free section at airports = hell

I like DF, always get myself a new pair of sunnies and a perfume! But I know what I want perfume wise (I only wear 3!) so I just go and buy it without spraying anything, I do hate the smell, it’s usually Chanel or something that’s cloying 🥴

Sounds like my weekends back in my 20s.

After security at Gatwick South, turn left just before the escalators ( Wheelchair/ buggy route). You will miss duty free and be right by the restaurant area.

This thread has been massively useful because I didn’t know they were special alternative routes where you can avoid going through the Duty Free - I’ve just checked my closest airport and there’s an non-DF access route. So thank you! I hate going through DF, particularly the perfume section - it makes me feel genuinely quite ill.

You deserve danger money for that - or a free hazmat suit!

Yeah. I hate them now.

Used to love them when you could get through security. Have a breather and then go shopping once you’ve calmed down a bit.

Nothing makes me want to shop less than having just queued for security, unpacked and repacked bags, dragged cases and children through a crowd.

I don’t want to browse while following a stressful one way route. I want to look like it’s a normal shop not some extra shit B&M.

it doesn’t make me excited. It gives me the rage. Why can’t I walk in a straight line from A to B rather than forceably taken on a shopping meander through a too narrow path with too many other people.

I was in duty free today. It’s such a rip off and the usual unpleasant shopping experience

I did waiver and looked at Bombay Sapphire £24. Didn’t buy it. Stopped in Sainsbury’s on way home £19. So I saved £5 and the government got about £11 from that to spend on public services.

Generally speaking I just go straight to the gate so I can read my book.

So I would say don’t buy from duty free. Save money and Pay your taxes too.

I hear duty free is on the list for tax hikes! It does seem stupid to let people buy cheap cancer sticks just because they are travelling.

I love the Duty Free shop at Bristol Airport. It's never particularly busy when I'm there. I never really buy anything but will have a free sample of whatever alcohol they're serving 🤣

Me too 🙌 ,and everyone knows spending money doesn’t count when you’re in duty free

For the tax break. WTAF

Try being on a coach after the channel ferry with 100 teenagers who have sprayed themselves with every single perfume and aftershave in the duty free.

I have asthma and allergies and am sensitive to fragrances. Duty free is hell on earth for me. I wish they would have a way around it for people with allergies and asthma!

So efficient in terms of getting to the actual terminal though - a small regional airport. And no long trek to your gate.

I'd say they are moderately annoying. There are definitely a fair few shops that are more unpleasant from a sensory perspective. And the big seating area pre gate is often worse - Stansted's is pretty horrible. The stupid waving IKEA nonsense is annoying, but I like having a sniff of the perfume and feeling superior for not succumbing to the overpriced confectionery. If I'm lucky there's an alcohol sample.

The only thing I like the Duty Free shops for is the giant Toblerone - and even that’s not worth it since they discontinued the toasted coconut one - I could eat my body weight in that!

I have barely any sense of smell anymore ever since I had Covid in 2021. I guess not smelling anything in Duty Free is one of the few advantages! 😂

You need to mentally recover from scanning a boarding pass and maybe dropping a suitcase or two? Must have an awfully hard existence if that’s all it takes!

We’re obviously two very different people in that case! I love the atmosphere of a big, busy airport. Could happily spend a day in Heathrow! The ability to fly quite literally anywhere in the world feels very liberating to me and I just love people watching - so many different cultures and walks of life.

On the other hand I dislike travelling through smaller regional airports - much quieter so no excitement and they are nowhere near as well kept or efficient.

Like everything else to do with airports and flying I consider it a mild annoyance to get somewhere I want to go. Same as the multiple queues, waiting around, etc etc. It's not enjoyable but it's not anywhere approaching intolerable either.

Good place for a layover I reckon! If you ever had to spend hours between flights, you'd want it to be in Helsinki.

Is Helsinki a good place for a short holiday? 🫣🤣

I flew on a late night flight from Helsinki last month, hardly anyone at the airport, nice casual stroll through the nearly empty airport, our pick of seating (cushioned benches with footstools, reclined seats, massage chairs, rocking chairs, cushioned bits you can fully lie down on. No queues for toilets, that were clean and had bird song playing for some reason, hot water dispensers so you can make a cup of tea instead of buying one, all the escalators worked (unlike Stansted when we were flying back). It was bliss. Security was really quick and efficient too, and the person doing passport checks was surprisingly chatty for a Finn (the one on the way back was more normal, and just grunted at us )