Duty free section at airports = hell

[Greenleavesandsunshine]

I’m sitting waiting to take off on holiday. I’ve just been through the airport departures which was busy and a bit chaotic but ok. The duty free section was hell on earth. It was bright, it was loud, it smelled of perfume, some of the bright lights flashed. People, music, slippery floors.
Why does anyone actually stay and buy anything rather than running through at top speed. The duty free section is hellish AIBU?
Anyway plane is moving.

This, after last year summer when lady literally sprayed perfume sample to my Asthmatic sons face and we almost missed our flight- I would put face mask on him while walking there, insane.

I think the plan is to disorientate you so much you buy something (anything!) just to get out in one piece !! Sensory overload !!

I order anything I want in advance and get the extra discount - just pick up as I go through. There is something " holiday" about it though and that's even after 30 years as an ex pat. 😂

I usually just try some expensive face or hand cream so I'm moisturised for the flight!

YABU

Once we're past the bag check and x-ray machines, the bright lights and overwhelming smells of the duty free means the holiday can finally begin!

Two litres of Bacardi for £22.
Take my money.

I’ve never found them cheaper than buying online.

And the chocolates are so expensive compared to the supermarket.

The lady at MAC (not UK) gave me a full makeover, so I arrived at my destination fresh faced.

I'm the one walking through disoriented, like the pp said. I'm fine getting to the airport, checking in, dropping off bags, waiting in the queue for the (just forgot the name for the person and bag screening!), pop out the other side of all that, and bang! Befuddled, overwhelmed, confused. It's a weird jolt.

I always wonder who's paying £12 for a bar of toblerone you can pick up for £5 in the supermarket (even less when they're on offer!)

I just run through it to get to Spoons …

Gatwick Airport has bypass Duty Free shortcuts, have a look online.

Many airports have a service that you can buy duty free on the way out and pick it up on the way home. Left luggage for duty free

Airports have made themselves very unpleasant places to be. Expensive too.
They are gaudy, brash, loud and lack class.
The lounges probably are not much better. Not that I have ever parted with money to go to one.
No wonder people try to avoid them at all costs. The flights might be quick to parts of Europe but this becomes completely pointless really by the journey to the airport, the overnight stay, the four hours to get through and wait to board.
Quick it isn’t.

Absolutely hideous place if there at stupid O’clock! The smell,the lights and the crap on sale is too much!

We usually go from Heathrow T5 and I love it, it’s exciting. In the duty free I just head for the L’Occitane counter to see if they have any travel exclusives.

most perfumes give me a violent instant headache.

I felt absolutely horrible the other day when i sat down on a flight and a large man came and sat in the same row (empty seat in between us). No problem, except he was wearing a ton of aftershave. I could feel the headache coming on after 3 seconds so I had to get up and move. I explained why but I really worried that he thought I was objecting to him for some other reason.

I was wondering who puts on aftershave for a ryanair flight but maybe duty free samples is the answer!

Of course, this makes being forced to walk through duty free even more unpleasant, although I often enjoy the chance to buy some makeup.

It may be fine for people who actually want to go through the hell-hole of duty free, but what I really despise is that we are now all routed through it and there’s no way of avoiding it and for some of us the sensory overload is really unpleasant.

stansted is horrendously packed like sardines awful place

Completely this. If I go to a duty free in an airport it's after I've sat down for a bit and mentally recovered from check in etc.

I think the whole experience of an airport (in the uk) itself is busy, loud, overwhelming and sensory overload

Same goes for ones I've been to in Europe.

Malaga. Amsterdam.

I don’t mind it. Dh and my older teens mooch about, looking at all the things we can’t afford, sniffing all the perfumes, drooling over the huge packs of daim..

I still have perfumes that I bought in the duty free in former days and have never opened them. I should probably give them away. Airports are horrendous places where you get treated like meat by low level grumpy staff with a power complex. Last time |I travelled i just requested special assistance and bypassed all that. I enjoyed the dirty looks I got when I was whisked to the front of the queue.

Yes, they are awful. Worse is the habit of many airports (seems particularly prevalent in UK airports) of not giving you any alternative but to walk through the duty free after security.

I avoid them, but I buy the occasional bargain when I need something.

When you need some beauty stuff, always worth checking the price in the duty free when you walk pass. Always found my perfume or face products a lot cheaper. I wouldn't go specifically to these places, but you are there anyway, so might as well make the most of them

kindly, but where do you fly from? Bagdad?

London and European airports in general can be a bit of pain, but it's not exactly traumatic.