Duty free? Save more at supermarket
PICKING up a bargain bottle of gin and a chocolate bar might be a staple part of any trip to the airport.
But shopping duty free could be more expensive than going to a normal supermarket, a consumer group has found.
A 360g bar of Toblerone costs £4 at Bristol World Duty Free but only £3 at Asda, while a 70cl bottle of Tanqueray gin costs £18 at Heathrow Terminal 2 but is only £15 at Morrisons, Which? Travel said.
And there was £73 more to pay when buying a SanDisk Extreme Plus 64GB camera memory card at Glasgow International’s Dixons Travel rather than Currys online. This was due to a ‘pricing error’ which was being corrected, a Dixons Travel spokesman said.
Shoppers could save £21 buying a 100ml bottle of Eternity for Men Eau de Toilette on Amazon for £25 rather than paying £46 for one at Birmingham World Duty Free.
And a Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon was £20 less at Toys R Us online than at the World Duty Free at Gatwick.
There were some savings to be made at airports, according to the watchdog, which checked all the prices between March 10 and 13, including delivery costs for online orders.
The iPad mini 2 and Fitbit Flex 2 were both £10 cheaper at Dixons Travel at Glasgow International airport than at John Lewis online.
Which? Travel warned shoppers to ‘always do your research before you head to the airport to make sure the “deal” is not actually dearer than you find on the high street or online’.
The Dixons Travel spokesman said: ‘We follow the common practice of non-duty free airport retailers in offering one single, great value price across products, regardless of destination, underpinned by our price promise. If on the rare occasion one of these products is found cheaper at a competitor, we will double the difference instantly at the till.’
Which? Travel also advised consumers not to leave changing currency until the last minute but to order euros online from John Lewis currency then pick them up at the airport, and to book their parking space well in advance to save money.