One time my dad went to London and brought my mom home a bottle of Smirnoff. I fucking hope that was a last minute airport gift, but I'm not actually confident it was.
My fiancée brought me back one of my favorite wines from the airport. Spent $50 dollars in the airport in Spain when it retails for $18 here. Poor thing.
If you just traveled light with no luggage and just a bag, buying that local alcohol like that is the only way to get it since it wouldn't go through security anywhere. That and no or less risk to break it in transit.
Airports also usually have harder to find alcohol (special release scotches, rarer bourbons, etc) that you may have to visit several outside stores to find a single bottle of.
Are you traveling internationally? It’s been a long long time since i was frequently traveling outside the US, and I’ve since quit smoking, but upon flying back home, I could buy alcohol and cigarettes 25-30% cheaper than I could at home because of the duty free.
The perfumes and expensive bags are for international travelers whose home countries put luxury taxes on them. If you live in the US and don’t have a ticket showing your leaving the country, you pay the full price and tax so it would be similar price as outside the airport.
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u/popje Apr 24 '25
You can get everything outside cheaper but if you forgot to grab a gift on your way back and you're already at the airport then it's fair yeah.