This is a very interesting article in the UK Daily Telegraph about the 'scam' imposed on flyers by airport duty free shops.

This is a very interesting article in the UK Daily Telegraph about the 'scam' imposed on flyers by airport duty free shops. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/11794109/The-real-reason-airport-shops-want-to-see-your-boarding-pass.html I wonder how many ABT know about this issue? I certainly didn't!

You are getting a duty free price - hence need to show you are travelling.

I suspect the airport operators (and their high rents) are as much to blame as the stores.

I don't believe that is accurate. The "scam" here is that while shops are claiming the VAT credit, they are not passing on the benefit to shoppers in the form of reduced prices. So shops are earning the "VAT refund" but in effect not passing it on to you.

So its like you buying goods in Australia and claiming the GST back at the airport. But instead of getting the GST refund on your credit card, it goes to the merchant.

The reason why the procedure has worked out this way in the UK is because travellers from the UK to other EU ports are not entitled to claim the VAT refund, as per legislation.

So given an airport cannot segregate passengers, shops in the terminal are having to segregate at the point of sale. Where they are being unethical however is not passing on the VAT "refund" to pax travelling beyond the EU.