Leaving the country, hypothetically.....
Discussion
So the office ridiculousness was high this morning.....
A few of us were talking about some recent purchases going through duty free. One guy is trying to collect a particular series of Whisky, Macallan of some sort, not my thing... There are a few places he can get it and Heathrow was one of them.
He was wondering, well we all were whilst on a conference call... if hypothetically, someone has a ticket to Spain for example, a cheap budget ticket, could they buy duty free, pass immigration, get to the plane steps, claim to be sick, and decline to fly... returning to their home address with the duty free? His argument was that he has essentially left the UK...
A few of us have offered to buy him the ticket to see how he gets on, but thought I would ask, and possibly give a few of you a laugh!
A few of us were talking about some recent purchases going through duty free. One guy is trying to collect a particular series of Whisky, Macallan of some sort, not my thing... There are a few places he can get it and Heathrow was one of them.
He was wondering, well we all were whilst on a conference call... if hypothetically, someone has a ticket to Spain for example, a cheap budget ticket, could they buy duty free, pass immigration, get to the plane steps, claim to be sick, and decline to fly... returning to their home address with the duty free? His argument was that he has essentially left the UK...
A few of us have offered to buy him the ticket to see how he gets on, but thought I would ask, and possibly give a few of you a laugh!
Well, I was once at Manchester looking at the plane through the departure lounge window when the flight was cancelled and we were all told we'd be shoved into an adjacent hotel overnight. We were also told that anyone who'd purchased duty-free should return it for a refund but we were then all rushed to the airline's customer service to find out which hotels we had to go to, without being given any time to return any duty-free, so no one returned anything and the world carried on turning.
As mentioned above then I don’t think it would be possible as described unless you were to secrete the bottle somewhere!!
The only option that I can think of would be get the cheapest return ticket to wherever and have a day out somewhere - does Eire count now as a duty feee area?
The issue is Heathrow as I suspect cheap tickets might not exist as they would from say Liverpool.
The only option that I can think of would be get the cheapest return ticket to wherever and have a day out somewhere - does Eire count now as a duty feee area?
The issue is Heathrow as I suspect cheap tickets might not exist as they would from say Liverpool.
In some airports this can be done quite easy.
In Heathrow (T5) you could go through security, buy the item, drop down to the transfer train to gates B and C - get off the train on the arrivals side and just exit the airport area.
Its not uncommon for people to change their minds about flying at all.
In smaller airports - Newcastle being a prime example, head throygh security, buy whatever you need, head down to the gate areas, take the right door, for gates 1-10, turn right and just walk straight out through the internal flights arrival area and back into the airport landside departures concourse - you could be in/out within 7-8mins easy.
In Heathrow (T5) you could go through security, buy the item, drop down to the transfer train to gates B and C - get off the train on the arrivals side and just exit the airport area.
Its not uncommon for people to change their minds about flying at all.
In smaller airports - Newcastle being a prime example, head throygh security, buy whatever you need, head down to the gate areas, take the right door, for gates 1-10, turn right and just walk straight out through the internal flights arrival area and back into the airport landside departures concourse - you could be in/out within 7-8mins easy.
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