She pointed out a flaw (Stock Image) (Image: Getty)
One of the perks of flying is getting to shop after passing through the security gates, where you can splash some of your holiday cash early on items you need for your trip – or some items you don’t.
One comedian pointed out there’s a flaw in the system, however, but not everyone agrees or has found the same thing to be true.
Taking to Threads, Alice Etches queried why, when you’re shopping at the airport, you’re asked to show your boarding pass.
She wrote: “Why do I have to show my boarding pass in Boots at the . I’m buying a , not boarding a Boeing 737”.
Many people agreed that they found it frustrating, but others pointed out that it’s not really something that’s routinely asked unless you’re specifically shopping in duty free – but everyone’s experience is different.
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Someone joked: “It’s not like you not had to go through 16 security checks and questions before you get to Boots. It’s not like you just spawned into the Boots either”.
Others said you can “just refuse” to show your boarding pass and get staff members to override it at the self-checkout manually. But others didn’t have the same experience.
One man penned: “To all those saying ‘just refuse’ have you actually ever tried? Because they refused to sell me anything unless I did. I didn’t have the boarding pass since my wife did, so I left the stuff at the till. I don’t actually think you can just say no. Not in my experience anyway.”
People said it was so they could “claim the VAT back”.
“You don’t. There is no legal reason, and you can refuse,” someone else said, but they didn’t confirm whether this was something they’d personally done before.
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Somebody said that they thought they’d not been asked to show their boarding pass “for donkey’s [ages],” though.
Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis clarified that you do not need to show your boarding pass when in airport shops other than at duty-free.
In a video, Martin said: “On almost all the shops, with one big exception, duty-free. In duty-free, by regulation, they have to see your boarding pass, or they can’t sell you stuff, so don’t give the staff a hard time; show them your boarding pass.
“But for the rest of the shops in here and all around here, well, the answer… no. And the reason they’re asking you is if you show your boarding pass and you’re going outside of the well, then they can claim the VAT back.”
So, even if you’re at a self-checkout and it asks, you can call a member of staff over to get rid of the screen – unless you’re at duty-free, of course. And often, at duty-free, you’re making savings.