USA. Delta Air Lines has ceased its inflight duty free sales as of today, after failing to reach agreement with its inflight concessionaire DFASS over a restructuring of the programme.
In a statement issued to The Moodie Report today, the airline said: “Delta will end/has ended its onboard duty free programme (effective August 8) after the airline and its vendor were unable to agree on terms to continue to administer the programme.
“Delta apologises for any inconvenience to our customers and as a reminder, a variety of duty free items are available at most international airports.”
In an internal staff memo (pictured below) seen by The Moodie Report, the airline confirmed the termination of the programme. Importantly, it noted: “A replacement duty free vendor is not being explored at this time.”
Sources in the supplier community believe that one of several key issues has been the non-unionisation of the Delta cabin crew, which has meant that staff cannot be forced to sell inflight duty free, in turn leading to sales that have fallen well short of industry norms. It is understood that some flight attendants, however, have been pushing unsuccessfully for union recognition of their selling activities (and other duties).
DFASS told The Moodie Report: “Due to legal constraints we’re not at liberty to provide further details other than to confirm Delta’s statement that we were unable to agree terms over the continued administration of the programme.”
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Delta’s internal memo notifies staff of the cessation of the inflight duty free programme and how they should communicate the change to passengers |
The staff memo said: “Caterers have been instructed to cease boarding duty free carts and carriers on all flights departing the US after 12.01 CET on August 8. Flights returning to the US from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America will have duty free onboard [but] flight attendants are instructed to not sell these items.
“Caterers in Asia and Interport markets have been instructed to cease boarding duty free carts and carriers on all flights departing after 12.01 on 9 August Narita time.”
The airline added that it could not give longer notice of the change due to “legal considerations”.
The airline told crew to inform passengers that it “is no longer offering onboard sales of duty free products. As a reminder for future flights, a wide variety of duty free shopping is available in most international airports.”
Suppliers are watching the situation closely, not just for the loss of listings but also because the termination of the service may result in returns of unsold stock.
Delta handles nearly 165 million passengers a year. Part of the SkyTeam alliance, Delta and Delta Connection carriers offer services to 333 destinations in 64 countries.
