NEW ZEALAND. A wave of confiscations of duty free liquids from travellers returning to Auckland from Perth Airport and then transiting to the South Island has caused heated criticism in local newspapers.
New Zealand introduced the new International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation security guidelines on 31 March. But while international passengers transiting to a domestic flight can carry duty free liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) of more than 100ml with them, travellers on the Perth-Auckland-Christchurch flight are having such items seized at Auckland Airport, the gateway to the North Island.
Ministry of Transport spokesman Peter Burke told the Christchurch Press that the confiscations were due to the Auckland to Christchurch leg being considered to be an international flight (such passengers do not pass through Customs and immigration until they reach the South Island).
The New Zealand regulations dictate that passengers transiting internationally will not be allowed to carry LAGs of over 100ml. But international passengers transiting to a domestic flight can.
The Christchurch Press quoted several passengers who expressed outrage about losing their duty free purchases.
One traveller, Joycelyn Boyce, had become “one of dozens of travellers who have lost their duty free in a glitch officials say they are powerless to correct” the paper said.
“I bought a couple of bottles of duty free spirits at Perth airport and I questioned them whether it was OK to take them to New Zealand and they said it was,” Mrs Boyce said. “Then at Auckland airport, one of the security officers took my bottles and said `Sorry lady, you can’t have these’ and put them in the bin’.”
Another traveller, Christchurch nurse John Toner, said he’d lost a bottle of bourbon he’d bought in Perth during a trip home to visit his elderly mother. “I was pretty surprised they took my bourbon away but they were taking whisky off everybody,” he said. “They were taking a lot of spirits off people. They said I could buy another when I got to Christchurch.”
The Ministry of Transport’s Peter Burke told the newspaper: “There is a problem and there is no way to solve it. Passengers should be warned but that’s an issue for the airline.”
This was the only flight ending in New Zealand that had this problem, he said. Mrs Boyce complained to the newspaper that the rules made no sense, with one woman losing NZ$700 worth of fragrances but another allegedly being allowed to take her perfume through once she took off all the packaging [any fragrance under 100ml would be allowed through – Ed].
“I think it’s absolutely unfair. A lot of people are going to lose their duty free.”
FOOTNOTE: Christian Strang, CEO Australia and New Zealand of The Nuance Group (duty free retailer at Perth Airport), told The Moodie Report this morning that the company is dealing with the “New Zealand quirk” having become aware of it.
COMMENT: The Perth-Auckland-Christchurch “˜glitch’ as New Zealand officials described it is just one of many that is being played out around the world. While this quirk of Australasian travel will undoubtedly be quickly and responsibly addressed at Perth Airport by Nuance, the year of mass confiscations is upon us.
In its wake confusion is spreading like a mutant virus into the credibility of the duty free concept. “They said I could buy another when I got to Christchurch.” – think what that comment does to the perception of duty free as a “˜value proposition’.
In the April issue of The Moodie Report Print Edition we call again for some form of industry-backed (perhaps by Duty Free World Council, working in tandem with Airports Council International) money-back guarantee while the current crisis is addressed by lobbyists.
We say: “So far such an idea has been dismissed as “˜too complex’. But what’s more complex – putting such an interim scheme into place, or dealing with the monumental backlash from all those consumers buying their Rémy Martin or Chivas Regal only to have it poured down the drain?”
