American Airlines ends onboard duty free sales

Sunday, 24 Mar, 2015 0

American Airlines has ceased selling duty free merchandise on international flights after a disagreement with its inflight retail partner Duty Free Air and Ship Supply (DFASS).

The carrier abruptly ended the service on Friday after what it describes as “a contractual disagreement between American Airlines and DFASS, the company that had handled our onboard duty free sales.”

“Duty free sales will continue on select international US Airways flights until further notice, and there is duty free shopping available at many of the international airports we serve,” American said in a statement.

Delta Air Lines ended its relationship with DFASS last year due to a disagreement over how the program was run.

Miami based DFASS operates duty free concessions in several airports in the US, the Caribbean and Latin America and yesterday announced South Korean hotel and duty-free operator Hotel Shilla Co was buying 44% of its stock for $105 million.

Hotel Shilla, a unit of Samsung Group, has an option to buy an additional 36% in five years in what a Hotel Shilla spokesman described as ‘a de facto takeover deal.’

It is unclear whether this development had any influence on the contractual disagreement with American.

TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

Why Avalon Waterways: Happiness flows on an Avalon river cruise. From Asia to South America and Europe to the Nile,...

We work with reliable data providers with global coverage, that guarantee data representativeness as well as compliance with International Personal...

Located in the Mediterranean and connecting Asia and European continents that are separated by the famous Bosphorus, Türkiye is a...

Classic Collection is where travel expertise and personal service combine to create the perfect luxury holiday. Our travel agent partners...

Blue Diamond Resorts consistently goes above and beyond guest expectations by delivering groundbreaking vacation experiences through our exceptional collection of...

Family-owned Olympic Holidays has been arranging holidays to Greece, the Greek islands and Cyprus for more than half century. The company is unrivalled...

Traveltek is the world-leading provider of online solutions for the travel trade, from consumer-facing websites to call centre applications. We...

Travel specialists founded the company in 1999 as AC Tours. Since then we have grown and expanded to incorporate four...

Ensuring our guests have an unforgettable experience while sailing with us is paramount; however, your health and safety remains our...

In the heart of Europe, in one of the most innovative cities in the world, at the centre of business,...

Some describe it as a natural playground. Some say, it’s simply unique as it offers a great array of travel...

Nium was founded on the mission to build the global payments infrastructure of tomorrow, today. With the onset of the on-demand...

Located in the heart of the Northeast and within easy driving distance of a third of the population of the...

ITB Asia, Asia’s Leading Travel Trade Show, is an annually held B2B trade show and convention for the travel industry; it is designed...

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels...