BAA owners of Heathrow unhappy with Kelkoo findings

24th August 2010

BAA owners of Heathrow unhappy with Kelkoo findings

Kelkoo recently undertook a study of main European airports such as Lyon, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona and Heathrow. This study was conducted by the Centre for Retail Research using mystery shoppers who were instructed to buy 22 identical items and the tax savings were then compared.

Heathrow came bottom in the survey for the level of discount at 3.1% compared to a saving of 11.9% at some other airports. BAA claim the report is grossly misleading and inaccurate on several counts.

They contend that the wrong exchange rate was applied and that some of the items listed were not even sold at the Heathrow.

Measuring items across countries is very difficult because the airports themselves are subject to different national taxes and it would make more sense to measure against other London airports such as Gatwick, Luton or Stansted.

This report basically advises the customer travelling across europe that they would be better off buying duty free at other airports rather than Heathrow and if the report is not truly accurate it is little wonder that BAA is unhappy.