I am sure that many of you travelers know the answer to this one - Can you buy at the duty free shops when you DEPLANE at Heathrow? I know you can in Istanbul. Thank you all very much for the tremendous info you impart.

AFAIK (not been through all LHR terminals recently, but a couple) you are streamed straight to immigration, not via the transit areas. If you're transiting, you go through another security check before being released (or bussed) to the shopping mall that is Heathrow. Otherwise it's the outside world.

Gardyloo- Thank you.. evidently we are out of luck then to shop at duty free. Do you have any idea if they have duty free at the Tilbury docks?

No idea. In my experience with cruise-oriented duty free stores in Europe, you can do better in the normal shops in your port calls.

Thank you..will let you know after August!! Always look for single malt Scotch and sometimes the local stores don't stock that..

There is limited arrival "duty-free", in the area between baggage reclaim and the final exit into the outside world. From memory, this is in all terminals.

I've put the term in inverted commas, as the wording of the website description seems odd, and probably means the discounts are limited to being VAT-free, which is not at all the same thing as being duty-free. Try calling the operator +44(0)20 8745 2026, or look at the shopping section of www.baa.com/heathrow.

But why not just buy duty-free at the departure airport?

Flanneruk: Thanks for the info I will look at that web site also. We depart from Phoenix and the "duty free" is a joke! Gardyloo's point about buying locally definitely works in places where you have time to check it out.