A mini-revolution is taking place at airports across the country after retailers were forced to admit that customers are not actually required to show their boarding passes at the till and that those who do are merely helping companies claim back VAT.
Thousands of air passengers who had up until now been under the impression that producing their boarding pass was a legal requirement have been outraged to find out that this is not the case.
Airport retailers such as WHSmiths and Boots have admitted that fliers are entitled to say no when asked to show their pass and have said that they use the information to claim back VAT on purchases made by customers flying to non-EU destinations.
Telegraph Travel revealed the extent to which fliers feel they have been misled over the request yesterday when 90 per cent of more than 29,000 Telegraph readers voted to say that they did not realise why shops ask to see boarding passes.
Now they and countless other fliers are saying that they will refuse to show their boarding passes in future.
Another poll conducted yesterday suggested that 85 per cent (more than 16,000 readers) will no longer show their passes in airport shops, while two-thirds called for airport shops to operate dual pricing for EU and non-EU customers, so that the savings retailers make can be passed onto the customer.
Many fliers are also angry that they have been misled by shop assistants in the past, who have told them that scanning their boarding pass is necessary in order to complete a sale.
[“source-telegraph.co.uk”]
