Thinking about this, to save a £ or two I cannot be bothered to lug a litre of booze halfway round the world and back. If I buy a big ticket item I’ll buy in a shop and get my vat back.
But, I refuse to use the tax free schemes that take a third or more away of your refund. Instead I ask for the old fashioned form with two separate payments for the goods and the VAT. As soon as the shop gets the form back duly stamped they process the vat refund. On a €1,000 purchase the saving is worthwhile and the process just as simple.
The other issue for bottles is that when you change planes you have to store the bottle in your checked bags (I think some Europeans allow you to connect if it is in a special bag but I do not connect in Europe, my connecting flights are usually Americas, Asia and Africa. I remember going to a meeting in Tokyo when a colleague flew from Brazil connecting in Frankfurt. He sat though the meeting smelling of Cachaca as one of the bottles broke in the bag and fragranced his suit. Didn’t phase the Japanese who seemed to think alcohol use was a noble art and definitely not “more honoured in the breach than observance”.
