You expect to pay a premium on food and drink at an airport, but one passenger tested the upper limits of that when they were charged $27.85 for a beer and nearly $11 for an order of fries at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The prices were shocking even to the airport’s overseer, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which ordered an audit of the company that runs restaurants and stores at the area’s three airports. Now, officials say, they’re tightening the airports’ “street pricing” policy, which should ensure prices on concessions are comparable to what you’d pay outside of the airport.
The insane price on the beer, a Samuel Adams Summer Ale, was initially pointed out last summer on Twitter by Cooper Lund. It wasn’t the only cold one with a scorching price. A New Belgium Fat Tire draft beer cost $20.60. And all beers saw an extra 10% added for a COVID-19 Recovery Charge.
After investigating, Port Authority investigators found 25 patrons were charged “totally indefensible amounts” for beers that ranged between $23 and $27. All of the overpriced beers were sold in Terminal C, which is used by Frontier Airlines; Delta Air Lines; and the Delta Shuttle to Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
“All airport customers should rightly expect that policies which limit the pricing of food and beverages at concessions will be followed and enforced,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “Nobody should have to fork over such an exorbitant amount for a beer… Prices at concessions will be routinely monitored to ensure they are aligned with the regional marketplace. And all airport customers and concessionaires should expect tough pro-active enforcement going forward now that these revised standards are in place.”
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