10 ms·
$28.50 Beer at LaGuardia Sparks Audit of New York Airport Concession Prices
- relyks 5y agoThere was a better article about this on The City: https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/8/1/22604814/nyc-airport-high-prices-food-spurs-audit https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/8/1/22604814/nyc-airport-high-p...
- paulgb 5y agoThat article is the source of the reporting in the main article here, which doesn’t really add much (except more invasive ads). Maybe @dang could replace the linked article with that one?
- shawnz 5y agoI particularly like how they have this written at the bottom of this article about price-gouging: > Which Credit Card is the Best for Those Expensive Airport Beers?! Our credit card partner, C*****s, can direct you to the best cards for your goals, financial situation, and credit score. Answer a couple of simple questions below — then see what they recommend for YOU!
- runawaybottle 5y agoThese are predatory prices because Americans drink a lot. As that buzz builds up, you won’t be thinking too much about continuously paying for a few more drinks. I’d love to know their cocktail prices. If you’ve ever spent any time going to bars regularly, here’s a pro tip: Just hit up the liquor store and buy a few 2 dollar shots. Keep asking for a soda at the bar. At most, the night may cost you 20-30 dollars. The only downside to this is that it’s very easy to pick up a drinking habit on the cheap.
- rovr138 5y agoThese are predatory prices because people traveling for work will pay them and expense them. > Just hit up the liquor store and buy a few 2 dollar shots. Then what, walk through airport security with them?
- throw_away 5y agoyou will also need a quart-sized ziploc: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/alcoholic-beverages https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
- darig 5y agoI haven't flown in a few months... are they pumping stomachs at TSA now?
- runawaybottle 5y agoI believe you can take 100ml in.
- iamthepieman 5y agoUmmmm.... Yes? I have done exactly this. The little shot sized plastic bottles are well under the liquid limit for airports in the U.S. I usually use them on the plane and mix them with the free ginger ale or tonic water.
- astura 5y ago>I usually use them on the plane and mix them with the free ginger ale or tonic water. You probably won't get caught, just be aware doing this is against FAA regulations and will potentially get you fined.
- Bubbadoo 5y agoIt is illegal. I'd try it but the last half-dozen flights I was on, we were lucky to get 4-oz bottles of water.
- mc32 5y agoThere is so much of this opportunistic taking advantage of a captive audience in these kinds of places. I hope this is just the beginning of cleaning up rip-offs like this (ballparks are skirting close). I hope this doesn't get buried under a pile of bribe money/contributions.
- avs733 5y agoThat’s starting to feel like a generalized descriptor of America.
- bgirard 5y agoI'd be embarrassed to even expense this.
- goatherders 5y agoIf you had ever had an expense account then you wouldn't. It's part of the deal.
- jcims 5y agoThe place I work requires you to take business class for transoceanic flights. Somebody on my team got yelled at for taking coach after the event canceled and he couldn’t get a refund. $8k for midwest to Glasgow? Sign me up lol
- atribecalledqst 5y agoYou're required to take it? And you get to expense it I assume? Blessed. I have to fight for it where I work. We had one contract with frequent overseas travel where the prime contractor guys all got to expense business class -- they didn't tell us of course so for a couple years we were stuck in coach. But I found out somehow, and pretty quick our guys were flying business too. Living the dream.
- goatherders 5y agoIt's pretty common for any flight over 4 hours to be business class required. I'm driving millions of dollars per revenue...being tired for the first 2 days of a 3 day trip to London simply isn't efficient.
- refurb 5y agoThe company I worked for didn't require it, but budgets were ummm... generous? A last minute request (2 day before) to fly business to smaller European city was responded to with "yeah, that's fine, just keep the ticket under $20,000".
- 5y ago
- vechagup 5y agoAnd yet the Weihenstephaner, which actually tastes good, goes for almost $10 less.
- Bud 5y agoThat's still about a 500% markup. Outrageous by any standard.
- edmundsauto 5y ago500% on beer isn’t that bad. Your typical bar, without the need for any airport security stuff, is probably 3x at least.
- guythedudebro 5y agoActually tastes good is a severe understatement
- mbg721 5y agoAfter 981 years, I'm not surprised that they know a thing or two about brewing.
- exogeny 5y agoI forget the name of the company, but many of the concessions at terminals in US airports are basically monopolies controlled by one company. They go a long way in obfuscating it through iPads, authentic-sounding fronts (ie: the Biergarten in this example), and partnerships with celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck who are willing to whore their name. But in the end everything goes back to a common commissary kitchen, where they serve up cafeteria food. It's ridiculous, and part of the reason why almost all US airports are awful, Kafka-esque centers of frustration and disappointment. Edit: The company is OTG. They're basically what Aramark is to sporting arenas, except to airports. Get a monopoly for the captives, drive up prices, and serve up garbage.
- Justin_K 5y agoMost likely HMS Host. All your airport receipts will say that, once you start looking.
- sithadmin 5y agoHMS host doesn’t do the upscale appearance and iPad thing. They tend to stick to low end franchise operations and news stands.
- sithadmin 5y agoYou’re probably thinking of OTG, the offender in the article linked. I disagree with your assessment of their quality. As someone that used to spend a majority of the year traveling in the pre-COVID world, OTG takeovers have only improved the quality of food and drinks that are available in the airports they have won contracts in. Yes, they have some establishments that aren’t great, but I still prefer their attempt to be somewhat more appealing than Subway/Burger King/Dunkin Donuts/whatever other garbage tier food option used to be in the same spot OTG took over. Their prices are stupidly expensive, but for business travelers with expense accounts…it doesn’t matter.
- goatherders 5y agoNot sure why this is being downvoted. As a guy that travels 200k miles a year you have hit the nail on the head.
- riantogo 5y agoAhh... LaGuardia. Last time I flew out of there they had porta potty for toilets. It might have been one of the worst airports I have been at.
- asdff 5y agoSome airports are just terrible and it doesn't make any sense with the traffic they receive why they don't just spend the money. Ohare has semi permanent buckets to catch leaks from that notorious roof. We welcome people into the U.S. at these airports and that's the first thing they see off the plane, the ceiling pissing water in Ohare even on a sunny day.
- joezydeco 5y agoTerminal 5 (International arrivals) doesn't have the leaking Helmut Jahn ceilings like T1, but it also has absolutely zero amenities between the gates and customs. And, when you do exit, there is a single shitty McDonald's with no room to sit down and eat. There might be a Starbucks too now. It's pretty pathetic.
- spoonjim 5y agoWhy would the airport CEO spend money to fix O'Hare that could go to his bonus? What are you going to do about it? To transition to a new airport entirely (like Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson did to O'Hare) will take long enough for it to be the next CEO's bonus that will be affected.
- jdavis703 5y agoUS airports do not operate at the whims of the CEO. Most infrastructure investments are either championed by the airlines or by whatever government entity oversees the airport authority.
- LanceH 5y agoThe last time I was in Philadelphia (2007ish) it looked like a scene from The 5th Element with a wall of luggage.
- robertwt7 5y agoGee that is probably the most expensive pint I've ever seen.
- zz865 5y agoAny reason why USA has the worst airports in the world? Actually does anyone know if the infrastructure bill will improve anything?
- LanceH 5y agoI get that you must be one of the people compelled to shit on the US at every chance, but "worst airports in the world" is a stretch.
- sithadmin 5y agoMost mediocre would probably be fair, I think.
- CaptainZapp 5y agoI give you one reason why US airports really are the worst airports in the world. At least when you want to use them to transit to a third country. For example: Flying to Latin America from Europe it would make a lot of sense to connect in the US. Miami, Atlanta or even New York would be convenient airports to connect on a flight between, say, Zurich and Lima. The problem is that the concept of transit is completely foreign in American airports. I need to get my luggage, actually pass customs and immigration, recheck my luggage, probably change terminals to something which is kilometers away with potentially bad transportation options between them. Dealing - yet again - with the friendly folks of the TSA. And all this to finally connect to my flight to Lima. Instead of a 90 minute connection time (maybe 120 minutes on bigger airports) I have to calculate a minimum of 4 hours. Potentially more, because a lot of those variables are beyond my control and for no good reason whatsoever. I don't want to set foot on American soil, but just connect to a flight to a third country. You don't need some spiffy Asian or European airport. Just about any developing world dump of an airport figured the concept of transit out decades ago. I check my bags in to the final destination. I don't need to deal with potentially horrid immigration experiences, don't have to pass through security again (granted, that's dependent on the airport. But almost certainly less of a hassle then anyway in America) Maybe transit is just not important in America with the lion share of flights being domestic. But for international travelers wanting to connect to a third country they really are at the bottom of the barrel.
- joezydeco 5y agoAre we bad at doing unit conversions? Based on this link from relyks[1].... “It’s just Sam Adams Summer Ale — that’s insane!” said Cooper Lund, 32, of Brooklyn, who encountered the pricey ($27.85) 23-ounce brew" 23 ounces. Almost 1.5 pints? Then at the bottom... "And after passing on the high-priced Sam Adams Summer Ale, Lund said he settled for paying $11 for a 12-ounce beer." 0.75 pints. Which, in a 23-ounce portion, would have been $21.08. [1] https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/8/1/22604814/nyc-airport-high-prices-food-spurs-audit https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/8/1/22604814/nyc-airport-high-p...
- pessimizer 5y agoI don't understand your comment. It's saying that he passed up a large, extremely high priced beer, and settled for a small, very high priced beer.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoI think they are pointing out the weird menu pricing: 1x23 Oz beer for $27 2x12 Oz beers for $22 Normally drinks are cheaper/Oz for larger sizes.
- jimmyvalmer 5y agoGP is the friend who, when the gang all goes to Vegas, stands stoically behind everyone else playing for s__ts and giggles.
- SavantIdiot 5y agoI would say: then don't buy it, don't feed the mania. But you're a captive audience: flights have no food (or charge a fortune); security won't let you bring food through; and if you only have 20 minutes between long flights, you're basically S-O-L and must pay the prices. I understand travel isn't a right, and air travel reaaaaaly sucks right now, but it's more than just supply/demand. The "Passenger's Bill of Rights" should extend to "thou shalt not extort a captive audience that you made captive." Or we all just stop flying and reset the system? I have no idea. EDIT: Apparently you can bring food through security. I haven't tried again since I was denied a while back, didn't want to waste it. Thanks 'astura' for the link: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/food https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
- astura 5y agoHuh? There's no reason you can't bring your own food through security as long as it's not liquid. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/food https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
- alksjdalkj 5y agoNot sure why this is downvoted since it's 100% correct. I always bring food through security, sometimes it gets flagged going through the xray machine but all that happens is TSA has to manually look through your bag. Normally as soon as they see it's food they just let you go, I think it's pretty common.
- markkanof 5y agoYes. I think pretty much anyone that has flown with young children could backup that you can bring food through. We bring all sorts of snacks for the kids. Fresh fruit, crackers, cheese, etc.
- ardit33 5y agoLa Guardia was renovated/built with taxpayer/public money... and these guys are holding a captive audience which doesn't have much choice. At some point we should require some kind of decency, where the vendor can make some profits, yet it doesn't turn into a total shakedown. NYC is full of these shady hustler/operator types, trying shake down or make a buck in a place that there is a 'new fool' coming in every day. I have experienced it myself even in harmless things like soccer leagues. People trying to squeeze as much profit as they can.
- MattGaiser 5y agoIsn’t this just because most people aren’t paying? It is like healthcare benefits. There is a cash price and an insurance price. The insurance price is because the person choosing isn’t the person paying, so there is no reason to care.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoI think it is more of the standard ripoff pricing in and around NYC, which I assume is due to all the corruption and government debt. I feel like facilities in that area are uniquely bad in terms of how expensive yet low quality they are compared to many other metros in the US.
- pessimizer 5y agoIt's due to the rent.
- Hnrobert42 5y agoPrices in NYC are much higher in general than the rest country, but (surpringly) someone on quora does a much better job of explaining why than your speculation: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-New-York-City-so-expensive-when-the-economy-of-scale-should-make-it-less-expensive-to-live-there?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-is-New-York-City-so-expensive-when...
- FriedPickles 5y agoCant wait for a YC startup to build a marketplace matching travelers with extra snacks to hungry folks at the same airport! Hmm or maybe its "just add water" beer you can get through security. What reaction will make ethanol? ;)
- the_only_law 5y agoAbout a month ago I had gone to the airport and realized I had completely forgot my headphones. I had limited money on me at the time so I figured I could pick up some cheap ass pair for the flight. Sure prices are inflated but maybe I could get something for $10. Nope, rows of the mostly painful knockoffs of actual brands for $25-$50 dollars. The type of stuff you’d expect to see in r/crappyoffbrands. The only pairs they had that I’d consider paying for were ones which had the headphone jack, which ofc my phone doesn’t support and the adapter was being sold at something like 100%-200% more than somewhere like Target or BestBuy.
- sithadmin 5y agoI’d often wondered who the hell uses the Best Buy vending machines you often see at US airports. Then I found myself in the same situation as you in an airport news stand. I think I spent a minute looking at the awful selection of headphones and earbuds before I decided to walk way out of my way to the Best Buy machine.
- reiichiroh 5y agoAre devices pre-charged? That must do a number on the battery lifespan if so
- asdff 5y agoApple ships macs with like 80% charge
- xfitm3 5y agoI once had to buy a macbook in ATL because mine suffered a charge failure. I copied what data I needed over with the remaining battery life and continued my trip. I couldn't return it after without flying to ATL.
- bbarnett 5y agoI wonder if this will be the final fate of Bestbuy retail. A small company, running vending machines in airports, and maybe small towns.
- bichiliad 5y agoApparently, the Chief Strategy Officer of OTG is Larry Schwartz, a Cuomo staffer[1]. The fact that the prices are illegally high (apparently airport concessions may charge no more than 10% higher than "street" pricing for things) combined with the fact that operations are headed by someone close to the institution responsible for enforcing this sort of regulation smells a lot like a racket. [1]:https://twitter.com/MarketUrbanism/status/1422353978252218369 https://twitter.com/MarketUrbanism/status/142235397825221836...
- edmundsauto 5y agoWith the extra requirements necessitated by being behind the security checkpoints, I don’t think it would be possible to only have a 10% premium. If this were enforced, I think we would end up with no airport food that was remotely edible.
- sneak 5y agoLife (and capitalism) finds a way. A 55" tv is now a few hundred bucks when a few years back a lower res one half the size was $20k. I don't think $30 beers is a necessity that follows from "someone has to push a case of beers through an x-ray machine".
- edmundsauto 5y agoAll y’all on the thread depth are grossly underestimating the compliance costs these companies go through. If you think it’s pushing a case of beer through a scanner, you sound like the hated “idea/business person” who thinks writing code is easy and can be an afterthought. In any field where I don’t have experience, I try to remind myself that most of the iceberg is under the water.
- josephg 5y agoMaybe. Or maybe they have a monopoly, so they're doing what monopolistic providers throughout history have always done: Increase prices as much as the market will bear and profit. Healthy competition is necessary for unregulated capitalism to function effectively. When that fails, we shouldn't be surprised to see $400 insulin. Or, in this case, $28.50 beers.
- kerbs 5y agoOn the flip side: I remember scoring a pint of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout for $10.50 (?) At MSP about 4-5 years ago. To this day the best surprise beer deal I’ve ever had.
- refurb 5y agoHow much of this is just targeting business travelers who expense things like meals? Know most non-business travelers won't buy $29 beers? Reminds me of the high end hotels that charge for wifi - because most people stay for business and they can just expense it.
- jurassic 5y agoI thought I had it bad with the $17 yogurt parfait I picked up on my last trip through SFO. $28 beer is next level.
- lsllc 5y agoJoe Biden on LaGuardia Airport: 'I must be in some third-world country' https://www.theverge.com/2014/2/6/5387148/joe-biden-laguardia-airport-third-world-country https://www.theverge.com/2014/2/6/5387148/joe-biden-laguardi...
- Hnrobert42 5y agoThat’s a great reference, and it also puts into context his push for an infrastructure bill. It is clearly something he has cared about for a long time, not just a jobs program to mitigate CoVID’s economic impact.
- hellbannedguy 5y agoI worked out at Muir Woods National Monument while recovering from a nervous breakdown during college. I was a cashier. I didn't like the place, but my coworkers were unbelievable. The federal government had the no so brilliant idea of farming out the concessions, and gift shop to the highest bidder. (I don't know exactly how the hiring process goes.) The federal government basically said, our workers couldn't run a simple business, so let's let a private entity run it, and we will take our cut? The gift shop sold millions per year. The business agreement was around 10% of the gift shop sales would go back to the government. To me that seemed like a good deal. What the corporation Aramark) did was load the place up with hand made items (Burl bowls, etc) in order to get around paying the 10%. They also paid minimum wage, treated everyone including the managers terribly. The manager was required to be their 6 days a week. He was given the illustrious "Manager" fixed wage. Meaning he/she made less than minimum wage. The food deal was 14% I believe, which was fair. So when government wants to pay a low wage, and no benefits, they like to farm out their dirty work. Looking back--I'm not sure the rangers could run the concessions, or at least the group of rangers I saw out there? I have never seen so many federal employees doing absoulty nothing. I also witnessed maintance workers tossing perfectly good chainsaw, tools into the dumptster. Tye reason being if they were "broken", they could procure more money. And yes--after closing I took those "broken" tools out of the trash, even after being told not to. The rangers used to get all hyped up if they found a grow site. They would take pictures and slap behinds. What was ironic, is the evidence shed was always broken into? Oh yea, at the time I felt all federal rangers shouldn't be armed. There was zero crime. Now--because we gas a few mountian lions, I guess they should be packing? To my co-workers, I miss you guys so much. I hated the job, but loved you people. (The park used to be free. Now they charge $10. This us our land people. Why are Americans being charged to get into any park, especially a National Monument? It would be very easy to let Americans in for free. They all come through one entrance. You can hike into the park though.)
- BeFlatXIII 5y ago> why can’t they let Americans in for free? Population growth. The entry fee serves as a load-balancer to dissuade families who don’t have a specific desire to visit to go there just because it’s not too far away and free. Ok, it’s not just population growth—it’s also that the Internet has made it trivial to discover nearby free attractions, which leads to physical DoS attacks. https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/
- rtpg 5y agoI know why but it kills me that airports around the world don't just let "normal restaurants" come in and do their thing. Like mentioned in comments, even known stuff is basically run by a mega-franchisee so you don't even get the good stuff for the most part. I get that some airports, there are logistics issues and whatnot. But the airport premiums for food that is just so messy is super frustrating. I like how Narita at least has a bunch of restaurants before security that are not nearly as awful as what is behind the gates, but come on...
- ajmurmann 5y ago"I know why" What's the "why"? Airports are infrastructure and shouldn't be corporations that maximize profits at all costs. As the airport operator it should be pretty easy to create a well-functioning market. Just avoid given to many businesses inside the airport to the same operator and make sure they compete to the death.
- rtpg 5y agoThe reason is because airport operators, quite simply, don't care. There is a company that shows up and says "we can provide restaurants for everything in your airport". You check off the box of "provide services behind the security gate". They get to take their big profits. And it's a captive market! What, you're not going to take a plan out of Dallas cuz you hate DFW? No! You're in Dallas! You don't have that much of a choice in the first place. Airport operators of course benefit from _some_ customer satisfaction (in the same way that airliners feed people to keep the peace in the planes themselves on int'l flights). It's not like there's _no_ feedback loop. But "my beer is too expensive" is not going to register very high on their concerns. There are also "legitimate" issues around how (especially behind security gates) there are logistics costs in running stuff. It's not like your delivery person can easily just show up at your doorstep with your frozen steaks or whatever you need to make food. But if they can put vending machines with reasonable costs at the top of Mt Takao, I feel like they could do a _bit_ better here.
- chipotle_coyote 5y agoI'm apparently the weirdo, since -- in pre-Covid times, to be clear -- I liked explicitly scheduling longer layovers, ideally 90+ minutes, so I could look around and find a place for a sit-down meal. Almost any larger airport I've been through, and even some of the smaller ones, had at least a few restaurants which were spinoffs of local restaurants in that area, with their own unique menus, kitchens specific to the restaurant, and sometimes surprisingly good food. I actually looked forward to traveling sometimes. In general, I've found that the fast food places in airport "food courts" are the worst food experiences you get in American airports: the prices tend to be seriously jacked up and the menu options are more limited. This isn't to say that the sit-down places are bargains, but they're usually not so much more expensive than quick service that it isn't worth the price (to me) for the better food and more relaxed atmosphere. I have, for the record, never seen a $28.50 beer at an airport. I'm pretty sure I've seen $12+ beers. You can blame that on the concession operators, but you can also blame it on the airport authority that lets them do that; there are some counties that control how much, if at all, airport outposts of chains can raise prices compared to their non-airport locations in the same county.
- 2Gkashmiri 5y agoIn indis at least, there is this "airports authority of india" which leases shops to well retailers and stuff. What they do is, they set a monthly rent and that has to be paid. So last 2 years there hasnt been any air travel but guess what, AAI demands their rent. As a result, I have seen 60+ year old shops fold because they cannot pay the rent when there is no income. Either that or they have to Jack up the prices to make up for the rent paid for the time no one was flying causing high prices.
- koyote 5y ago> I liked explicitly scheduling longer layovers, ideally 90+ minutes, so I could look around and find a place for a sit-down meal I usually do the same and there's some great stuff available in places like HKG or SIN. It's a bad idea in a place like ZHR where a simple burger cost nearly 30CHF...
- 5y ago
- astatine 5y agoJust before COVID hit, there was an interesting thing going on in BLR Airport. You could order a meal (on Swiggy) from a restaurant near the airport and get it delivered to a gate number. No beverages, due to the security gates it had to pass through, but you had a refreshingly wide variety of options at reasonable prices.
- hardwaregeek 5y agoThe one redeeming quality of Laguardia and JFK is the Shake Shack. I never thought I'd herald a fast food place opening but it's so much better than anything else.
- boulos 5y agoI will admit to considering going into the “wrong” half of the international terminal at SFO to eat at Tartine or Kin Khao instead [1] and then head over to my flight. If the security line is short enough, it’s kind of worth it. [1] https://sf.eater.com/2019/1/22/18193239/manufactory-food-hall-sfo-tartine-cala-kamine-san-francisco-international-airport https://sf.eater.com/2019/1/22/18193239/manufactory-food-hal...
- cik 5y agoPlanet Money had a great podcast (https://www.npr.org/2018/11/22/670313841/atlanta-falcons-cut-the-prices-for-their-stadium-food-but-is-it-working-out https://www.npr.org/2018/11/22/670313841/atlanta-falcons-cut...) examining the other approach, the Atlanta Falcons lowering their food cost overall. I don't know if they continued down this path, but a quick search shows that it seems like they maintained low prices (https://mercedesbenzstadium.com/food-beverage/ https://mercedesbenzstadium.com/food-beverage/).
- dagw 5y agoMy flight got cancelled out of Stockholm once and I was given the standard 'dinner' voucher the airlines give out. Not being particularly hungry, I walked up to the cheapest looking pub like place that would take this voucher and ordered a beer and some peanuts, and that alone cost more than what my food voucher was for.
- meristohm 5y agoWhy not have a high price in travel hubs for a luxury that tends to reduce the Adult and let out the Child in us? (per Games People Play, a book on Transactional Analysis by Eric Berne, 1964) Seems like a public safety concern. How’s a high price on alcohol working out for Norway?
- sizzle 5y agoPortland’s PDX airport has awesome food carts inside from local joints. Delicious foods, awesome variety, fair prices.