7 ms·

I remember being in one of the NYC airports and needing a plug socket adapter for my laptop, for the flight. On Alibaba, 50 cents. On Amazon, maybe 1.5 USD.

• ornornor 4y ago
  > Yes, they are duty free - but they're all charging about twice the high-street price. Same as ZERO COMMISSION EXCHANGE outfits that, yes, charge 0% commission on the receipt but have jacked up all exchange rates by 10% instead…
  • oriettaxx 4y ago
    and what about the planned maze to reach your gate? planned so you are forced to pass in front as many shops as possible? The gate may be 50 meters away if you turn left, but the sign says you have to turn right... and it will become 200 meters and many shops then, even worse, the fact that they "announce" your gate only 30 minutes before embarking! .... they do not want you to sit in a chair if front of your gate.. absolutely not! they want you to hang around and spend. but, the worst: when they heat the water in the toilets so you cannot drink it! In Greece they even put a fake "not potable" sign, so you sure buy the world's higher overpriced bottle of water.
    • lvkv 4y ago
      Do you mean “sinks” instead of “toilets”?
      • jffry 4y ago
        Maybe "toilets" was meant more in the sense of "bathrooms"?
        • cortesoft 4y ago
          Or the comment was written by a dog
          • jstarfish 4y ago
            Or Duke Nukem.
      • sleepychu 4y ago
        The toilet can mean the bathroom, at least where I'm from.
        • indymike 4y ago
          The toilet is in the bathroom where I live. Only the local rustics say warshroom.
          • deleted 4y ago
            [deleted]
      • gadders 4y ago
        Toilets are what Brits call the room that America's call a bathroom. I guess at least that has the virtue of the room actually having toilets in it and not baths.
        • ipaddr 4y ago
          washroom is American but bathroom is Canadian
          • PebblesRox 4y ago
    • ornornor 4y ago
      Yep. I hate everything about flying. It’s miserable. I plan my vacations to avoid flying, it’s just not worth the aggravation for me.
      • tracker1 4y ago
        I find road trips pretty pleasant... don't plan on having to drive too far in one day, and when you aren't in a rush to get somewhere by a certain time, it's pretty relaxing just listening to music, and the general scenery for most of the driving. After a few days, most daily life stress tends to melt away.
        • ornornor 4y ago
          I live in Europe and prefer the train. Less pollution, more legroom, can take a nap, read a book, etc.
          • tracker1 4y ago
            You could also fly, and take a nap there... The biggest benefit to a road trip is flexibility. If you see something that catches your eye and want to look around and take some pictures, a train doesn't give you that. If you decide to stay an extra day somewhere, the effect on your budget could be significant for other forms of travel. As for pollution, maybe if they were building more nuclear plants and high speed chargers, then electric vehicles would actually be a better option for longer distance travel. Of course not counting the environmental impact of building a bunch of new vehicles vs. the one that I've had for over 7 years.
      • ativzzz 4y ago
        Just show up the airport an hour earlier than needed and go grab a beer. Less stress, more relaxation
        • dev_tty01 4y ago
          That is fine for the first flight, but the connections can quickly turn into a mess. Also, after getting there an hour early, you grab a beer, sit around, and then the flight gets delayed or cancelled. I've noticed it is stressful until the plane for my final connection going back home leaves the ground. If you don't have to get somewhere at specific times and events, no problem, just chill and you'll get there eventually. If going to a planned meeting, or giving a talk, etc., it can be very tiring.
    • polio 4y ago
      It's also a perverse incentive for the airport to not improve security times. The less predictable the security experience is, the earlier people have to show up, and the more time they spend getting hungry airside.
      • zmmmmm 4y ago
        not to mention security requirements ... the more paranoid they make people about what they can bring, the less likely they are to attempt to bring food or drink in themselves and end up resigning yourself to buying it in the terminal. There seems to be a deliberate fog of war around travel requirements. The specifics of the rules are different everywhere (take my shoes off? belt off? laptop in my bag or out of my bag? ...). Which is slightly annoying in itself but what is really annoying is the lack of explanation of what those specific requirements are at any one airport. Which means inevitably being yelled at by security staff, feeling stupid, setting off scanners accidentally etc. It's all very unpleasant.
        • landemva 4y ago
          > The specifics of the rules are different everywhere With lack of signage by TSA to describe the airport-specific rules. Makes TSA folks appear busy by seizing my water bottle after arriving int'l and getting caught by TSA for onward flight. And specific taxes pay for this bureaucracy.
      • hgsgm 4y ago
        TSA took over airport security.
        • oriettaxx 4y ago
          what a great idea to create jobs :) :) And you take them seriously, until you take a flight in Argentina and they tell you you can take aboard as much water you want ahhahaah omg, you say, will be a safe flight? hahaha of course.
    • grepfru_it 4y ago
      >planned maze Is actually to maximize surface area for airplanes to park in a single terminal. Next airport trip, pull out a gps and look at where you are walking. >announce your gate 30 minutes The airline you are flying on only has X number of gates but X+y planes at that given time. So they will hold off on gate numbers to optimally fit you in. Lots of pilots talking to ATC telling them they don’t have gate info from their carrier yet I understand it may appear as though they are trying to get you, but they are trying to be efficient
      • Y_Y 4y ago
        What I've found is that often a flight will take the same gate as it took yesterday, and failing that a nearby one. I think people like to be near their gate to feel safer about missing the flight. You mightn't know know the exact date, but since airports won't even give you the general area. Also I don't believe your efficiency story, there are plenty of cases where it's possible to know the gate ahead of time, and plenty of reasons for airports not to want people congregating at the gate as soon as they get airside.
        • oriettaxx 4y ago
          > there are plenty of cases where it's possible to know the gate ahead of time exactly, sometimes even flight radar tells you the gate, but the main displays in the airport will tell you the gate number only 30 minutes before: Istanbul (IST) is my main reference here: what I do is I just go to any personnel and gently ask for the gate for my flight telling them I need to sit down and rest: they quickly check and tell me. I have no proof, but I do believe that those 30 mins only advance notification are planned so not to have me sitting down in a comfortable chair for hours not spending money.
        • grepfru_it 4y ago
          My local airport only has 8 gates for american airlines. They are constantly landing without a gate. Sometimes you get to file your gate early, sometimes you don't. Not having a gate doesn't prevent you from filing an IFR flight plan and getting to your destination. It just means you might sit on the tarmack because you are not flying into a hub for your airline
    • gberger 4y ago
      Wait, did you actually find overpriced water in Greece? I ask because they have a law regulating the price of bottled water: https://greeklandscapes.com/prices-in-greece/#:~:text=BOTTLED%20WATER%20PRICE%3A%200.50%E2%82%AC,not%20sitting%20at%20a%20table https://greeklandscapes.com/prices-in-greece/#:~:text=BOTTLE...). In my experience, I was able to purchase 0.50€ water at airports in Athens, Mykonos and Santorini. One trick that I saw some merchants use was to not to sell bottled water at all, or claim it had ran out, and that they only had 7€ Gatorade or whatever.
      • oriettaxx 4y ago
        > they have a law regulating the price of bottled water: https://greeklandscapes.com/prices-in-greece/#:~:text=BOTTLE https://greeklandscapes.com/prices-in-greece/#:~:text=BOTTLE...). oh, good to know, thanks. I recall a crazy price for Perrier (something I would never buy myself): it was Cefalonia airport where tab water is (or at least it was 10 years ago) super fine, and in the toilet there was a fake hand made "water is not drinkable" sign (only in the main bathroom btw ahhaaha): I remember my friend needed to drink and ended up buying Perrier and not drinking from the sink as we were doing.
  • ZephyrBlu 4y ago
    I travelled recently and when I got some foreign cash I noticed this. I was thinking, well if the fee is 0% you're clearly giving me a shit exchange rate and making your money there. It seems bizarre to shuffle around the cost structure like that, but I guess it's a marketing thing that works because most people don't know any better?
    • ornornor 4y ago
      A number of my friends see 0 commission and think “hey, good deal, let’s exchange here” So yeah it works as intended. Same trick as advertising prices without taxes, tips, cleaning fees, and other mandatory fees you’ll end up paying.
  • lucb1e 4y ago
    Zero commission indeed sounds fishy, but what if there is a commission? Inexperienced (euro-pampered) me went to a money exchange place that charged a fee because I know it costs money for them to have random icelandic kronar on hand so that's fair, then they don't need hidden fees right? I also knew the bank from name, it's a household name in my country. Later at home I checked and I paid out of my ass for the exchange rate, never mind the fee on top... I thought I was being clever by doing it at departure where you can compare and say no. At the destination airport, you have no choice but to exchange, everyone will need the local currency to pay for things and so I thought it's better to be prepared than potentially be paying the prices of the desperate. Yeah. No. (A few hours of air time later, I learned that in Iceland you just pay by bank card for everything at iirc 0.3% fee and you don't need to exchange no cash.)
    • ornornor 4y ago
      My personal way to do this is to check on the web what the rate without any fee is (search engine “100/however much you need eur to isk“) and then I make a mental note of that number. I go around exchange places and ask how much isk they’d give me for 100 eur all included. Makes it easier to compare them with each other without having to figure out whatever commission and fee structure they came up with, and gives me an idea of how far they are from the interbank rate. An even better solution is to get a card like TransferWise (revolut are exploitative assholes and I don’t recommend enabling this employee exploiter) that charges very very reasonable rates so that you don’t even need to exchange or can use an atm if cash is required.
    • cleanchit 4y ago
      > I learned that in Iceland you just pay by bank card for everything at iirc 0.3% fee and you don't need to exchange no cash Can you get cash out of local atm machines using your foreign card?
• largepeepee 4y ago
  Depends on the country as well, some country airports with high item tax make it worth buying at the airport. Take the vice tax for example, most Islamic countries probably at alcohol cheaper at their airports. Same goes with countries that have items with pricing power, I always get certain gifts at Japanese airports since the price it usually cheaper with tax free comparative to the rest of the country. US airports though... Never worth it. Overpriced af
  • Ekaros 4y ago
    Went to Dubai, I don't do drugs, but prices seemed not horrible. Then I checked if I would spend my local money for some candy, but I noped right out. On principle I weren't going to pay those prices.
    • Eisenstein 4y ago
      I'm not sure if your comment makes sense and I can't think straight, or maybe you are using 'drugs' and 'candy' in some way that I don't understand.
      • Ekaros 4y ago
        Ethanol is a drug. No different really from fentanyl or crack cocaine or THC. So I just referrer it as such.
        • Danieru 4y ago
          Yes that's fine; but what's the "candy" in your context? We're all confused about the candy thing.
          • Ekaros 4y ago
            Actual candy, like chocolate. I think price was multiple times what you would expect anywhere.
        • 4y ago
• elicash 4y ago
  It's been years now since I checked, but I remember a Best Buy airport vending machine having the same price as their stores.
  • nobody9999 4y ago
    >It's been years now since I checked, but I remember a Best Buy airport vending machine having the same price as their stores. It's been years now since I checked, but I remember needing (within hours) a specific ethernet card (for a box running Solaris x86 -- back in the late '90s/early noughties driver support for Solaris was quite limited) and went to a BestBuy store as they had it in stock near me. I checked later on and found that the price in the store was 30% over MSRP. As such, the fact that the price was the same at an airport vending machine vis-a-vis an actual store doesn't surprise me that much. Which is why, unless I'm in a situation like I described above, I stay far, far away from BestBuy. Obviously, this is anecdotal, so I imagine YMMV.
    • elicash 4y ago
      I should clarify. Since I was at the airport, I compared it to Best Buy's ONLINE price, not the store price. My mistake, it didn't occur to me that those might be different, but it does speak well for the vending machines!
    • sgerenser 4y ago
      Probably not applicable to the early 2000s, but nowadays Best Buy physical stores will price match their online prices. I went in several years ago to grab an HDMI cable that was listed for ~$10 online but was marked $20 in the store. Silly that it’s even necessary, but it was easy to price match.
      • nobody9999 4y ago
        >I went in several years ago to grab an HDMI cable that was listed for ~$10 online but was marked $20 in the store. Silly that it’s even necessary, but it was easy to price match. While I get your point, that I'd even have to compare prices online and in person from the same retailer, even if they will "price match" (which is really just ripping off anyone who wouldn't think to look for a better price from them online) is slimy as hell IMHO.
• conductr 4y ago
  > If I were running an airport, I would look to make the experience of travelers as pleasant as possible, rather than actually making it unpleasant. You’d also need to find a revenue source to maintain the airport and pay salaries which is kind of important
  • actionablefiber 4y ago
    I think another point is that thanks to TSA measures it will pretty much always be unpleasant, so you can make money squeezing people with layovers who don't want to, or don't have time to, go through security an extra time. If you have a layover in a train station, e.g. with Amtrak, you can just leave the train station and go to a nearby shop if you need something.
• xyzelement 4y ago
  You may have noticed in general that convenience costs you money. A charger which is in China and you will get in a month is indeed worth 50 cents because all that's worth to you. A charger right this second, at the exact location (airport, past security) is obviously going to cost more. Both because you are being charged a convenience premium, and because chances are nobody would bother setting up vending for 50 cents (just think about hiring cleared employees, supplying your store on that side of security, rental of that very limited space) In general, I find myself much less outraged at what things cost once I became versed in market dynamics. If you are a businessman who forgot his charger in the hotel and your flight got delayed, you are thrilled to pay $35 for it (vs not having it at all since nobody would bother selling it)
  • lucb1e 4y ago
    > A charger right this second, at the exact location (airport, past security) is obviously going to cost more. I think the point they're making is that it's curious that "a charger right this second, at this exact supermarket" is nowhere near 33 usd in 2015 prices. It's specifically airports, not about waiting for 3 weeks (or even 3 hours) of shipping.
    • xyzelement 4y ago
      That's not the same thing at all. a supermarket is a place you "go to" vs the airport terminal is a place where "you are." If I am going to the supermarket, I have the luxury of time and I probably have the luxury of for example going 10 minutes further for a better deal. When I am at the terminal, I am at the terminal. I can't go anywhere else. The product is either there or or it isn't
      • kelipso 4y ago
        Ok you are describing price gouging
• kevviiinn 4y ago
  When I was younger and dumber I made the mistake of buying some halfway decent ear buds for $95. Huge ripoff but I rode those things for years until they stopped putting out sound to repent for my mistake. Never again
• grishka 4y ago
  > To my eye, they seem shortsighted. These prices work in airports because there are little to no repeat customers, AND there is no competition to drive the prices down.
• Symbiote 4y ago
  > On Alibaba, 50 cents. > On Amazon, maybe 1.5 USD. There's a decent chance neither of these pass the minimum safety requirements. It would be fairer to compare with a socket adapter from a supermarket. e.g. Tesco, £4.50 for two, vs. Heathrow Airport £11 for two.