A major airport food and drink operator is facing an audit to investigate how much it charges customers after a guest shared a menu from LaGuardia Airport listing a Sam Adam’s Summer Ale costing $27.85 – plus a 10 percent so-called COVID Recovery fee.
OTG, the hospitality group overseeing LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports, is auditing at the request of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in response to Twitter user Cooper Lund’s July 7 post that drew dozens of angry comments from travelers.
Lund tweeted, ‘lol at all of this, including the additional 10% “COVID Recovery Fee” that doesn’t go to workers.’
OTG, the major airport food and drink operator, is facing an audit after Twitter user Cooper Lund shared a menu from LaGuardia Airport that priced a bottle Sam Adam’s Summer Ale at $27.85
OTG have since said that the price was incorrectly listed on the menu and should have read $18.15
OTG has since said that the price was incorrectly listed on the menu and should have read $18.15.
“This is a situation where someone simply input the wrong prices,” OTG said in a statement to The Independent. “Once we learned of it, we immediately took action to correct and began proactively auditing our entire system to ensure there were no other mistakes. OTG took this initiative on its own.”
OTG spokesperson Michael Marchese sent a statement to The City and said, ‘Because of these posted-pricing hiccups, our in-house menu teams have been diligently working to ensure pricing across all restaurants are, in fact, rendering correctly.’
The official OTG Twitter account replied to Lund’s post with the same explanation and offered him a complimentary beer during his next flight. The company’s response read, ‘Yikes. GOOD CATCH! That Sam Summer **price is incorrect** and has been updated. + note all other listed prices are for 23oz pours. @cooperlund - we very much appreciate you spotting. DM us next time you're passing through [for a free beer] on us.’
One reason for the uptick in prices is because of a rule Port Authority established last year that allows airports to charge up to 10percent more than ‘street prices.' However, Sam Adams seasonal beers cost around $7 and $8 at local NYC bars
Meanwhile, the “Covid-19 recovery charge” is a New York City initiative to compensate restaurants for the drop in patrons when capacity was capped.
Following his experience at LaGuardia, Lund said to The City, ‘It’s just Sam Adams Summer Ale — that’s insane! It strikes me as an enforced monopoly.’
Lund, 32, of Brooklyn, said he would welcome prices that are more in line with those outside of the airports. He ended up passing on the expensive Sam Adams Summer Ale and instead purchased a 12-ounce Heineken for $11.
Jason Rabinowitz, an aviation writer, shared Lund’s tweet and wrote, ‘$28 for a 23oz Sam Adams. @OTGexp has lost its mind. I understand that last year was tough but these prices are outrageous. Airport concession prices are through the roof and it's doubly bad since airlines really aren't serving any food in economy. Passengers have little choice.’
Rabinowitz didn’t seem pleased by OTG’s price correction either. He replied to the comment and wrote, ‘What should the price actually be? It looks to me like *all* of these prices are hugely inflated, not just the Sam Summer.’
Most of Lund’s other comments were from shocked Twitter users, with one Twitter user JZ writing, ‘I shook my head and walked out at EWR 2 weeks ago. Can’t believe the @PANYNJ is unaware of these outrageous prices. Plus the 10% COVID fee is just a slap in the face.’
Twitter user Mike noted that the price of the airport beer is more expensive than a full pack at grocery stores or beer distributors. He wrote, ‘Btw, Sam Adams Summer Ale is $17 for a 12-pack, or $1.42 each, which is about 5% of what they are charging. Walk away folks. It’s the only way to stop price gouging.’
Sam Adams seasonal beers also have significantly lower price tags at bars throughout New York City, costing $7 at the Westside Tavern bar and $8 at Lasagna restaurant, both in the Chelsea neighborhood, according to Business Insider.
Other common snacks and drinks have inordinately high prices at airports compared to retailers not far from its doors. At a convenience store in LaGuardia, it costs $5.99 for a five and a half-ounce tin of Pringles potato chips, $4.69 for an 11.5 ounce bottle of Simply Lemonade and $5.49 for a five-ounce bag of Kettle Corn Popcorners, according The City.
The news outlet reported that the same can of Pringles costs $2.50 and the Simply Lemonade costs $2.75 at the Pronto Lotto and Vape convenience store in Flushing. And the Kettle Corn Popcorners are $2.99 at the Saanvi Food Mart in Flushing.
Other common snacks and drinks have inordinately high prices at airports compared to retailers right outside their doors.
At a Hudson News store in JFK, it costs $3.89 for a 20-ounce bottle of soda and $3.69 for a bottle of Dasani water. But at the Long Island Express Deli across from the AirTrain station in Jamaica, the soda and water each go for $1.75.
Jose Guanam, 61, a clerk at the deli, said to The City, “We sometimes get people who stop by on the way to JFK and get stuff here. They say it’s too expensive.”
“We know this market is expensive enough already, so we’re committed to everything we can do to ensure reasonable pricing for our customers,’ Port Authority said in a statement to The Independent. ‘At our request, OTG is conducting a full audit of their pricing, and we will be working with all of our terminal operators and concession partners to review pricing across restaurants and airports to ensure customers are being treated fairly.’
One reason for the uptick in prices is a rule Port Authority established last year that allows airports to charge up to 10percent more than ‘street prices.’ The board made the move in response to the 2018 increase in minimum wage for tens of thousands of airport workers to $19 an hour by 2023.
Prior to the decision, airport concessionaires were not permitted to sell goods at a higher price than those available outside airports and airport concessionaires are supposed to conduct four product comparisons to businesses in the New York City region and have on their menus at least one “value item,” like a combo meal.
But many guests say they have always encountered extremely high prices at airports.
Emily Fishman, 75, told The City that she paid $4 for a 12-ounce bottle of Minute Maid orange juice at a JFK food court during a layover on a flight to Israel. She said, “Oh my goodness, I thought it was going to be $2.50. They’ve got you, they know you don’t have a choice.”
And Felipe Rodriguez, 61, who flew into JFK from Puerto Rico, said to the outlet, “I paid $8 for two Fantas, that’s a ripoff. It’s not like this is freshly squeezed juice — it’s Fanta!”
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