Outrage over $38 beer at New York airport

A restaurant operator at a major international airport has been forced to explain its eye-watering prices – including a $38 beer.

The company that operates restaurants and shops at New York’s airports has had to explain after it was found selling a beer for $US27.85 ($A38) at LaGuardia Airport.

Brooklyn man Cooper Lund, who was passing through LaGuardia, called out the eye-popping high price in a tweet last month that has since gone viral.

“Lol at all of this, including the additional 10 per cent ‘Covid Recovery Fee’ that doesn’t go to workers,” he wrote alongside an image that showed a summer ale by US brewing brand Samuel Adams priced at $US27.85, as well as other lofty prices for other brews.

OTG, the company that operates many concession stands at the region’s airports and was responsible for the overpriced beer, countered that the ale’s price was listed incorrectly, and noted that the prices on the menu were for 23-fluid ounce (680ml) pours. That’s slightly larger than an Australian pint (570ml, or 20 fluid ounces).

lol at all of this, including the additional 10% “COVID Recovery Fee” that doesn’t go to workers pic.twitter.com/Bq9rHJqek7

— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund) July 7, 2021

“Yikes. GOOD CATCH! That Sam Summer **price is incorrect** and has been updated + note all other listed prices are for 23oz pours,” OTG tweeted.

The company also offered in the tweet to pay for Mr Lund’s beers the next time he visited.

Michael Marchese, an OTG spokesperson, told NYC publication The City that the price on the beer at LaGuardia was “quickly corrected” to $US18.15 ($24.54).

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 -🍻🍻🍻 on us.

^OTG

— OTG (@OTGexp) July 7, 2021

“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,” he added.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has since ordered OTG to audit its prices, according to The City.

“The Port Authority is committed to enforcing that all terminal operators and concessionaires adhere to cost parity policies throughout our airports,” a Port Authority spokesperson reportedly said in a statement.

The price discovery has prompted a review of prices at the airport.

“We know this market is expensive enough already, so we’re committed to [doing] everything we can do to ensure reasonable prices for our customers,” the spokesperson added.

Even after OTG corrected its prices, The City noted, the costs remain curiously high and test the limits on the 10 per cent airport price hikes approved by the Port Authority board last year.

The approval of those hikes came after the board voted in 2018 to increase the minimum wage for tens of thousands of airport workers to $19 an hour by 2023.

Terminal operators and concession management companies set their prices based on comparisons to locations in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area, the Port Authority says.

But a review of prices by The City at JFK and LaGuardia found that several items were going for much more in the airport than they were elsewhere in the city.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission