In New York airports, you can pay up to $27.85 a beer!

$27 a beer? No you’re not dreaming, this is the asking price for a mousse at LaGuardia airport in New York, USA, tells the local newspaper The City. An audit by the Port Authority’s Office of the Inspector General found that 25 customers were charged between $18 and $27 for a beer at LaGuardia’s Terminal C, a price the Port Authority called ” completely unjustifiable”. All customers have since been reimbursed, airport management said.

An error according to the company that manages the offending bar

The beer in question was offered in bars run by the company OTG, which has 130 establishments across the United States. According to OTG, the price of $27 was originally an exceptional rate for a seasonal beer offered at certain establishments operated by the company and should not have been applied to beers served within LaGuardia airport at New York.

The company said it has taken steps to prevent similar mishaps from happening again, including hiring new executives for the team that oversees pricing.

The port authorities will strengthen their controls

“Nobody should pay such an exorbitant sum for a beer,” said Kevin O’Toole, president of the airport authorities of New York and New Jersey, Quoted by The Guardian. After the publication of a first article in the New York daily on May 13, the city’s airport authorities reacted by announcing that they would carry out price checks in order to better protect airport customers against overcharges. The authorities also invite travelers to report any example of “unrealistic” prices charged at airports in New York State.

The agency specifies that bars and restaurants operating within LaGuardia airport will now have to match market prices with a maximum surcharge of 10%.

Social media controversy

The case first came to the fore last year, after a netizen named ‘Cooper Lund’ posted on Twitter the menu of a LaGuardia airport bar displaying crazy prices on beers. The new pricing policy displayed by New York airports leaves a bitter taste for travelers accustomed to paying $10.90 for a plate of fries, notes The City. “The only way to have real respect for these rules is to complain loudly enough on the Internet,” says Cooper Lund.

“$27 for a beer is just the icing on the cake, but that’s not the real issue. The problem is $20 beer, $18 beer is all of these ridiculous prices,” says the 30-something from Brooklyn.

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