Name: Why Everything At Airports Is So Expensive
Uploaded: 2025-09-14T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 16 min 58 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Basic passive voice

They're identical, except one costs 120% more, because this was bought at the airport.

Adverbs of manner

You probably know you're paying a premium, but have you ever realized just how much more?

This burger from Chili's is marked up 46% from its street price.

There are so many airports across the U.S. where the management isn't answerable to the broader public.

But the problem isn't just that passengers are a captive audience.

All six of these businesses are operated by the same multibillion-dollar company.

And why are some airports raising them even more?

To understand how we got five Starbucks in a single terminal, we need to go back to the early 20th century, when airports looked more like train stations.

People complained about airports being overcrowded, dirty, dingy kind of places.

The glamor came once you got on the airplane.

See how neatly everything is arranged on the tray?

But for the air travel industry to grow, airports needed to improve.

They also needed to make money from passengers.

They were making money any way they could.

Observation decks, oil wells, swimming pools, tennis courts.

Some of them began to charge for parking, which became a big moneymaker eventually.

By the mid-20th century, airports opened restaurants to attract not only passengers, but also those wanting a night out.

In my hometown, you would go for an anniversary.

This postcard described Janet's hometown airport as the Midwest's most distinctive dining and cocktail lounge.

And in the 1960s, some new terminals were architectural marvels.

These types of amenities were designed to bring people to the airport, maybe inspire them to fly, but also to generate revenue.

Of course, airports are always looking for ways to make more money.

Here in the cabin, it's like a gentle June morning.

But compared to today, not that many people traveled by plane.

Because tickets were expensive, it was mostly the wealthy and businessmen that flew.

And those who did fly weren't spending much time in airports anyways.

Congress deregulated the industry, allowing airlines to decide their own rates and routes.

Deregulation led to literally a frenzy of fare wars.

You went from getting gourmet meals to getting the bag of pretzels, peanuts, and a soda pop.

For those who had grown up in aviation during the golden age, their world was gone.

Because as they lowered fares, the service on the airplanes also, as they would put it, deteriorated.

The number of people flying in the U.S. each year nearly doubled over the next decade, thanks to cheaper tickets and bigger planes.

And if you know about graduate students, they can't afford much of anything.

In the 1980s, an increase in connecting flights meant passengers waited longer in the terminal.

This big rush in there overwhelmed airports.

They could shop at a newsstand or eat at a few quick-service restaurants.

Even back then, passengers complained about 50 to 100% markups.

The airports and the airlines began thinking, well, we need to do something to keep passengers happy while they're sitting here waiting for their connection.

The Pittsburgh Airport opens in the early 1990s, and it catches on immediately.

With more than 100 shops and restaurants, Pittsburgh's airport was the first in the U.S. to transform the terminal into a mall.

It not only makes passengers a lot happier, but it's a great revenue source, because every one of those shops are gonna pay a rental fee to the airport.

In fact, the airport's revenue soared 75% within six years, according to one report.

And the airport achieved that without price hikes.

Basically, what you buy inside the airport should cost the same as outside.

The county commissioner even said, we're the first airport not to gouge people.

The air mall concept was a great one to make a lot more money.

Other airports poured tens of millions of dollars into renovations, hoping to emulate Pittsburgh's success.

And in response to passenger complaints, other airports also followed the street pricing model.

But if airports had this policy back in the 90s and early 2000s, why does this chocolate bar cost more than double what you'd pay outside?

Nowadays, most U.S. airports use something they call street pricing plus.

That is, a product's street price plus an additional 10 to 15%.

The authority that controls the airport sets this price cap. 15%, a fair and reasonable adjustment for our concession heirs.

Businesses aren't supposed to go over this additional percentage.

And in most cases, the airport audits prices a few times a year.

Under this model, prices should only be a little bit higher.

But how an airport determines street price can be a bit confusing.

That $14 chocolate bar is from LaGuardia in New York City, which is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

It requires businesses to set prices based on the average of comparable items sold outside the airport, plus an additional 15%.

This is what the Port Authority said district market was citing for the chocolate bar.

But when we checked in person, we found a different story.

One location didn't sell this bar at all.

The other two sold it for less than district market said.

In response, the Port Authority didn't say it would be adjusting any prices.

Because enforcement and repercussions are lax, examples abound of companies charging more than 10% to 15% above street price.

Let's say Janet flew out of MSP and wanted to buy her favorite airport snack.

Oh, M&Ms. You know, they melt in your mouth, not in your hands.

Paul Airport told Business Insider it uses street pricing plus 10%.

But at this Hudson News store, Janet would pay 69% more than she would at a Walgreens outside the airport.

A Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit meal costs over 16% more.

And one of the worst offenders we found was a yogurt marked up 84%.

A spokesperson from the Metropolitan Airports Commission told Business Insider that locations are audited two times annually or on an as-needed basis.

But it did not comment on the price disparities.

Even though most airports have a pricing policy, a lack of enforcement means passengers often get a bad deal.

But some in the industry say that charging street prices isn't sustainable because it's more expensive to run a business inside an airport.

All employees, products, and equipment need to go through security, which increases construction and labor costs.

The exact numbers vary, but development reportedly costs 30 to 40% more than it does outside.

On top of that, some cities set a higher minimum wage for airport workers.

And we're also asking you to generally run your business from 4 a.m. to midnight.

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Why Everything At Airports Is So Expensive

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