The website Upgraded Points has noted the nation’s most marked up, and least marked up airport coffee prices. In the survey, Tampa TPA is among the least marked up coffee, while Charlotte, Phoenix, Denver and Houston were among the highest.
The study compared the pretax prices of five common menu items at Starbucks locations in 53 major U.S. airports against a nonairport Starbucks in each corresponding city. One postsecurity airport location (where available) and one nonairport comparison store were sampled per airport, with the nonairport store selected as the first qualifying, company-operated location returned when searching the city in the Starbucks app, generally the nearest eligible store to downtown.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) share the top spot, with the five-item order costing $34.95 at both, a $12.60 increase (56.4%) over city prices.
The research does not encompass all airport vendor prices, but the price comparison is a marker of prices for other airport vendors. In recent years, airport food prices have escalated, due to the cost of concessions; retailers in the 1990s attempted to push for “street equal” pricing at airports, as passengers had become disenchanted with airport pricing, and at a certain point diminished their purchases.
Below, the chart. The full story is HERE.
