CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Things are always more expensive at the airport. But in Atlanta, there is a limit set by city law on how much vendors are allowed to charge you.
We wanted to see if the businesses at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport are actually following the rules.
The policy is called “Street pricing plus 15%.” It means businesses cannot charge more than a 15% higher price than at a comparable location outside the airport.
Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray put it to the test. He went concourse by concourse at Atlanta’s airport checking prices of items and then comparing them to prices at locations close by.
What we found were big price hikes for everything from coffee to pizza to medication.
A medium Coca-Cola from McDonalds is $2.99 inside the airport. We checked the price at nearby East Point where it was a dollar less, $1.99. That’s a 50% markup.
If you prefer your caffeine fix to come in a cup of coffee, you will not do any better.
The Starbucks location on Concourse B charged us 54% more for a grande medium roast than at the East Point location. A café latte cost 52% more.
The airport pricing policy is a city ordinance. In 2021, city council increased the amount businesses can charge from 10% to 15% because of rising costs and the increased challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But store after store, we saw most products we checked were well over the 15% price threshold in our comparisons.
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From a slice of cheese pizza at Sbarro for 58% more than the closest mall food court to an original Chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A for 21% higher than down the road in East Point, few retailers were within the 15% limit.
We shopped at other locations of the airport vendors when possible and at major retailers like Target and CVS for other goods.
But it is how those comparison prices are set that it is at the heart of why our test found such disparity.
A Hartsfield Jackson spokesperson tells us, “The concessionaire selects 3–6 comps from a designated perimeter, including “same or similar” concepts for proprietary and “like-for-like for branded concepts.”
Then those businesses submit their proposed prices where “the selected comps are then reviewed and either approved or denied.”
“The question of what is comparable is always an ambiguous or amorphous kind of idea,” said travel blogger Gary Leff.
Leff runs Viewfromthewing.com and says the comparison prices the vendors choose are how they get away with charging so much more than city ordinance would seem to allow.
“The street price may not be what you’re expecting to pay based on where you go and shop. It may be the most expensive places. It may not be near the airport,” Leff said.
But it is airport officials who ultimately have control and responsibility for the prices.
A third-party contractor engaged by the airport verifies street pricing before approval, and the airport spokesperson says, “Any pricing that exceeds the street plus 15% model is denied.”
We filed open records requests through Georgia’s open records law for those documents showing the comparable prices and businesses back on April 2.
But so far, all the airport has provided us with in response to our requests are spreadsheets showing the proposed prices, but not where they come from.
We have not been provided information on what businesses and locations the vendors are using for the 3-6 comps, despite repeated requests.
With high rent and complicated logistics, it is a lot more expensive to do business at the airport. But that is why city law allows those businesses to charge more.
“The real issue is where merchants aren’t compliant with the rules that they have agreed to,” Leff said.
When we look at nonfood items, Vanessa Robinson-Dooley knows firsthand the prices are often even higher.
“I bought a charger for my watch because I left mine at home,” she said.
It cost $40.
“Most definitely, I would never have paid 40 bucks if I wasn’t in the airport,” Robinson-Dooley.
In our checks, a Beats brand phone power cord at Inmotion was 63% higher than on amazon.
If it’s all giving you a headache, you hopefully brought your Tylenol from home.
Travel size or the 24 pack, for either you will pay 100% more, double the cost at the Hudson News in the International terminal than at Target.
Some places we tested were doing things right.
The price of a burrito at Atlanta mainstay Willy’s Mexican Grill was within the street pricing limit. Same with another local favorite, Goldberg’s Deli, where the bagel sandwiches were only 10% higher than their non-airport locations.
A dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme and a chocolate Shake at Shake Shack also were under the 15% cap.
“Enforcement often will come when passengers complain,” Leff said.
We reached out to 12 different vendors at the airport whose prices in our tests appeared higher than the 15% threshold.
Only two have responded.
“Airport environments are unique; there are many additional fees that don’t exist street side. For this reason, Chick-fil-A, like many other businesses you see operating inside the airport, allows our concessionaires to mark up prices within reason to help sustain their businesses. Pricing is then reviewed and approved by the local airport authority,” said a Chick-fil-A spokesperson.
A Starbucks spokesperson said, “Depending on the market, pricing varies. There are many factors that contribute to pricing decisions, including various rising operating and occupancy expenses (i.e. labor, rent, local mandates and regulations, competition, distribution, marketing, and commodities — including coffee — but also other commodities associated with beverages, food, materials, and operations.)”
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