Somewhere between the security line and your boarding gate, a strange thing happens to your wallet. Prices that would make you laugh in a normal restaurant suddenly seem almost acceptable, because, well, what choice do you have? You’re trapped. The clock is ticking. You’re hungry.
Airport food pricing has become one of travel’s most talked-about frustrations, and honestly, the data backs up every bit of your outrage. In 2024, U.S. terminals pulled in well over a billion dollars from non-ticket spending, including six-dollar bottled water, twenty-seven-dollar beers, and ten-dollar snack mixes. We’re not just talking about mild inconvenience here. We’re talking about full-on highway robbery at thirty thousand feet. Here’s what’s really going on – and which airports are the worst offenders.
1. Istanbul Airport (IST) – The Undisputed World Champion of Overpricing
Let’s be real: nothing on this list comes close to what Istanbul Airport pulls off on a daily basis. According to a 2025 study by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Istanbul Airport tops the list as the most expensive airport in Europe for food and drinks. In fact, it’s not just the most expensive in Europe – travelers widely consider it the most expensive in the entire world.
Imagine paying €17.50 ($20) for a beer, €6 ($7) for a single banana, €21.50 ($24) for a Big Mac, and a whopping €22 ($25) for Burger King’s Whopper. That’s not a fine-dining experience. That’s a Whopper and a side of existential dread. Journalist Leonard Berberi from Italian news website L’Economia shared that he saw a 90-gram lasagne being sold in a refrigerator for a staggering €24.50 ($28), penning a review that called it “a piece of brick with a sprinkling of what looks like grated cheese and a pseudo-basil leaf.”
Just a day before, in Taksim Square, a half-litre bottle of Efes beer cost only €1.50 ($1.70) – meaning the airport charges a jaw-dropping 1,067 percent more for the exact same drink. That number isn’t a typo. Over one thousand percent. A 2024 study by Corriere della Sera compared food and drink prices across European airports by looking at the average cost of five items – a coffee, a bottle of water, a cappuccino, a croissant, and a sandwich – and Istanbul was almost twice as expensive as the second-place airport on the list.
Factors likely to blame include state control of airports, which leads to a lack of competition and preferred vendors, combined with high rent and the weakening Turkish lira, though prices are set in Euros rather than the local currency. With an average daily footfall of 220,000 passengers, Turkey’s main airport is infamous for its exorbitant prices, especially in the food and beverage category.
2. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) – America’s Priciest Plate
Newark has long been the punching bag of American airport food, and there’s plenty of data to justify that reputation. An average meal at Newark costs over $23, despite roughly seventy percent of the restaurants earning sub-three-star ratings. Think about that combination for a moment: expensive and bad. Simultaneously.
Reporting shows some items at Newark are priced at more than double their street cost, with a chocolate bar marked up by 120 percent and a burger priced 46 percent higher than its downtown equivalent, according to Business Insider’s analysis of airport terminal menus and in-person reviews. It’s hard to say for sure where all that money goes, but the structure of the system makes it almost inevitable. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey even announced a crackdown on some of the more absurd pricing, including $30 beers at LaGuardia Airport.
By late 2024, a new proposal backed by the Port Authority and the governors of New York and New Jersey aimed to cover rising labor costs by allowing on-site restaurants and shops to raise their prices further and add a three percent surcharge to all sales. The new policy would push the allowed markup from ten to fifteen percent above street prices by early 2025, while also permitting operators to add a three percent employee benefits and retention surcharge to all bills.
According to recent data, LaGuardia Airport in New York is one of the most expensive airports for dining, with average food and beverage prices exceeding national averages by thirty percent or more; similarly, airports such as San Francisco International and Newark Liberty International have premium pricing that reflects their status as major hubs.
3. LaGuardia Airport (LGA), New York – Where $27 Beers Sparked a Government Audit
LaGuardia has the kind of pricing that doesn’t just sting – it makes headlines. A $27 Sam Adams lager once sparked an airport food price audit, yet vendors knew travelers would keep paying regardless. The story went viral, and yet, remarkably, little changed. Anyone who has spent time in NYC will likely be unsurprised that food pricing is a common complaint among LaGuardia visitors, though $25 burgers can still be pretty shocking to anyone who hasn’t been warned to expect amusement park pricing.
One traveler reportedly paid $63 for just two burritos, a bowl of nachos, and a bottle of water at John F. Kennedy International – and that was after the Port Authority’s alleged pricing crackdown. If those numbers feel unreal, it’s because they kind of are. Business Insider also reported that a fourteen-dollar chocolate bar cited at LaGuardia was selling for less in nearby stores, and the Port Authority did not indicate it would change the listing.
Until relatively recently, the most expensive airport food in the world was found either at Newark or LaGuardia in New York. These airports built a reputation for predatory pricing over decades, and they’ve done little to reverse it. Airport food concessions have long been infamous for high prices and low quality, with airline passengers trapped at the terminal proving to be a captive market vulnerable to predatory pricing, while long-term concession contracts with a single vendor create sales monopolies prone to abuse.
4. London Heathrow Airport (LHR) – Premium Prices, Terminal-to-Terminal
Heathrow is one of the busiest airports on Earth, and that volume doesn’t translate into competitive pricing for hungry travelers. It translates into power for concessionaires who have a locked-in audience with nowhere else to go. Six large corporations run the bulk of U.S. and international airport food and retail, operating thousands of locations worldwide, and in many terminals, multiple branded outlets are operated by the same parent company, reducing real choice for captive passengers.
Heathrow is a prime example of how prestige branding drives up menu prices without necessarily improving the meal. You’ll pay around £15 for a basic sandwich meal deal and upwards of £7 for a standard coffee, which would make even central London prices seem reasonable by comparison. Operators and airports regularly point to the significantly higher costs of doing business inside terminals, citing security screenings for staff and deliveries, construction expenses that can run thirty to forty percent higher than comparable street projects, longer operating hours, and local wage regulations.
Concessionaires also pay a portion of their sales as rent, typically between six and twenty percent, most often landing around ten to sixteen percent. All of those costs get passed directly to you, the person who just wants a sandwich before a seven-hour flight. Prices keep climbing as some airports relax or remove street-pricing caps that once tethered menus to city rates, and inside a secure campus with limited competition and costly logistics, the incentives stack up to make food and drinks markedly pricier than on the street.
5. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) – The “Street Pricing” Illusion
SFO markets itself as a responsible airport, partly because it has a formal street-pricing policy in place. Here’s the thing, though: “street pricing” in San Francisco is already among the highest in the country. A sampling of prices at SFO found avocado toast at $18, a glass of Prosecco at $17, and six ounces of Pinot Noir going for $12.
SFO restricts pricing at airport concessions to no more than eleven percent over street pricing, but most airports in the region, including LAX, San Diego, Sacramento, Palm Springs, and Las Vegas, allow fifteen percent over street prices. In other words, SFO considers itself the responsible one. That should tell you something about the state of the industry. SFO passengers spent $181 million on food in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 alone.
Many airports now permit markups above local street rates, often around fifteen percent, and these higher allowed markups have become the norm, especially as airports seek to boost non-aeronautical revenues. The system is designed so that even the “good” airports are still expensive. An avocado toast at Bourbon Pub in Terminal 1 runs you $18 – and that’s considered within the rules.
6. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) – Markup Approved by City Council
Atlanta’s airport is the busiest in the world by passenger volume, and it capitalizes on that traffic in ways that directly hit your food budget. What makes Atlanta especially notable is the transparency, or rather the unapologetic nature, of its pricing structure. Airport food pricing at Hartsfield-Jackson is now “street plus fifteen percent” after the city council approved an increase from the previous ten percent surcharge.
That’s right. The city council formally voted to allow higher food markups. Not just tolerated – legislated. U.S. airports now derive nearly half their revenue from non-aeronautical sources, and food-and-beverage revenue in 2024 was more than double what it was in 2010. Atlanta is a textbook example of how institutional decisions, not just greedy vendors, drive those numbers.
Getting food through airport security checkpoints can be pricey for vendors, and they have to bring food in frequently, partly because there is very limited storage space in airports. All of this contributes to a cost structure that makes even a simple hot meal feel like a luxury purchase. In many cases, food wholesalers price their products higher for business owners that operate near airport terminals, meaning the markup starts well before it even reaches your plate.
7. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) – The “Audited” Airport That Still Overcharges
Here’s one that’s particularly maddening. Minneapolis-St. Paul has price policies on paper. They audit. They enforce. Or so they say. Officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International told Business Insider in August 2025 that they use street pricing plus ten percent, yet investigators found a Hudson News location charging sixty-nine percent more than a nearby Walgreens, a Chick-fil-A meal priced more than sixteen percent higher, and a yogurt marked up by eighty-four percent.
Eighty-four percent for yogurt. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what happens when enforcement is treated as optional. The Metropolitan Airports Commission said it audits prices twice a year or as needed but declined to explain the disparities. Declining to explain says everything you need to know.
Regulations often aren’t policed effectively, and as one senior aviation management consultant noted, “A big issue with street pricing is that the airport must commit to enforcement, or the pricing controls will simply be ignored.” Vendor choice inside terminals is typically limited, with a handful of large concessionaires operating most food and retail outlets, reducing competition and giving travelers little recourse if prices are high.
8. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) – Pricing Caps? What Caps?
LAX made waves in 2025 for reasons that won’t sit well with anyone who has ever grabbed a meal there. Phoenix abandoned street pricing in 2019 after concessions companies requested higher limits, and most items at Los Angeles International lost their pricing cap in 2025. That’s a stunning development. The cap is simply gone for most items now.
Mergers have consolidated the airport food industry, and some large operators have pushed airports to raise or remove pricing caps entirely. LAX, handling tens of millions of passengers a year, is now effectively a free-for-all for vendors. A sandwich at Pret A Manger at LAX runs $14, with water at Hudson’s going for $8 and a small bag of M&Ms priced at $12.
Think about $12 for a small candy bag for a second. That’s not a sit-down dining experience. That’s a candy bar you grab while walking to your gate. Vendors know passengers are desperate, trapped in a bustling hub miles from anywhere else and frantic for food, drink, and entertainment – and they know people will keep paying regardless of the price.
9. Dublin Airport (DUB) – Europe’s Worst Value Meal
Dublin Airport has built quite a reputation online, and not the kind anyone should be proud of. The food selection at Dublin Airport is something of an international unifier, with travelers from all over the world gleefully taking to Reddit and Tripadvisor to criticize this airport for its terrible fare, with many reviewers lamenting that eating there can feel like playing a game of roulette with one’s health.
The painful twist? The prices don’t reflect the quality. Not even close. Anything that isn’t a potential health concern tends to be low-quality food with a high-dollar price tag slapped on it. Travelers across multiple platforms have flagged Dublin as one of the clearest examples of the “bad and expensive” combination that airport dining sometimes perfects. It’s expensive Dublin prices, inside a space designed to give you zero alternatives.
Once travelers pass through airport security, their options for food and drink narrow sharply; security rules restricting liquids force passengers to leave behind water bottles and beverages, making them reliant on airside vendors for even basic necessities, and this restriction alone drives up demand for bottled water and other convenience items that airports know can be sold at a premium. Dublin exploits that dynamic about as efficiently as any airport in Europe.
10. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) – Expensive and Deteriorating
Beijing’s airport rounds out this list with a combination that travelers find uniquely frustrating: prices that have climbed while the quality has gone in the opposite direction. Post-pandemic, Beijing’s airport food has drawn consistent complaints online, with travelers warning that the experience has worsened significantly in recent years.
Tripadvisor reviewers have warned that “food is expensive and hot” and advised travelers to “try to avoid eating in the airport if you have a choice – not worth it.” That’s about as damning a summary as you can get. Inflation has added further pressure on airport prices in recent years, with rising operating costs, labor expenses, supply chain disruptions, and changing commodity prices all playing a role, and the cost of getting food and supplies to airport vendors has increased by an average of fifteen percent over the past two years.
Compliance and waste management requirements add further layers of expense, as food and retail packaging must meet stringent security and labeling standards, and waste removal is tightly regulated, requiring extra labor and higher fees to ensure all materials are properly handled within secure zones. Beijing, operating at massive scale, carries all those costs directly forward into its menu prices. Industry figures show that roughly sixty-three percent of passengers beyond security make purchases – and in a busy hub like Beijing, that adds up to an enormous captive market, with pricing to match.
