Airport Food Prices at JFK and LaGuardia Are About to Go Up

Wednesday at 01:09 AM

The prices of food and drinks in the airports that serve New York City, already a pet peeve of many travelers, are set to take a sharp upward turn next year.

To cover the rising costs of labor at the three big airports it operates — LaGuardia, Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International — the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has proposed rule changes that would allow restaurants and shops to raise their prices and tack on a 3 percent surcharge.

Together, the changes could result in a 7.5 percent increase in January to prices that have long been the subject of complaints from travelers.

An online menu for the Bobby Van’s steakhouse at Kennedy shows that a cheeseburger and fries costs $29.50 and a glass of chardonnay is $17. After a 7.5 percent increase, that meal could cost an additional $3.49, for a total of about $50.

At LaGuardia on Tuesday, a bar charged $16 for chicken Caesar wraps and turkey-and-Swiss panini. Nearby, a shop sold a 12-ounce bag of almonds for $15.99.

The Port Authority said the increases would help the concessions cover the costs of rising wages and better benefits for their employees. The agency, which sets the rules for the businesses that operate inside the airport terminals, has proposed gradual increases in the minimum wage for workers there.

Calandra Carter, a retired correction officer from the Bronx who had just flown into LaGuardia, said she was a frequent flier but rarely ate in airports because of the prices. “Airport food is already expensive, but I only buy it once in a blue moon,” said Ms. Carter, 56.

As for the workers’ pay, she said: “Give them a raise and keep the food the same price. It’s already too expensive.”

Katie Christo, who had just spent $16.98 for a prepackaged tin of pasta, Doritos and a Coke at LaGuardia, said she could tolerate a small increase in prices if it would go toward paying airport workers more. Ms. Christo, 32, was on her way home to Dover Plains, N.Y., where she said she worked at a Dollar General store for $15 an hour.

“For those that travel frequently, it’ll be a bigger hassle,” she said. “And for people who don’t travel frequently, it’ll be a surprise.”

The first wage increase, 75 cents an hour, would come in January, according to the proposal announced on Tuesday by the agency and the two governors who control it, Kathy Hochul of New York and Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey. Two more raises of 75 cents an hour each would occur in July 2025 and January 2026.

Those would be the first increases by the Port Authority since it raised the base wage for airport workers, in several steps, to $19 in September 2023.

Starting in January 2027, the minimum wage for the airport workers would rise annually at the rate of increases in the regional Consumer Price Index, according to the proposal. The wage would rise to $25 in September 2032 if it had not already reached that level, the proposal said.

The Port Authority has a policy that concessions at the airports can charge as much as 10 percent more than the “street prices” for similar items in the surrounding area. Under the proposed changes, that premium would rise in January to 15 percent, an effective price increase of about 4.5 percent, the agency said.

In addition, the agency proposed allowing concessions to add an “employee benefits and retention surcharge” of up to 3 percent to every bill.

The proposal requires the approval of the agency’s commissioners, all of whom are appointed by the governors of the two states.

Ms. Hochul said that she would be introducing an amendment to legislation next year that would improve benefits for airport workers in New York. Mr. Murphy said that “airport work is a difficult and demanding job that deserves our recognition and our thanks.”

Neither governor addressed the price increases.

Wesley Parnell contributed reporting.

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