Depending on what airport you’re flying from, your Starbucks drink could cost 50% more. One traveler catalogued Starbucks prices across major airports. They tracked the price of a plain grande coffee and a grande strawberry acai lemon refresher – across 24 major airports. And what they found is striking.
Here’s what they found for grande coffees – prices ranged from $3 in Salt Lake City to $5 in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
| Airport | Code | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles International | LAX | $5.05 |
| Harry Reid International (Las Vegas) | LAS | $5.05 |
| Phoenix Sky Harbor | PHX | $5.05 |
| Charlotte Douglas | CLT | $4.95 |
| Denver International | DEN | $4.55 |
| O’Hare International | ORD | $4.55 |
| George Bush Intercontinental | IAH | $4.55 |
| Detroit Metropolitan | DTW | $4.55 |
| John F. Kennedy | JFK | $4.40 |
| Newark Liberty | EWR | $4.40 |
| LaGuardia | LGA | $4.40 |
| Seattle-Tacoma | SEA | $4.20 |
| Baltimore/Washington | BWI | $4.20 |
| Logan (Boston) | BOS | $4.05 |
| San Diego International | SAN | $3.95 |
| Orlando International | MCO | $3.85 |
| Miami International | MIA | $3.80 |
| San Francisco International | SFO | $3.80 |
| Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood | FLL | $3.80 |
| Dulles International | IAD | $3.80 |
| Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta | ATL | $3.70 |
| Dallas/Fort Worth | DFW | $3.50 |
| Minneapolis-Saint Paul | MSP | $3.45 |
| Salt Lake City International | SLC | $3.00 |
Denver Airport Starbucks
And that complicated ‘Grande Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher’ – which I must admit I have no idea even what this is – was once again least expensive in Salt Lake City at $5.05 and came in at a whopping $8.15, again capturing the top spot, in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix – but also in Charlotte.
| Airport | Code | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles International | LAX | $8.15 |
| Charlotte Douglas | CLT | $8.15 |
| Harry Reid International (Las Vegas) | LAS | $8.15 |
| Phoenix Sky Harbor | PHX | $8.15 |
| Denver International | DEN | $7.55 |
| O’Hare International | ORD | $7.55 |
| George Bush Intercontinental | IAH | $7.55 |
| Detroit Metropolitan | DTW | $7.55 |
| John F. Kennedy | JFK | $7.15 |
| Newark Liberty | EWR | $7.15 |
| LaGuardia | LGA | $7.15 |
| Seattle-Tacoma | SEA | $6.85 |
| Baltimore/Washington | BWI | $6.85 |
| Logan (Boston) | BOS | $6.70 |
| Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta | ATL | $6.65 |
| Dulles International | IAD | $6.65 |
| Miami International | MIA | $6.55 |
| Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood | FLL | $6.55 |
| Dallas/Fort Worth | DFW | $6.35 |
| Minneapolis-Saint Paul | MSP | $6.35 |
| Orlando International | MCO | $6.30 |
| San Diego International | SAN | $6.25 |
| San Francisco International | SFO | $6.05 |
| Salt Lake City International | SLC | $5.50 |
Airport Starbucks are not run by Starbucks. THey’re licensed by airport concessionaires. This was historically done with Host/HMSHost, but has expanded. Starbucks collects license fees and royalties, but doesn’t hold the leases or employ staff.
Many airports have pricing rules that constrain what concessionaires are allowed to charge passengers. Often this is called ‘street pricing’ where there has to be parity with off-airport prices or parity plus a fixed percentage.
- San Francisco is street pricing plus 11% and the airport requires comparisons and approval of changes.
- Salt Lake City sets street pricing plus 10%, with documentation and enforcement provisions.
- Portland doesn’t allow markup over street pricing.
- LAX allows up to 18% over comparable off-airport businesses
- Port Authority of New York New Jersey (JFK, LaGuardia, Newark) allows 15% over street pricing plus an additional surcharge up to 3% for “Employee Benefits and Retention” and we’ve seen those rules ignored.
- Phoenix dropped its street pricing rules and now allows higher markups.
That said, airports are expensive to operate in. They have high lease costs and high capital costs. It’s costly to bring things in through security and work with approved vendors. There are often higher airport minimum wages (and attracting workers into airports can be costly, anyway). You also have captive customers who can’t bring their own beverages in through TSA checkpoints. Street pricing is a mushy concept anyway.
And with Starbucks you don’t get a single company operating the stores. You don’t even get a single concessionaire anyway, e.g. Paradies Lagardère in addition to HMSHost. And my understanding is that licensed operators have some pricing discretion. This is an old Starbucks statement, and from a UK account, but this is consistent with how licensing usually works:
Hi there! Our pricing can vary depending on location and whether it is a company-operated or licensed store, as our licensed stores are able to set their own prices within a certain range.
— Starbucks UK (@StarbucksUK) May 6, 2019
Passenger mix varies at the airports, too, between price-sensitive leisure and business travelers on expense accounts.
Given the tiers of prices we see reported, that suggests consistent price books in use – set by concessionaire and/or region, layered with airport policy constraints. I’m not sure this explains the full variance, but it’s also good to know that in some places Starbucks just isn’t a good option but I guess in Salt Lake City they have to price coffee low to generate demand volume because much of the local market doesn’t drink it?
Incidentally, someone also crowdsourced pricing of Chex Mix across airports Once again Las Vegas had the most expensive prices. Salt Lake City was once again cheapest.
Pro Tip: Save your points and use them at the airport.
SLC… is that because *they* don’t drink caffeine? Anyone else remember Gary’s emphasis on Neeleman being a Mormon in a post a while back? Fun times…
Quite likely the most bitter, overpriced coffee in existence (haven’t tasted them all but Starbucks is the bottom of the barrel ((my opinion))
Save your money (and your taste buds) for the cafe of your choice upon reaching your destination.
Most airports will have at least one local coffee place that doesn’t serve over-roasted, under-brewed coffee. At DEN, try Aviano Coffee, Novo Coffee, Dazbog Coffee, etc.
There are coffee shops everywhere in Salt Lake and Utah for that matter. More and more people are taking the dominant religion’s commandments as suggestions now. @1990 – according to official dogma, it was never about caffeine but instead health.
At DEN, second the Aviano and Novo Coffees. But avoid Dazbog….that is awful.
When I want coffee during a layover at DFW, CLT, or LAS and there is more than a 45-minute wait to pass through the velvet ropes to enter the AMEX Centurion Lounge, it’s exasperating to learn their push-button crappuccino machines are broken. Fortunately, there is usually at least one nearby American Airlines Admiral’s Club at the same airport, with hot, tasty coffee, making it a reliable backup when the AMEX Centurion Lounge disappoints.
@Ken A — You had me a ‘crappuccino’… you have a way with words, sir. Never stop.
@Jason — I was reading that the so-called Word of Wisdom recommends abstaining from “hot drinks” (one assumes, coffee and tea). Yeah, don’t burn your tongue; that’s no fun! (Meanwhile, Chinese medicine recommends against drinking “cold water”). Basically, room-temperature is the goal, it seems…
I always chuckle at the line of zombies waiting as if they were in the queue for Space Mountain. I lost any interest in that silliness after the “Third Place” stupidity.
Bottle of water small 5.50 sfo
Last weekend
Consider it a tax on your appalling taste in coffee if patronising Starbucks.
Most US airports are owned by the public, so the cost of the land is ZERO, as are the taxes.
This is just airlines successfully lobbying to shift costs: instead of paying landing fees that cover the costs of operating at the publicly owned airport, they get to be subsidized by fleecing customers who want a coffee (or a meal).
This should be made illegal as it’s definitely immoral.
Well said, @Mary. When this second Gilded Age is finally over, I look forward to a new Progressive era that may address these apparent inequalities. Same goes for sporting venues, which are mostly funded by taxpayers, yet tickets and concessions are absurdly priced as well. Everything should be like the $1.50 Costco hotdog and soda. We’ve been losing our ‘third spaces’ mostly because of corporate greed.
It’s interesting that LAS is at the top when their customers are among the least likely to be business customers paying with OPM.
Maybe LAS concessions are taking after the casinos…
Two things I avioid in lifr: Charbucks and their burnt coffee, and Las Vegas, which ceased to offer any value.
@AlanZ — You’re very fortunate to be blessed with exceptional cafes, high-quality coffee, and full-service expresso machines, even in mere gas stations, across Italy (and Malta). Starbucks is not what it used to be, either.
@1990:
At our village square there are five cafes. Four are always busy. The fifth never has more than one or two customers. Guess which one is the fifth. Correcto.
I lived 40 years in Seattle and never went into a Charbucks. Too old to start now.
@AlanZ — Bah! I believe it. And, as far as corporate chains, more Costa Coffee (mostly UK) and Caffe Nero in Europe, it seems.