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Photo of $28 beer sparks debate over pricey airport food

The price was a system glitch, according to company that owns the restaurant.
A spokesperson for the company that owns the restaurant told TODAY Food that the correct cost of the beer is $13.35 for 16 oz. and $18.15 for 23 oz.
A spokesperson for the company that owns the restaurant told TODAY Food that the correct cost of the beer is $13.35 for 16 oz. and $18.15 for 23 oz. cooperlund / Twitter
/ Source: TODAY

When Cooper Lund arrived at LaGuardia Airport for a flight to Minnesota last month, he decided to kill some time by grabbing a beer, but he was in for some serious sticker shock when he started perusing the LaGuardia Biergarten's menu.

The Brooklyn resident was pretty surprised to see that two of the beers on tap were over $20, including a Sam Adams Summer Ale draft that cost a whopping $27.85. Lund decided to tweet a photo of the pricey beverages to his followers and opted for one of the less expensive items on the menu instead.

"I sucked it up and paid like $11 for a 12 oz Heineken because I'm kind of a chump who still wanted the novelty of drinking a beer in an airport before noon," he told TODAY Food via a direct message on Twitter. "It didn't hurt that we got there way early for our flight and there's not a lot of ways to kill time at the airport."

When they caught a glimpse of the menu, many of Lund's Twitter followers couldn't help but agree with him that it was overpriced.

Many social media users said they'd rather go without their favorite alcoholic beverage than pay such high prices.

When Twitter user @AirlineFlyer flagged Lund's tweet for OTG Management, the company that owns LaGuardia Biergarten, OTG's Twitter account reached out to Lund to apologize.

"Yikes. GOOD CATCH! That Sam Summer **price is incorrect** and has been updated. + note all other listed prices are for 23oz pours," the company wrote. "@cooperlund - we very much appreciate you spotting. DM us next time you're passing through -🍻🍻🍻 on us."

An OTG spokesperson confirmed that the pricing was a glitch in an email statement to TODAY Food and said the correct cost of the beer is $13.35 for 16 ounces and $18.15 for 23 ounces.

“This is a situation where someone simply input the wrong prices. Once we learned of it, we immediately took action to correct and began proactively auditing our entire system to ensure there were no other mistakes," they wrote.

Lund told us he had seen OTG's tweet, but said he was concerned that the glitch occurred in the first place.

"I appreciate it but it's kind of too little, too late. How many people paid the outrageous price who didn't have a tweet get traction to get it fixed?" he said.

Despite the price correction, many Twitter users agreed that they wouldn't pay $18 for a beer.

On Tuesday, The City reported that the Port authority of New York and New Jersey had asked OTG, which also owns eateries at JFK and Newark airports, to audit its menu prices. OTG old TODAY that it "took this initiative on its own” once they became aware of the pricing glitch.

TODAY Food reached out to the Port Authority but they did not immediately respond.

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