Contractual Dispute over Pricey Airport Water

We all know the feeling of having to pay twice as much – or more – for food and drink in airports compared to most other places.  Two vendors at the Los Angeles International Airport (“LAX”) are now taking this practice to the next level: they are suing each other for alleged contracts violations and price gouging.

Boutique retailer Kitson Stores runs two stores at LAX.  It apparently charges around $2.55 for a liter of water (roughly a quart) at those stores.  Competitor Hudson Group charges $5 a bottle (size unknown, but presumably roughly the same and expensive at any rate).  Kitson is alleging that Hudson is gouging passengers with its “hugely inflated” water prices and is trying to force Kitson out of business at the airport.  Hudson is countering that Kitson is hardly concerned about consumer price protections, but that this lawsuit is really a diversion from Kitson’s alleged contractual violations. 

Whichever turns out to be the case, airport prices are well known to be very high for everything from chewing gum to dinner.  Perhaps higher-than-usual rent prices are to blame, at least in part.  Of course, airport retailers also enjoy a captive market (almost literally).  Consumers are, however, still allowed to bring an empty bottle to the airport and fill it with free water from, for example, the increasing number of “bottle filling stations” that are thankfully also appearing in more and more airports.  This does seem to be a case of fake altruism, but is nonetheless a lawsuit that may resolve an important issue.