Chex Mix going viral for its shocking prices at airports
A viral post on social media has revealed just how out-of-whack prices are for food and drink at airports across the U.S.
Chex Mix is going viral for all of the wrong reasons.
The snack has become a trending topic on social media as eagle-eyed users on X (formerly known as Twitter) have begun to track how much they are being charged for an 8oz bag of it at airports across the country. And the price differences have been appalling.
What started as an innocent request for data on the cost of Chex Mix “at every airport” by TV writer Kylie Brakeman on X has resulted in a wonderful trip down a rabbit hole of cost data and price differences that unveiled how expensive Chex Mix is at airports around the nation.
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“Started doing science. Feel free to report any data you have,” wrote Brakeman on X.
She asked users to send her the prices they saw for the popular snack at any airport they were visiting in the U.S. and added a couple of rules; the Chex Mix (GIS) had to be “Traditional” flavor, the bag had to be 8oz and the price submitted had to be pre-tax.
So far, in Brakeman’s latest update on the project, the airport that charged the least amount of money for Chex Mix was the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport where it was priced at $3.49, which was confirmed by two X users who provided photo proof.
The airport that charged the most for the beloved snack was reportedly Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. According to Brakeman’s data, two users on X reported seeing the airport price for the 8oz bag of Chex Mix at a price range of $12.99 to $14.99. Google Maps
Many users on X responded to the revealing data, which garnered over 700,000 views, by expressing their shock at the inflated prices and how they varied across different airports.
WTH Chicago and Seattle— George McLaughlin (@GeorgeMcLa42459) February 8, 2024
omg seattle is making me SICK that's my airport— sullivan ballou (@sullivan_ballou) February 6, 2024
All about location location location. opportunity cost- are you willing to pay for that satisfaction for that chex mix at that place and time.— psp1116 (@psp111613) February 9, 2024
Chex Mix has become the latest symbol for airport sticker shock but this is not the first time airports have been put on blast by consumers for high prices. In 2021, a user on X named Cooper Lund tweeted an image, which is now deleted, of his menu at a restaurant called Biergarten in LaGuardia Airport where a Sam Adams Summer Ale Draught was selling for $27.85. Lund also claimed in the tweet that customers were being charged a 10% “COVID Recovery Fee”.
Shortly after that incident, in 2022, New York City revealed that it cracked down on price gouging at its airports. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced new rules to prevent concessionaires from hiking prices.
The policy caps all concession prices at local, off-airport “street prices” and enforces a maximum surcharge of 10%. The rules affect LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
Amid a tight economy in the United States, inflation still has a tight grip on food prices across the country. According to recent Consumer Price Index data, between November 2023 to December 2023, food prices increased by 0.1% and are 2.7% higher than they were in December 2022. Restaurant food prices also increased by 0.3% in December last year, which is 5.2% higher than what the prices were the year before during the same month.
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