Fudge wrote:
> Almost anything purchased at an airport is high priced and low quality.
> Usually, airport food concessions and all concessions are tendered which
> means the lowest bidder does not win. There is usually a lot of graft and
> corruption involved. My advise, bring a sandwich.


I've wondered about this. A few years ago I was on the airport shuttle
bus to Logan Airport in Boston. A sign in the bus said something about
how the prices in the airport were supposed to be the same as other area
prices and gave a phone number on where to report violations. I didn't
pay it too much attention. In fact, I'm not even certain that's exactly
what it said. I was just bored and reading the signs in the bus.

We got to the airport and were waiting in the long line for security. I
was quite hungry. I looked over the baked goods at the Starbucks and
thought they didn't look that good. This was odd because I couldn't
have said exactly what was wrong with them, not by sight. I've liked
the cookies and cakes at other Starbucks around town, and these looked
the same-- but different. I couldn't explain it even now. I bought a
cake-like breakfast roll. It tasted like sugar and sawdust, truly
inedible even for someone who was hungry. I chose to throw it out. I
figure it is easier to recover from hunger (just eat) than from horrible
food (hours of stomahache).

That's when I thought of the sign in the bus. This roll looked like the
same thing sold in town, cost the same amount, but obviously was made
from inferior ingredients that I could taste. I can't be sure, but I'd
say it had shortening, not butter, extra sugar instead of flour, and
something different about the flour, maybe preservatives or a binder
that glued the sugar and sawdust together. It is hard to say since I'd
never tasted anything remotely that bad.

I can only guess that this is an example of the corruption you're
talking about. A perfectly good law was put into place to make sure
customers captive at the airport didn't get ripped off, and someone
found a way to dodge the law.

--Lia