Little things at LAX

I travel quite a bit through Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). One of the most frustrating things to me is that you cannot buy a chilled soda, water, juice at any of the small shops in any of the concourses. Now you can sometimes overcome this issue by standing in line at one of the small shops like Starbuck's or Burger King and purchasing a water from them, but that is highly inconvenient.

What I want to know is why I can't buy a cold bottle of water at one of the little shops? It is especially frustrating because the water is merchandised in refrigerators . . . it's just that the refrigerator doors have been removed and the refrigerators are unplugged. Perhaps it's the refrigerator thing that irks me the most. Why use search a large merchandising device? Just pull out the fridge (it obviously doesn't work or you're not allowed to use it) and put in some shelves. If you do that, I will have absolutely no expectation that there will be cold water.

I traveled through LAX earlier this week on Southwest and had an idea: If I could find a Southwest ticket for $39 one-way, and I served the most inexpensive bottles of water possible (read Arrowhead), I would have a very low breakeven. I could fill 2 large backpacks with blocks of ice and bottles of water (better yet, I could freeze the water bottles before going to the airport). Once I got into the terminal with my valid boarding pass and ID, I would sell the bottled water for a $2 premium because it was cold.

Here's my even better idea: Use the best bottled water -- Fiji -- if I am going to go to the effort. I know I would pay $8 for a big bottle of ice-cold Fiji water vs. a warm bottle of Aquafina or Arrowhead at one of the stores.

If anyone tries this, let me know how it goes. If I find the time to try it myself, I'll be sure to let all of you know how it goes.