The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says a Newark Liberty International Airport self-checkout kiosk should stop asking customers for tips after a traveler’s video drew attention to an 18% gratuity prompt on a bottled-water purchase, prompting discussions about the Newark airport tip prompt.

In a statement published by News 12 on Oct. 27, the agency said it had contacted airport concession operator OTG and expected the option on the machine to be removed immediately. It also said it would check for similar prompts at other self-checkout kiosks.

“Tipping prompts have no place at self-checkout kiosks,” the spokesperson said.

That is a request for corrective action, not confirmation that the change has been completed. As of Oct. 28, the reporting reviewed for this story did not establish that the prompt had been disabled.

What the video does, and does not, establish

Clay Moss shared footage of buying water and questioning a suggested tip while using a self-service checkout. TODAY’s report, carried by NBC Boston, identified the store as CIBO Express in Newark’s Terminal C. It described a $6.49 water bottle and a preselected $1.17 gratuity, which Moss removed.

The amount matches 18% of $6.49, rounded to the nearest cent. The reported ability to select zero matters: This was a tip prompt, not evidence that customers had to pay an 18% charge to finish every purchase.

TODAY dated his social-media post to Oct. 16. The Daily Dot’s Oct. 19 account described a TikTok upload on Oct. 17 and cautioned that it had not independently verified the incident’s details. Those dates refer to posts, not an independently established date for the purchase.

A brief video with no worker in view does not establish that no employees serve the store or would receive a gratuity. The reviewed reporting also does not establish how tips from this particular terminal were distributed. TODAY reported that CIBO Express representatives had not immediately answered its request for comment.

The tip and the benefits surcharge are different

TODAY also reported that the checkout displayed an employee-benefits surcharge with a notice that it was not a gratuity paid directly to staff. That fee should not be confused with the separate 18% tip selection.

The Port Authority’s official airport pricing manual says its board approved an employee-benefits and retention surcharge of up to 3% of a customer’s pretax bill in December 2024. The manual also calls for signage using approved language to address customers’ questions about the charge.

A fee meant to help cover labor costs is different from money a shopper chooses to leave as a gratuity. Calling both a “tip” would blur the issue and could wrongly suggest that the airport authorized the 18% selection shown in the video.

The distinction appears in federal guidance, too. The Internal Revenue Service identifies customer choice as a central feature of a tip. Its examples distinguish a required restaurant charge from an optional amount a customer can enter or leave blank. Mandatory service charges distributed to employees are treated as wages rather than tips.

That guidance explains the categories. It does not, by itself, establish whether this kiosk’s setup complied with every applicable rule.

Airport prices have their own rules

The dispute also raises a practical question for travelers: Are there less expensive choices before checkout?

The Port Authority’s December 2025 Value for Money guidance ties permission to charge up to 15% above comparable local prices to offering lower-cost items. It calls for at least four value options, including an affordable bottle of spring water. The guidance describes that water option as 16 to 20 ounces, priced at $2 or less, or another affordable option the agency defines.

Those requirements do not mean every brand and size of water must cost $2. They also do not prove that a qualifying option was available, missing or easy to find at the store when Moss visited. Assessing that would require evidence about the location’s inventory, signs and approved pricing.

For Mohawk Valley residents using Newark, JFK or LaGuardia, the policy offers a concrete question to ask: Where are the store’s value-priced items?

Keep workers in the picture

Customers can question a checkout setting without assuming that the people who stock, clean or support a shop chose it. A screen gives little information about employees’ pay or their employer’s tip-sharing arrangements.

Federal rules also limit what businesses may do with employees’ tips. The U.S. Department of Labor says employers may not keep employees’ tips or let managers and supervisors take other employees’ tips. Managers cannot receive money from employee tip pools, although they may keep a tip for service they directly and solely provide.

These protections are relevant background, not evidence that any worker or company in this incident violated the law. A reliable answer about who benefits from the airport kiosk’s gratuities would require the operator’s policy and payment records.

Frustration does not tell the whole economic story

Confusion about tipping predates this video. In Pew Research Center’s 2023 survey of 11,945 U.S. adults, 72% said tipping was expected in more places than five years earlier. Forty percent opposed businesses suggesting tip amounts, while 24% favored it.

That is historical survey evidence, not a new poll of reactions to Newark. It also does not show that Americans have stopped rewarding service.

More recent transaction data offers another view. Toast reported average tips of 19.1% at full-service restaurants and 15.8% at quick-service restaurants in the second quarter of 2026. The company described rates as relatively stable over two years. Its figures cover transactions on its platform where a tip was added by card or digital payment. They exclude cash tips and no-tip transactions, and do not measure airport retail kiosks.

For a traveler facing an unfamiliar screen, the useful checks are straightforward: Review the item price, identify any required fee, confirm the optional tip selection and keep the receipt. Ask the operator who receives gratuities if the screen does not explain it.

At Newark, the immediate unanswered question is whether the requested change has reached the machines customers actually use.

Image credits: AI-generated editorial illustrations created with OpenAI for Utica Phoenix. The images depict generic checkout and retail scenes, not Moss, the Newark store or documentary evidence of this incident.