Yep..pretty much the case. But if you have to spend more than a couple of hours at SJO during peak hours, it might be worth it. I was walking around the terminal area and it was a zoo. The food court area was full, the gate waiting areas were full. Since I has almost three hours prior to flight time, I splurged on the $30 (not knowing it didn't include drinks). On the plus side the chairs were very comfortable...it was very quiet...nice flat-screens and the staff was very courteous.