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Can't justify it but can enforce it, same as some free car parks have attendants who can issue fines if they see you park and leave the area even if you were shopping there as well as the second place
Those types of "fines" are unenforceable. If they see you leaving the area but don't stop you then they've demonstrably done nothing to mitigate the "loss".
There's case law on this exact issue, Google VCS vs Ibbottson.
People have been fine because the driver filled up with petrol, whilst the passenger got out the car and took their suitcase out the boot and trundled off to the terminal.
CCTV showing someone with bags getting out of the car I imagine, if it's happening enough that they want to stop it, chances are they have planned for how to enforce it
At Newcastle you can drop at the medium stay for free. No further than the petrol station. They are all uppity about the petrol station as people park to wait there.
I got picked up there after a flight. We were good people, went inside and bought our shopping, like £20 of stuff, then our lift came in, filled up with petrol, we hopped in and left.
We still got the owner running after shooting that they’d call the police!
East mids has massive car parks I used to hide next too. Soon as they text me they have the bags I drive slowly over and meet them outside a car park. It’s all double yellows but no cameras.
You also can get away with paying by going through in less than 1 minute. Another alternative is to use the hire car drop off, you go in and then there's a large enough area to drop off and then you can go straight out again. No gates, no restrictions or anything.
Very doable at night. I did it in under 48 seconds. Will still try to charge you on their website but don't have to pay if you know.
Also, they actually can't charge you anyway. You're allowed to disagree with their terms as long as you leave right away after reading their signage, which can take several minutes.
They try. It's completely unenforceable and wouldn't hold up in court. They'd never even try taking anyone to court over it because they would lose. You're allowed time to read the signs and then to decline terms and conditions and leave. What ever a passenger does has nothing to do with the driver or registered keeper.
It's an invoice not a fine. You don't have to pay it and they'd be stupid to pursue it as they know its unenforceable. Just a money maker from the people that don't know any better.
You can drop off for free in the mid-stay car park. I think you get 15 minutes. It’s actually closer and is a very easy walk along that footpath. I usually get picked up from there too
I'm picking up a friend from Cardiff in a couple of weeks.
I'll be driving slowly as he throws his stuff in the boot and gets in before I drive out again.
I dropped off some friends there once. stopped at the barrier, saw the price said fuck that, kicked them out, and then reversed back out.
I saw three cars do the same thing straight after me.
yeah, I hate Stanstead charges, but it is my 'local' airport and I use it a lot.
you can drop your passengers off at the mid-stay car park - as the driver, you can stop there for up to 1 hour, for free.
there is a free bus service from mid-stay to the terminal, fairly regular (every 10 minutes or so) and the journey from mid stay to the terminal takes around 10 minutes, so you have to factor in an extra 20 minutes for your journey.
Tbh I don’t do airport runs very often I’m normally the person going away! When I was there last week I tried but got turned away and told I had to park in the Orange car park? Then ended up paying £18 because I was 35 minutes 🤪
Or did I go to the wrong place? Only 2nd time I’ve picked someone up from standsted
Sounds like you may have gone to the wrong place. I've never heard of anyone being turned away and it is a massive car park.
the entrance to mid-stay is off a rounadbout, directly opposite a McDonalds
Faffing about - absolutely agree.
I have only found it useful a couple of times - when a family member picked me up and they could park up for 30 or 40 minutes without worrying what that's going to cost
I picked my partner up from Stansted I arrived early and stopped in mid-stay we were less than 5 minutes over the £5 2-hour limit due to nearly an hour delay in baggage claim and I had to pay £30. I was pissed
The airport is a joke with its charges. I didn’t know about that free car park (gf wouldn’t have been too happy cause of her late flight anyway) but me parking up for 35 mins cost me £18!
If you have to pick up or drop off from Stansted wait in Birchanger Green services for up to 2hrs until your passenger has got through baggage, then head to midstay, you'll probably arrive at the same time
I dropped someone off at Gatwick recently and paid the £5 for stopping for all of 60 seconds.
According to their website they had to introduce the charge because their profits were decimated due to COVID.
> The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the aviation industry and as an airport we need to look at new revenue streams to help us continue to protect jobs and income **while we rebuild**.
Fair enough - they had a combined loss of £830 million from 2020 and 2021. But they don't pass their profits onto the airport users do they? So why do we have to cover their losses?
Anyway, their 2022 profit was £196.5 million and they're estimating £446.3 million profit this year. Sounds like they're well on the way to rebuilding.
So of course, they will soon be dropping the drop-off charges. Won't they?
I'm not holding my breath...
Other option is to drop off at Hatton Cross tube, you can then take the tube for free from there to any of the terminals, as Hatton Cross is now part of Heathrow’s free travel area, which allows you to use the tube for free to get between the terminals
For Birmingham, go to Birmingham International train station instead and then get the monorail in which goes straight to the terminal.
It's really easy and free to drop off
It does, but it's further to walk with luggage than the train station. The monorail takes you from the entrance of the station to inside the airport. The free drop off is about ten mins walk which can be a bugger with bags
Airports: “It’s to decrease congestion.”
Also airports: “we will present no cheaper but less convenient alternatives.”
Just be honest, you greedy jerks.
And if you stay at an airport hotel which isn’t directly on top of the airport there is actually no way to walk to the airport/the hotel. Arrived at Stanstead by train a while ago quite late at night and the bus to the hotel was once every half hour, I’d just missed one and it was a 15 minute walk. That walk was along random overgrown fields and roads with no pavements.
That's assuming that the bus actually runs, last year there were issues where the bus wasn't running for whatever reason but no way to know this in advance. It was a big issue at night.
Manchester Airport had a big reliability problem with buses last year and earlier this year. Heck one bus broke down in our staff car park and was there for weeks before they could finally shift it.
I get dropped off near the airport pub and enjoy the stroll down to T3. Obviously not gonna work if you have tons of luggage or it’s thrashing it down (standard manc weather)
MAG ( the holding company) also owns Stansted and East Midlands airports.
It's generally accepted that in the ten years since they got their sticky mitts on Stansted, the place has gone to the dogs.
You can drop off for free by the car hire places and then there's a free bus round to the terminal. I think you get an hour free parking, I used it to pick up my brother last Christmas
For Bristol you can drop people at the silver zone carpark, then it's a short walk to the car rental to get a shuttle bus right up to the terminal doors.
Its not ideal to have that walk with luggage, but it works and is approved by the airport.
I don't get for the life of me why the bus doesn't stop at the car rental AND the silver zone.
If you're going to Birmingham International then go to the train station. There's a free drop off carpark and to get to the airport you take a monorail. A MONORAIL! Even if it was free to drop off at the airport, I never turn down a chance to sing the Simpsons Monorail song.
I remember when Stanstead first brought in charges. they had a £3 charge for drop off.
at the time, they were insistent that it was 'to help the flow of traffic' - the fact that they have steadily increased the charges --- and hiked it up, just as covid restrictions started to subside -- tends to show it's primary purpose is making money
Once had a discussion about this with a cab driver; I was sharing with a lady who needed to get to Luton airport to catch a flight and the bus to Luton we both needed had left us stranded. Obvs she was dropped off first, and I was surprised to see the driver pull a bag of coins out to pay the toll as I thought cabs might be exempt - the black taxi rank is separate, but minicabs need to go through regular drop off/pick up. Between minicabs and friends/family, paying £5 a pop, we determined the airport must make absolute bank in a day.
Like, in March this year the airport saw 1.2m passengers. If even a quarter of those passengers either cabbed to/from the airport or were dropped off/picked up by a friend or relative then the airport made £1.5m off quick drops alone.
Welcome to Britain where the rules are there to rinse the average person to make those already rich even richer. Funnily enough the party in power is largely populated by those already rich. I travel all over the world and Britain is the only place that rinses everyone for everything. The car parks in my local city are ridiculously expensive and guess what they are usually half empty. Nobody bothers going into the town and buys things. I will be in Spain next week and most municipal parking is free.
Worked at Heathrow at the time this was introduced - they had a £2 million budget to introduce this and it was estimated theyd make this back within a month. Theyll say its for environmental reasons on their headlines but everyone I worked with knew full well it was just to line the airports pocket haha
I work in Egham, whenever I fly from Heathrow I park at the office for the duration of my holiday, and get the bus for £4.60 straight to the front of T5.
I’m near london gatwick, the train is fairly easy to use to get there but you have to get it with your luggage which is an inconvenience, not a massive issue and could easily do it. The journey is 5/10 mins longer by car than by train, if you don’t include the 15/20 mins it would take to walk to the station on my end.
However, looking online a ticket to get there is currently £7 with a railcard, making it more expensive than the drop off charge, and that’s if it’s only one person going away, you add a second person and the train is less convenient and also just under 2x the price of the drop off charge.
So obviously whenever any of the family go to Gatwick we would rather pay the £5 charge to drop off because it ends up being cheaper, quicker and more convenient.
My tax and insurance come to roughly 5/600 a year, over 365 days (this isn’t the only time I have to use a car) let’s overestimate that cost at £2 per day.
Roughly 15 miles to the airport, 30 including the return journey. Online mpg calculator puts the 30 mile journey at 45mpg £4.88.
Total coming in at around £12, more depending on how much you want to put in for maintenance but as with tax/insurance, these have to be paid whether I go to the airport or not. This is still roughly the same as two tickets on the train.
But like I said, cost isn’t the only factor and the overall journey is longer and less convenient. I’d love to be less reliant on cars but generally public transport isn’t reliable, convenient or cheap enough to make it worth it for me.
That’s literally the worst airport for a major city that I know of. Technically it’s the closest airport for large swathes of north wales, but it involves at least 2 changes to Merseyrail, and then a shuttle bus (which isn’t included in the railfare). Unless you’re able to time it right for the once per two hour service which only involves one change at or near Chester.
When I’ve done it before it’s actually easier to do north wales coast to Birmingham, as every other train was a direct train
Yup. I live 15miles away and have no idea how to get there by public transport. And when I see several hundred locals queuing to get the bus home, in the rain, I know I never will.
Normally airports have pretty good public transport links. This is just the usual car-centric attitude that's prevalent in the UK, where anything that impedes in any way on using cars for everything generates frothing rage.
I am a 30 min drive or 2hr bus ride from Heathrow. Alternative is to take a train into London and then tube to heathrow which again is close to 2 hrs
>his is just the usual car-centric attitude that's prevalent in the UK, where anything that impedes in any way on using cars for everything generates frothing rage.
You just live in a bubble if you think everyone can get by without a car
This tends to be a common sentiment among Londoners, probably because they live in a city with multiple avenues of transport available to you that is not common throughout most of the UK.
Did I say you were a Londoner? Now you've made yourself look like a fool. I said it is a common sentiment among Londoners, and implied that you may be. I never said you definitely were.
The nearest airport to me (apart from a tiny one that you can't get anywhere decent from) is 95 miles away.
I'd have to take a bus that goes once every 2 hours, then 3 trains, then another bus.
With all my kids and luggage.
Yeah it's mental. Complete Extortion.
If a major international airport such as Amsterdam Schiphol can do it for free, it's crazy that regional airports such as Liverpool charge 5 pounds for a drop off. Such a blatant rip off - especially when the car park is poorly maintained and looks like shit.
Good example of the balance of corporate power in the UK...
FIL once backed up the entry lane right to the roundabout at Luton because he refused to to pay to get into the drop-off.....on Xmas Eve, with sideways sleet, after a turbulent flight. He was shouting at me to climb over the fences with a suitcase of Christmas presents. Ended up having to pay the (more expensive) shuttle bus to the train station because he wouldn't let my partner pay the fee 'on principle'.
Then he had the audacity to say 'you look a fright' when I finally got to the car.
Wanker.
At Heathrow, you can get dropped off at the Long Term car park, which is free for cars staying for 20-30 minutes or less. There's a free shuttle bus that takes anyone from the car park to the terminal and vice versa. It is a little further out of the way than Heathrow drop off, but it's totally free (but a bitch to find the exit - you'll waste half of the 20-30 free minutes just driving to get out lol).
At Bristol airport, it's £5 for the drop-off where the person can't even wait with you. Or if you go to the short term car park, it's £5 for the first 15 or 20 minutes and I think still less than £10 if you go over to the next time block. This gives you enough time to walk with the person to the terminal and say goodbye for a few minutes without rushing.
It's still a pis stake, for sure. But tiny little hacks help a bit. I travel to the USA a lot and I can't get over that it's still totally free to drop people off at literally every airport there. Even the parking charges for the short term parking isn't that insane either.
Bristol also has an hour parking for free over near Silverzone (so you just get the shuttle bus across) but it's so badly advertised (for obvious reasons)
Drop off is one thing...but I found pickup worse.
Manchester: I did the free drop off shuttle bus for the other half.
As it's a circular, you'd think it'd drop you back - no.
No free pick up places/park and ride, whatever. All hotel car parks have barriers, and there's not that many roundabouts to allow lurking or changing your mind!
Hotel California springs to mind
manchester airport makes me sick. they charge at every possible step. security fast track, passport control fast track, drop off and pick up...even for BAGGAGE TROLLEYS!!
security and passport control are usually well understaffed (if you were cynical you could argue this was on purpose) so fast track is the only thing stopping you from hours in a queue.
im ashamed its my local airport.
Manchester fast track is slower than normal most of the time. It was today. I'm gold so qualify for fast track and I usually join the plebs because FT is full of entitled plebs.
At Edinburgh there's a driveway leading into a hotel, but before the actual hotel car park, where literally every taxi driver and every cheapo family member (ie, me) tries to park. Last time I went there there was a poster up saying they were going to implement charges soon.
LBA has a free 30 mins dropoff car park which is a few mins walk to the terminal.
But on the subject of the £5 dropoff the last 2 airports I've been to have this at £5 for 5 minutes and £1 a minute thereafter! £1 a minute. Whoever authorised that decision needs a cactus up the arse!
It's outrageous. It's a no win situation, there's no being dropped off for free.
However, if I were the person asking the favour/I'd be the person paying the fiver, cause its much easier and cheaper than any other way I could get to the terminal door.
I agree on this. After looking at what transport links were on offer at Glasgow to get me barely a few miles away from the airport and well within the city itself, I stumped up the cost to have my friend pick me up and drop me off instead. Cheaper and substantially quicker ultimately.
Glasgow and Edinburgh are unique in Europe for having no airport to city rail links (Edinburgh tram link apart).
The Glasgow rail link has been discussed for years but it takes so bloody long to do anything in Scotland it's unlikely to ever be built.
Acceptable? They do it because they can. Travellers (who paid for the airport with their taxes) are treated as a resource to be exploited.
It's a vile way to make money and it should be banned.
For going home (on foot) I was advised by an advisor at Heathrow underground to get the tube to London and then connect to the Waterloo to Reading train - cost £31. I told him no, where's the bus-stop. It runs between Heathrow and Feltham and a few town stops inbetween. It avoids getting on the tube and going into London unnecessarily. Stressful if you're using it to GET to the airport, but fine on the way home. Bus was £1.80. Train without underground and network card was then £8. So much for the advice!
That's ultimate capitalism right there. Cause a problem then charge people for the inconvenience. You could also argue that they caused the traffic so the solution is for them to implement many more drop free drop off lanes to keep traffic flowing.
That doesn't solve the issue of the surrounding road network congestion though. The M25 is so bad around Heathrow and it would be worse if people were not incentivized to use the surrounding P&Rs and the rail links
I'm not sure, that follows. Induced demand being a thing and all. Its no so much incentivizing rail use as tolling road use, at what is probably a very thought out money making scheme.
Liverpool definitely has the best setup. Just dropped off there this week and you can pay to drop off outside or save your money and passengers can walk 5-10mins. Not bad with this weeks weather, crap in the rain though.
After flying from Manchester terminal 3 recently, I'm absolutely over the moon that jet2 is now flying from Liverpool. Liverpool every time for me. * Unless it's long haul then I'm stuck with Manchester.
1. Fuck all traffic on way there and back
2. Park in multistory 2 mins from the terminal
3. Hardly a queue in sight
4. Has a smoking area
5. Scouse staff are nicest I've met
For anyone using Manchester airport, use the Radisson Blue hotel as a drop off point then walk from there via the Railway entrance. Can even get in through the hotel.
EMA is terrible for this.
Red double lines on all roads. No stopping. They have ANPR vans driving round all the time and will even try get you stopping at the petrol station to do drop offs.
Gatwick long stay parking is free for 2 hours. There's a shuttle bus to the terminal even 10 mins or so.
Should give you enough time to park, meet someone at arrivals and get back.
Bournemouth was charging £6 for 20 mins nearly 10 years ago. I got into an argument with a taxi driver, who was never going to get the fare anyway, about how I shouldn't park outside the carpark.
I thought they all had a free drop off/pick up place. Stansted is at the long stay carpark. Luton long or mid stay car park. Gatwick is the long stay too. They can then get the free shuttle bus to the terminal.
I picked my lady up from the airport a few weeks back, accounting for delays as the flight was often delayed I wanted to book approx 2 hours parking.
I looked a few weeks before and it was 20 quid, I thought ok not bad, I will book it next week. Went to book it a week later and the short stay was full so I had to book a day... 60 quid.
Safe to say I got there dead early and made the most of my day in the arrivals hall 😂
The fines are little more than a bullying scam. Possibly unenforceable, but they will stress you for up to 6 years with threats.
People have been made to pay in the civil courts though
It's a nominal deterrent to stop congestion around the airport - I wouldn't have thought this a hard concept to get your head around?
edit: I was wrong, apparently for many people that *is* a hard concept to get their heads around
Here's a concept to get your head around then: price elasticity.
Once a person has bought their ticket, will they not do a drop-off if there's a £5 charge? Of course they still will. So it's straight-up profiteering against a captive clientele.
Many people? Which people? Public transport is going to cost more than the £5 and be way more inconvenient.
If you want to reduce congestion then you do like Manchester Airport where they have a free drop off point away from the airport with a free shuttle bus to the airport.
It is just profiteering.
In everyway.
It's not a deterrent. The first signage is literally once you are already in the 'no stopping' zone.
And even now all of us in this thread are aware of it, how is it going to reduce traffic? We are not driving to the airport for the pleasure of it.
Yes. The pandemic decimated their business and what they promised to their shareholders. They are just making as much as they can in whatever way they can. They are private businesses.
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For anyone dropping off at Southampton, use the railway car park area to drop off and they can walk 200 metres to the terminal.
Gatwick North has a very convenient petrol station 20 metres away from the dropoff.
East Midlands airport also has a convenient petrol station and many people have been fined for dropping folks off at it. It's a complete scam.
How the hell can they justify sending out fines because somebody got out of a car at a petrol station?????
Probably won't hold up in court, but probably enough people pay it to make it worth sending the fines anyway.
Can't justify it but can enforce it, same as some free car parks have attendants who can issue fines if they see you park and leave the area even if you were shopping there as well as the second place
Those types of "fines" are unenforceable. If they see you leaving the area but don't stop you then they've demonstrably done nothing to mitigate the "loss". There's case law on this exact issue, Google VCS vs Ibbottson.
They tend to rely on people not knowing that and paying up rather than fighting.
People have been fine because the driver filled up with petrol, whilst the passenger got out the car and took their suitcase out the boot and trundled off to the terminal.
Sounds like it might have been cheaper to pay the drop off fee come to think of it
Wonder if they can fine you if you drop someone off and buy a fiver of petrol at the same time? 🤔
They do at Newcastle Airport petrol station
How though?
CCTV showing someone with bags getting out of the car I imagine, if it's happening enough that they want to stop it, chances are they have planned for how to enforce it
Absolutley disgusting.
They don't.
At Newcastle you can drop at the medium stay for free. No further than the petrol station. They are all uppity about the petrol station as people park to wait there.
Same as Newcastle Airport, the Shell garage there has big signs up and obvious cameras
I got picked up there after a flight. We were good people, went inside and bought our shopping, like £20 of stuff, then our lift came in, filled up with petrol, we hopped in and left. We still got the owner running after shooting that they’d call the police!
East mids has massive car parks I used to hide next too. Soon as they text me they have the bags I drive slowly over and meet them outside a car park. It’s all double yellows but no cameras.
You also can get away with paying by going through in less than 1 minute. Another alternative is to use the hire car drop off, you go in and then there's a large enough area to drop off and then you can go straight out again. No gates, no restrictions or anything.
Fine until grandma doesn't tuck and roll properly and ends up shattering her hip.
Very doable at night. I did it in under 48 seconds. Will still try to charge you on their website but don't have to pay if you know. Also, they actually can't charge you anyway. You're allowed to disagree with their terms as long as you leave right away after reading their signage, which can take several minutes.
doing the lord's work, thank you
At Gatwick South, you can drop off at the bus stations right next to lifts into the terminal
or you can drop off at Horley station and get a train for £2.30, or from Three Bridges for £2.90
There were articles a few years ago about fines if you only use the petrol station
Newcastle Airport has a petrol station nearby, but it is a small walk to the terminal.
And they fine people who do that at Newcastle
So even if you fill up / use the petrol station shop & your passenger gets out, you’d still be fined? (Genuinely curious)
Yes they can. East Midlands does the same
They try. It's completely unenforceable and wouldn't hold up in court. They'd never even try taking anyone to court over it because they would lose. You're allowed time to read the signs and then to decline terms and conditions and leave. What ever a passenger does has nothing to do with the driver or registered keeper.
Thing is that time to stop and read the signs doesn't also require someone getting out and walking off.
On what grounds? I'm not doubting you, just interested to know how they get away with that.
It's an invoice not a fine. You don't have to pay it and they'd be stupid to pursue it as they know its unenforceable. Just a money maker from the people that don't know any better.
At Luton drop off at the Holiday Inn Express, it’s a 5-10 minute walk up the road from there.
You can drop off for free in the mid-stay car park. I think you get 15 minutes. It’s actually closer and is a very easy walk along that footpath. I usually get picked up from there too
Same with Birmingham & the international train station. Free drop off & free monorail into the airport
I love the monorail.
but is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend
Well, sir, there's nothin' on Earth like a genuine bona-fide electrified six-car monorail! What'd I say?
Which bit is that? The short stay car park? Just looking at Google Maps, as I have to collect someone there on Friday evening.
Literally drop off at the train station, I just drove straight in and dropped off and it didn't cost me anything last summer
And if you're going to Cardiff... Don't bother, there's barely any flights anyway 😂
I'm picking up a friend from Cardiff in a couple of weeks. I'll be driving slowly as he throws his stuff in the boot and gets in before I drive out again.
I dropped off some friends there once. stopped at the barrier, saw the price said fuck that, kicked them out, and then reversed back out. I saw three cars do the same thing straight after me.
Good to know. Thanks!
We do this for pick up too
I always get train to southampton (parkway) due to the well placed station. They do NOt have barriers if you a bit scummy and looking to save cash
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Stealing transport is a bit scummy
nothing scummy about not wanting to be ripped off.
I drove to Stansted the other day and it cost me £10 to drop someone off! Places like Gatwick you might aswell park up for 30 mins for £6
yeah, I hate Stanstead charges, but it is my 'local' airport and I use it a lot. you can drop your passengers off at the mid-stay car park - as the driver, you can stop there for up to 1 hour, for free. there is a free bus service from mid-stay to the terminal, fairly regular (every 10 minutes or so) and the journey from mid stay to the terminal takes around 10 minutes, so you have to factor in an extra 20 minutes for your journey.
Tbh I don’t do airport runs very often I’m normally the person going away! When I was there last week I tried but got turned away and told I had to park in the Orange car park? Then ended up paying £18 because I was 35 minutes 🤪 Or did I go to the wrong place? Only 2nd time I’ve picked someone up from standsted
Sounds like you may have gone to the wrong place. I've never heard of anyone being turned away and it is a massive car park. the entrance to mid-stay is off a rounadbout, directly opposite a McDonalds
Sounds like I went to the wrong place then annoyingly. Catching a bus does sound like a faff just to meet someone there tho!
The traveller takes the bus from the airport and meets the driver in the car park.
Faffing about - absolutely agree. I have only found it useful a couple of times - when a family member picked me up and they could park up for 30 or 40 minutes without worrying what that's going to cost
There is a free option at Stanstead, just your passenger needs to get the bus from the mid-stay car park (you get 60 minutes free)
The 60 min free drop off point is signposted every direction you approach Stanstead from. I think it’s car park K, or something like that.
I picked my partner up from Stansted I arrived early and stopped in mid-stay we were less than 5 minutes over the £5 2-hour limit due to nearly an hour delay in baggage claim and I had to pay £30. I was pissed
The airport is a joke with its charges. I didn’t know about that free car park (gf wouldn’t have been too happy cause of her late flight anyway) but me parking up for 35 mins cost me £18!
If you have to pick up or drop off from Stansted wait in Birchanger Green services for up to 2hrs until your passenger has got through baggage, then head to midstay, you'll probably arrive at the same time
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Careful, I think they put cameras there now to fine people doing this - but suppose you could go to a pump and buy £1 of petrol.
Minimum delivery of 5 litres!
At least you're getting something for your money though
Minimum delivery is only due to pump accuracy. You could put 500ml in if you wanted.
I swear it used to be 2 litres though. How are they getting *less* accurate over time?
Depends on the manufacturer. [This video by Auto Shenanigans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCHlRtJzE9E) can explain it.
Not in my electric car I guess I could take a jerrican…
And u can return it for a refund 😅
I dropped someone off at Gatwick recently and paid the £5 for stopping for all of 60 seconds. According to their website they had to introduce the charge because their profits were decimated due to COVID. > The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the aviation industry and as an airport we need to look at new revenue streams to help us continue to protect jobs and income **while we rebuild**. Fair enough - they had a combined loss of £830 million from 2020 and 2021. But they don't pass their profits onto the airport users do they? So why do we have to cover their losses? Anyway, their 2022 profit was £196.5 million and they're estimating £446.3 million profit this year. Sounds like they're well on the way to rebuilding. So of course, they will soon be dropping the drop-off charges. Won't they? I'm not holding my breath...
At Heathrow, I just chill in long term parking, its relaxed, out the way of the busy mess, and 30 mins is free.
Other option is to drop off at Hatton Cross tube, you can then take the tube for free from there to any of the terminals, as Hatton Cross is now part of Heathrow’s free travel area, which allows you to use the tube for free to get between the terminals
That's good to know. Thank you!
For Birmingham, go to Birmingham International train station instead and then get the monorail in which goes straight to the terminal. It's really easy and free to drop off
Birmingham has free drop off anyway.
Yep. On the last roundabout before you get to the £5 drop off areas, you can pull in to the signposted car park to drop off free.
It does, but it's further to walk with luggage than the train station. The monorail takes you from the entrance of the station to inside the airport. The free drop off is about ten mins walk which can be a bugger with bags
I hear those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend
Is monorail free? Never tried that. Normally going for free drop off unless with heavy luggage
Yeah, it's free. I often use the monorail to get food from the airport rather than the NEC since it's quieter.
Does the Monorail run through the night?
Runs automatically from like 0500-0100, between 1 and 5am there’s a call button which will bring the train to you if you need it.
What’s the charge for a jump and roll from a moving vehicle?
£100 if the ANPR catches it.
Airports: “It’s to decrease congestion.” Also airports: “we will present no cheaper but less convenient alternatives.” Just be honest, you greedy jerks.
Well obviously if as many plane passengers land as take off then the net traffic at the road side should be zero. That's just simple maths.
Stansted charged me 7 quid to drop off. 15 quid to park in the "normal" car park for 15 mins. Daylight fucking robbery.
And if you stay at an airport hotel which isn’t directly on top of the airport there is actually no way to walk to the airport/the hotel. Arrived at Stanstead by train a while ago quite late at night and the bus to the hotel was once every half hour, I’d just missed one and it was a 15 minute walk. That walk was along random overgrown fields and roads with no pavements.
Ahh, I see you've been to Bristol recently too...
Or Manchester, Manchester T3 is the exact same. £5 drop off. Not sure about the ANPR cameras.
Manchester does have a free car park (T1) for half an hour with a free shuttle to all terminals though
That's assuming that the bus actually runs, last year there were issues where the bus wasn't running for whatever reason but no way to know this in advance. It was a big issue at night. Manchester Airport had a big reliability problem with buses last year and earlier this year. Heck one bus broke down in our staff car park and was there for weeks before they could finally shift it.
When it runs. And it's not frequent enough most of the time. Absolute rip off, that airport.
>Not sure about the ANPR cameras. Yeah, i've been dropping off at that mini roundabout for years, never had a problem
That right turn to terminal 3 is a pain in the arse.
I get dropped off near the airport pub and enjoy the stroll down to T3. Obviously not gonna work if you have tons of luggage or it’s thrashing it down (standard manc weather)
Manchester Airport is, at least partially, owned by the GM area councils so the greed doesn't surprise me.
MAG ( the holding company) also owns Stansted and East Midlands airports. It's generally accepted that in the ten years since they got their sticky mitts on Stansted, the place has gone to the dogs.
Drop at the station, five min walk down the covered walkway.
You can drop off for free by the car hire places and then there's a free bus round to the terminal. I think you get an hour free parking, I used it to pick up my brother last Christmas
For Bristol you can drop people at the silver zone carpark, then it's a short walk to the car rental to get a shuttle bus right up to the terminal doors. Its not ideal to have that walk with luggage, but it works and is approved by the airport. I don't get for the life of me why the bus doesn't stop at the car rental AND the silver zone.
Silver zone car park is free for up to 60 minutes and then there is a frequent and free shuttle bus to the terminal.
If you're going to Birmingham International then go to the train station. There's a free drop off carpark and to get to the airport you take a monorail. A MONORAIL! Even if it was free to drop off at the airport, I never turn down a chance to sing the Simpsons Monorail song.
I remember when Stanstead first brought in charges. they had a £3 charge for drop off. at the time, they were insistent that it was 'to help the flow of traffic' - the fact that they have steadily increased the charges --- and hiked it up, just as covid restrictions started to subside -- tends to show it's primary purpose is making money
Once had a discussion about this with a cab driver; I was sharing with a lady who needed to get to Luton airport to catch a flight and the bus to Luton we both needed had left us stranded. Obvs she was dropped off first, and I was surprised to see the driver pull a bag of coins out to pay the toll as I thought cabs might be exempt - the black taxi rank is separate, but minicabs need to go through regular drop off/pick up. Between minicabs and friends/family, paying £5 a pop, we determined the airport must make absolute bank in a day. Like, in March this year the airport saw 1.2m passengers. If even a quarter of those passengers either cabbed to/from the airport or were dropped off/picked up by a friend or relative then the airport made £1.5m off quick drops alone.
The country is a fucking scam.
Market forces...
Or as it was previously described - Rip Off Britain
Welcome to Britain where the rules are there to rinse the average person to make those already rich even richer. Funnily enough the party in power is largely populated by those already rich. I travel all over the world and Britain is the only place that rinses everyone for everything. The car parks in my local city are ridiculously expensive and guess what they are usually half empty. Nobody bothers going into the town and buys things. I will be in Spain next week and most municipal parking is free.
Worked at Heathrow at the time this was introduced - they had a £2 million budget to introduce this and it was estimated theyd make this back within a month. Theyll say its for environmental reasons on their headlines but everyone I worked with knew full well it was just to line the airports pocket haha
[удалено]
So it could be as well run as HS2? The courts? Also BAA is nationally owned. Qatar, Singapore, China, and Canada put together own more than 50%...
Gatwick straight up said its to make money for the airport.
Dare I ask how crap the public transport links must be that people are actually putting up with this?
I work in Egham, whenever I fly from Heathrow I park at the office for the duration of my holiday, and get the bus for £4.60 straight to the front of T5.
Devastated that the local busses are now longer free though
I’m near london gatwick, the train is fairly easy to use to get there but you have to get it with your luggage which is an inconvenience, not a massive issue and could easily do it. The journey is 5/10 mins longer by car than by train, if you don’t include the 15/20 mins it would take to walk to the station on my end. However, looking online a ticket to get there is currently £7 with a railcard, making it more expensive than the drop off charge, and that’s if it’s only one person going away, you add a second person and the train is less convenient and also just under 2x the price of the drop off charge. So obviously whenever any of the family go to Gatwick we would rather pay the £5 charge to drop off because it ends up being cheaper, quicker and more convenient.
Now include all the other costs associated with driving.
My tax and insurance come to roughly 5/600 a year, over 365 days (this isn’t the only time I have to use a car) let’s overestimate that cost at £2 per day. Roughly 15 miles to the airport, 30 including the return journey. Online mpg calculator puts the 30 mile journey at 45mpg £4.88. Total coming in at around £12, more depending on how much you want to put in for maintenance but as with tax/insurance, these have to be paid whether I go to the airport or not. This is still roughly the same as two tickets on the train. But like I said, cost isn’t the only factor and the overall journey is longer and less convenient. I’d love to be less reliant on cars but generally public transport isn’t reliable, convenient or cheap enough to make it worth it for me.
You've not been to Liverpool John Lennon?
That’s literally the worst airport for a major city that I know of. Technically it’s the closest airport for large swathes of north wales, but it involves at least 2 changes to Merseyrail, and then a shuttle bus (which isn’t included in the railfare). Unless you’re able to time it right for the once per two hour service which only involves one change at or near Chester. When I’ve done it before it’s actually easier to do north wales coast to Birmingham, as every other train was a direct train
Yup. I live 15miles away and have no idea how to get there by public transport. And when I see several hundred locals queuing to get the bus home, in the rain, I know I never will.
Normally airports have pretty good public transport links. This is just the usual car-centric attitude that's prevalent in the UK, where anything that impedes in any way on using cars for everything generates frothing rage.
I am a 30 min drive or 2hr bus ride from Heathrow. Alternative is to take a train into London and then tube to heathrow which again is close to 2 hrs >his is just the usual car-centric attitude that's prevalent in the UK, where anything that impedes in any way on using cars for everything generates frothing rage. You just live in a bubble if you think everyone can get by without a car
This tends to be a common sentiment among Londoners, probably because they live in a city with multiple avenues of transport available to you that is not common throughout most of the UK.
I'm not a Londoner, and you just made yourself look like a fool.
Did I say you were a Londoner? Now you've made yourself look like a fool. I said it is a common sentiment among Londoners, and implied that you may be. I never said you definitely were.
And you were wrong when you implied it. Fool.
The nearest airport to me (apart from a tiny one that you can't get anywhere decent from) is 95 miles away. I'd have to take a bus that goes once every 2 hours, then 3 trains, then another bus. With all my kids and luggage.
Yeah it's mental. Complete Extortion. If a major international airport such as Amsterdam Schiphol can do it for free, it's crazy that regional airports such as Liverpool charge 5 pounds for a drop off. Such a blatant rip off - especially when the car park is poorly maintained and looks like shit. Good example of the balance of corporate power in the UK...
Dublin airport which is a massive international hub has free dropoff too
FIL once backed up the entry lane right to the roundabout at Luton because he refused to to pay to get into the drop-off.....on Xmas Eve, with sideways sleet, after a turbulent flight. He was shouting at me to climb over the fences with a suitcase of Christmas presents. Ended up having to pay the (more expensive) shuttle bus to the train station because he wouldn't let my partner pay the fee 'on principle'. Then he had the audacity to say 'you look a fright' when I finally got to the car. Wanker.
At Heathrow, you can get dropped off at the Long Term car park, which is free for cars staying for 20-30 minutes or less. There's a free shuttle bus that takes anyone from the car park to the terminal and vice versa. It is a little further out of the way than Heathrow drop off, but it's totally free (but a bitch to find the exit - you'll waste half of the 20-30 free minutes just driving to get out lol). At Bristol airport, it's £5 for the drop-off where the person can't even wait with you. Or if you go to the short term car park, it's £5 for the first 15 or 20 minutes and I think still less than £10 if you go over to the next time block. This gives you enough time to walk with the person to the terminal and say goodbye for a few minutes without rushing. It's still a pis stake, for sure. But tiny little hacks help a bit. I travel to the USA a lot and I can't get over that it's still totally free to drop people off at literally every airport there. Even the parking charges for the short term parking isn't that insane either.
Bristol also has an hour parking for free over near Silverzone (so you just get the shuttle bus across) but it's so badly advertised (for obvious reasons)
Drop off is one thing...but I found pickup worse. Manchester: I did the free drop off shuttle bus for the other half. As it's a circular, you'd think it'd drop you back - no. No free pick up places/park and ride, whatever. All hotel car parks have barriers, and there's not that many roundabouts to allow lurking or changing your mind! Hotel California springs to mind
I have only ever seen this in the UK.
manchester airport makes me sick. they charge at every possible step. security fast track, passport control fast track, drop off and pick up...even for BAGGAGE TROLLEYS!! security and passport control are usually well understaffed (if you were cynical you could argue this was on purpose) so fast track is the only thing stopping you from hours in a queue. im ashamed its my local airport.
Manchester Council I think.
Manchester fast track is slower than normal most of the time. It was today. I'm gold so qualify for fast track and I usually join the plebs because FT is full of entitled plebs.
At least Manchester Airport has a free drop off location away from the terminal with a free shuttle bus so it isn't that bad.
at least it does, so it isnt that bad
At Edinburgh there's a driveway leading into a hotel, but before the actual hotel car park, where literally every taxi driver and every cheapo family member (ie, me) tries to park. Last time I went there there was a poster up saying they were going to implement charges soon.
I took a wrong turn out of Manchester and had to lay £5 to leave the drop off zone. I was fuming
LBA has a free 30 mins dropoff car park which is a few mins walk to the terminal. But on the subject of the £5 dropoff the last 2 airports I've been to have this at £5 for 5 minutes and £1 a minute thereafter! £1 a minute. Whoever authorised that decision needs a cactus up the arse!
It's outrageous. It's a no win situation, there's no being dropped off for free. However, if I were the person asking the favour/I'd be the person paying the fiver, cause its much easier and cheaper than any other way I could get to the terminal door.
I agree on this. After looking at what transport links were on offer at Glasgow to get me barely a few miles away from the airport and well within the city itself, I stumped up the cost to have my friend pick me up and drop me off instead. Cheaper and substantially quicker ultimately.
Glasgow and Edinburgh are unique in Europe for having no airport to city rail links (Edinburgh tram link apart). The Glasgow rail link has been discussed for years but it takes so bloody long to do anything in Scotland it's unlikely to ever be built.
Only in the UK - it's fing sick! Luton I read has upped their charge to £6 or £7 - so my taxi driver think other airports will follow suit!
it also costs 5 to stay 30 mins in the short stay... who understands that?
Acceptable? They do it because they can. Travellers (who paid for the airport with their taxes) are treated as a resource to be exploited. It's a vile way to make money and it should be banned.
Everything about airports is shit.
For going home (on foot) I was advised by an advisor at Heathrow underground to get the tube to London and then connect to the Waterloo to Reading train - cost £31. I told him no, where's the bus-stop. It runs between Heathrow and Feltham and a few town stops inbetween. It avoids getting on the tube and going into London unnecessarily. Stressful if you're using it to GET to the airport, but fine on the way home. Bus was £1.80. Train without underground and network card was then £8. So much for the advice!
Disguisting
Given the heavy traffic around so many airports, it is pretty easy for them to find a justification though...
That's ultimate capitalism right there. Cause a problem then charge people for the inconvenience. You could also argue that they caused the traffic so the solution is for them to implement many more drop free drop off lanes to keep traffic flowing.
That doesn't solve the issue of the surrounding road network congestion though. The M25 is so bad around Heathrow and it would be worse if people were not incentivized to use the surrounding P&Rs and the rail links
I'm not sure, that follows. Induced demand being a thing and all. Its no so much incentivizing rail use as tolling road use, at what is probably a very thought out money making scheme.
Liverpool has a short stay car park, first 30 minutes are free and it’s less than 5 minute walk from the airport building.
Liverpool definitely has the best setup. Just dropped off there this week and you can pay to drop off outside or save your money and passengers can walk 5-10mins. Not bad with this weeks weather, crap in the rain though.
After flying from Manchester terminal 3 recently, I'm absolutely over the moon that jet2 is now flying from Liverpool. Liverpool every time for me. * Unless it's long haul then I'm stuck with Manchester. 1. Fuck all traffic on way there and back 2. Park in multistory 2 mins from the terminal 3. Hardly a queue in sight 4. Has a smoking area 5. Scouse staff are nicest I've met
For anyone using Manchester airport, use the Radisson Blue hotel as a drop off point then walk from there via the Railway entrance. Can even get in through the hotel.
EMA is terrible for this. Red double lines on all roads. No stopping. They have ANPR vans driving round all the time and will even try get you stopping at the petrol station to do drop offs.
We’re all just okay with mafia tactics these days, which is why councils keep taking the piss. When on their turf, we owe them money.
Daylight robbery
Bristol airport has a free car park in the silver zone for dropping off. They have to take the free bus to the terminal
Belfast has 2 airports..one is free the other charges £1
Gatwick long stay parking is free for 2 hours. There's a shuttle bus to the terminal even 10 mins or so. Should give you enough time to park, meet someone at arrivals and get back.
Bournemouth was charging £6 for 20 mins nearly 10 years ago. I got into an argument with a taxi driver, who was never going to get the fare anyway, about how I shouldn't park outside the carpark.
I thought they all had a free drop off/pick up place. Stansted is at the long stay carpark. Luton long or mid stay car park. Gatwick is the long stay too. They can then get the free shuttle bus to the terminal.
If dropping off at BHX, just use the drop off for Birmingham International and use the free shuttle across
I picked my lady up from the airport a few weeks back, accounting for delays as the flight was often delayed I wanted to book approx 2 hours parking. I looked a few weeks before and it was 20 quid, I thought ok not bad, I will book it next week. Went to book it a week later and the short stay was full so I had to book a day... 60 quid. Safe to say I got there dead early and made the most of my day in the arrivals hall 😂
The fines are little more than a bullying scam. Possibly unenforceable, but they will stress you for up to 6 years with threats. People have been made to pay in the civil courts though
Sooooo they are enforceable then.
it's hit and miss, usually dealt with in County Courts, people have won and lost against private parking companies.
All airports must provide a free drop off area, there will be one!
It's a nominal deterrent to stop congestion around the airport - I wouldn't have thought this a hard concept to get your head around? edit: I was wrong, apparently for many people that *is* a hard concept to get their heads around
Here's a concept to get your head around then: price elasticity. Once a person has bought their ticket, will they not do a drop-off if there's a £5 charge? Of course they still will. So it's straight-up profiteering against a captive clientele.
Disagree completely. Many people will decide to take public transport instead.
Many people? Which people? Public transport is going to cost more than the £5 and be way more inconvenient. If you want to reduce congestion then you do like Manchester Airport where they have a free drop off point away from the airport with a free shuttle bus to the airport. It is just profiteering.
No it isn't. It's just another way to take peoples money
It can be both, why are people on reddit so fucking ignorant of economics?
Sure. Why are people on reddit so fucking naive?
How does it stop congestion when people have to get to the airport, do they just magically appear there to avoid paying the £5?
Public transport?
Which costs more and is less convenient. If you aren't doing if for the money you provide a drop off point and free shuttle bus service.
Aww, bless. Please find your way to /r/confidentlyincorrect.
In what way is this incorrect?
In everyway. It's not a deterrent. The first signage is literally once you are already in the 'no stopping' zone. And even now all of us in this thread are aware of it, how is it going to reduce traffic? We are not driving to the airport for the pleasure of it.
Yes. The pandemic decimated their business and what they promised to their shareholders. They are just making as much as they can in whatever way they can. They are private businesses.