Is airport parking just obscenely expensive now?

Dano said:
Do you have a source for this? Not wanting to disbelieve you but I'd have thought aircraft handling fees and charges to airlines would have been the main income by some margin?
Click to expand...

Apologies, I went digging for numbers after I wrote that and as you say, 'aviation' is indeed the biggest earner with car parking not far behind.

Looking at my employers Group Income Statement, aviation had an income of £179.9m in FY22 and car parking £126.7m.

Not a bad earner!
 
chroniclard said:
We live half hour from Stansted and once it got to parity with just getting a cab we stopped using the parking. It was almost reasonable if you booked in advance and maybe used cashback sites. Now its a just a rob.

Oh yeah, also charging £8 to drop someone off/pick them up..... :cry:
Click to expand...

£7.50. I know because the price is ingrained in my mind from when I dropped my girlfriend there a couple of months ago - literally pulled up for as long as it took to kick her and her bags out, barely rolled to a halt, and had to pay £7.50 for the pleasure. Absolute **** take.
Apparently there is free drop off point in one of the carparks, but it's a bus shuttle ride away, and they don't advertise it all that blatantly on the website. I made her go there when I picked her up a couple of days later :D

Seven. Pounds. Fifty. To basically not park. I'm angry again now.
 
Last edited:
It's a rip off. Dropped my mate to Brisbane airport a few months back, literally right at the door not a single charge. Same in most Spanish airports I've been to. UK is just one greedy ass country, can't stand it.
 
Charlie Bravo said:
Apologies, I went digging for numbers after I wrote that and as you say, 'aviation' is indeed the biggest earner with car parking not far behind.

Looking at my employers Group Income Statement, aviation had an income of £179.9m in FY22 and car parking £126.7m.

Not a bad earner!
Click to expand...

I have to wonder how much 'slots' cost an airline because they fight over them.
That must bring in lots when you multiply all the airlines by the airports and the slots needed.
 
Best thing about Airports now is the lounges, they are well worth the money. Think it costs us about £25 each(or free with dragon pass/bank thing) and you get a nice place to sit and wait, quieter, plus all the food and booze you want. Which is great as I am a bad flyer and tend to get drunk these days so I can fly. :cry:
 
Cheaper and IME actually more stress free to just park on the street somewhere near the airport and get public transport the last little bit.
Heathrow for example you can just park in Hounslow and get the tube for 2 stops.
 
My mum used to charge people to park on her drive (5 mins from EMA) and then drive them to and from the airport.

Not sure how she got into it or how people booked it, but might be worth looking into.
 
fez said:
I enjoyed it far too much when a guy lost his **** at the airport because he wasn't allowed to take his carry on into the cabin because he was late and it was full. He had paid for "speedy boarding" and some other extra so he felt entitled. Was extra funny watching speedy boarding being called and 70% of the entire plane getting up to queue. Speedy indeed.

I don't get it. You book a seat. Getting on first or last makes little difference.
Click to expand...
A Ryanair flight to Ireland was boarding next to mine last week, they had a queue for priority(hand luggage) and a queue for non-priority. There was a total of 6 people in the non-queue whilst the rest of the plane stood in priority with suitcases, it was hilarious to watch.
 
Conscript said:
£7.50. I know because the price is ingrained in my mind from when I dropped my girlfriend there a couple of months ago - literally pulled up for as long as it took to kick her and her bags out, barely rolled to a halt, and had to pay £7.50 for the pleasure. Absolute **** take.
Apparently there is free drop off point in one of the carparks, but it's a bus shuttle ride away, and they don't advertise it all that blatantly on the website. I made her go there when I picked her up a couple of days later :D

Seven. Pounds. Fifty. To basically not park. I'm angry again now.
Click to expand...
You get 10 mins drop of time. I had a year's battle with the airport about the fine they gave me. The barriers were not working for an hour, they were unwilling at first eventually they gave in.
just keep ripping people of, these types of charges and creeping into all areas now, people just accept and pay.
 
fez said:
I enjoyed it far too much when a guy lost his **** at the airport because he wasn't allowed to take his carry on into the cabin because he was late and it was full. He had paid for "speedy boarding" and some other extra so he felt entitled. Was extra funny watching speedy boarding being called and 70% of the entire plane getting up to queue. Speedy indeed.

I don't get it. You book a seat. Getting on first or last makes little difference.
Click to expand...

You've clearly not flown with any of the typical airlines in a while.

Years ago easyJet used to only allow 80 (iirc) cabin bags on board. They used to have someone with a clicker at the front, and once 80 were through they had to be stuck in the hold. So there was a point of getting on first (or as close as).

Ryanair now force you to pay for the "premium" option if you want a cabin bag on - which also includes a seat and priority boarding. But as you say it is amusing with the number of people who do pay for priority boarding, kinda makes it feel like less of a priority.
 
chroniclard said:
Best thing about Airports now is the lounges, they are well worth the money. Think it costs us about £25 each(or free with dragon pass/bank thing) and you get a nice place to sit and wait, quieter, plus all the food and booze you want. Which is great as I am a bad flyer and tend to get drunk these days so I can fly. :cry:
Click to expand...

Do you get security fast pass included? Or do you turn up early? I remember we did a lounge at Manchester airport only because the Mrs dad got some discount from work. It was okay, but if I was paying £25 for it, I'd certainly want a decent bit of time there. Sometimes with the fiasco at security you're lucky if you get half an hour in the departure lounge.

I bet it'd be a blessing if you had a 4 hour delay though!
 
Semple said:
Do you get security fast pass included? Or do you turn up early? I remember we did a lounge at Manchester airport only because the Mrs dad got some discount from work. It was okay, but if I was paying £25 for it, I'd certainly want a decent bit of time there. Sometimes with the fiasco at security you're lucky if you get half an hour in the departure lounge.

I bet it'd be a blessing if you had a 4 hour delay though!
Click to expand...

Yeah always try and get fast pass security or early as poss. Usually get a good hour or 2 I'm the lounge. Well worth it if you get there soon enough.
 
Yes. Got a 2 night trip from Heathrow in December and they want £120 for parking. I have reluctantly booked with Purple Parking instead for £40, so we'll be driving the gf's car :D
 
I was a bit surprised to pay £180 for 14 days at Gatwick this summer, having last parked there for 11 days for £60 in Feb 2019.

Figured it was a summer premium, but perhaps it was actually reflective of a big price increase
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom