Is airport parking just obscenely expensive now?

Raymond Lin said:
There are just more flights to the places that i go to from Heathrow.
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I think you missed my point entirely, I was saying fly locally to another major hub the equivalent of LHR. e.g. BHX -> AMS -> HKG, vs LHR -> HKG there are just as many flights from other major international hubs as there are LHR. The local flight means no driving/parking over a longer distance and bigger costs.

Raymond Lin said:
My next flight to Japan is actually 1 stop, in Helsinki. Direct flight cost pretty much the same but I booked a 1 stop in Prem Economy and only takes 2hrs longer. Plus mine will land before i can check into the hotel (about 11am) whereas the direct flights land in the evening, meaning i lose half a day.
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You see this is where I would have booked local, with one stop then direct. You are travelling to LHR then taking a stop which makes it an even longer journey. Obviously if you don't have a local airport nearby then it make the decision harder.
 
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:
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The rate of the drop off area at Stansted has outstripped anything else i've ever seen :cry:


5-6 years ago it was £3, then went to £4 just before covid, then my first time post covid was £7.50 and it seems to just jump 50p every six months!

The free drop off is actually pretty easy, completely free and in the Orange car park and a short bus ride to right outside the terminal.
 
Journey said:
I think you missed my point entirely, I was saying fly locally to another major hub the equivalent of LHR. e.g. BHX -> AMS -> HKG, vs LHR -> HKG there are just as many flights from other major international hubs as there are LHR. The local flight means no driving/parking over a longer distance and bigger costs.



You see this is where I would have booked local, with one stop then direct. You are travelling to LHR then taking a stop which makes it an even longer journey. Obviously if you don't have a local airport nearby then it make the decision harder.
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My nearest airport is about 70-90mins away, or 2hrs 15 to Heathrow. The difference is about 30-45mins more driving each way. I have not looked into booking single tickets from say Cardiff to Paris then look for another flight from Paris. I could do that but it's quite a lot of logistics involved, like if I have check luggage i would need to exit immigration?

There is also a part of me that prefers to fly direct if at all possible, just less hassle. I think i have only flown with a connection once ever, and that was impossible without - into a small town in America, so i had to fly to Chicago first.

When I look for flights, I use Google Flights, I put in Birmingham, Bristol and Heathrow and then my destination. Then filter down between 1 stop and Direct to check. I don't recall many occasions where the 1 stop one, say BHX to AMD then onwards came up in a good enough deal that tempted me to book that.

Currently, there is a 2 stop from Air Italia to Japan for about £850...sounds tempting but i think it's a 50hr flight, with 2 layovers inside Italy when i last looked. Not doing that.
 
Megahurtz400 said:
The rate of the drop off area at Stansted has outstripped anything else i've ever seen :cry:


5-6 years ago it was £3, then went to £4 just before covid, then my first time post covid was £7.50 and it seems to just jump 50p every six months!

The free drop off is actually pretty easy, completely free and in the Orange car park and a short bus ride to right outside the terminal.
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I didnt realise there was a free one. :o :cry:
 
Raymond Lin said:
My nearest airport is about 70-90mins away,
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So you don't really have a local airport then?

Raymond Lin said:
I have not looked into booking single tickets from say Cardiff to Paris then look for another flight from Paris. I could do that but it's quite a lot of logistics involved, like if I have check luggage i would need to exit immigration?
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Shouldn't need to book single tickets at all, it'll be a pre-arranged agreement with which ever carrier does the short hop. Take your example of using CWL (s that the one 70-90 mins away or closer?) you can fly at 06:00 from CWL to AMS arrive at 09:45 (local time), and then take the 12:30 to NRT arrive at 09:45 (local time + 1 day) that is all booked on the same ticket. On the way back the layover is shorter, only an 1h 20m.
No you do not need to exit anywhere, you use the transfer lanes to get you to your next flight, sometimes labelled as flight connections etc.

Raymond Lin said:
There is also a part of me that prefers to fly direct if at all possible, just less hassle. I think i have only flown with a connection once ever, and that was impossible without - into a small town in America, so i had to fly to Chicago first.
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Everyone prefers flying direct unless you have business in the middle somewhere, but for the most part if you are a savvy and regular flyer then you can sometimes spend the same amount of time travelling (car, bus, train, plane, etc. inclusive) with less of the effort and sometimes (maybe usually?) for a lower total cost. You can also sometimes gain more reward miles, as you spend more distance on the place, and more flights.

Raymond Lin said:
Currently, there is a 2 stop from Air Italia to Japan for about £850...sounds tempting but i think it's a 50hr flight, with 2 layovers inside Italy when i last looked. Not doing that.
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Yes that is silly, what are the dates for that, I am curious. :)
 
There are no local airports to me. I live in Herefordshire, so the nearest by distance is Cardiff. Bristol and Birmingham is about the same distance and time away. It looks short on paper but there is no motorway inside Herefordshire so the first 45mins of the journey are just A roads.


Google Flights

www.google.com www.google.com

This is the flight. Not sure if the link works

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I mean I would welcome trying find something flying from Cardiff to Haneda, Narita is a last resort since Narita is 90mins outside Tokyo, Narita airport to Tokyo is a bit like Birmingham BHX to London. Narita isn't actually in Tokyo, Haneda is much closer. Much grateful if it's possible to fly from Cardiff to Haneda for similar price to LHR.
 
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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.
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I board very slowly just to annoy those speedy boarders.

even for a couple of £ i just dont see the point.
 
Just returned from 18 days away flying out of Heathrow and got Meet & Greet for that time for £185 including the drop off charge, which was handy as they brought the car back two hours early!

Official Heathrow costs for parking is just insane
 
Toulouse airport allows free drop off/pick up within 10 minutes. Had to wait for 2.5 hours once as incoming family’s flight was delayed and it cost me under €5.

A week’s “meet and greet” parking in June cost €65.
 
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