[AMcWhirter]

Doubtless many of you will have read the media reports regarding the rise in airport drop-off and parking fees.

We have previously reporting on ever higher parking/drop-off charges.

Every time we reported on this matter there has been much reader feedback.

At the time we noted that once a new fee is introduced it can be increased in the future and this is exactly what has been happening.

UK airports are having to look for new sources of revenue.

Gone are the days (before the LCCs appeared) when they could increase landing fees years after year and the airlines would pay up and then pass on the extra charges in the form of higher fares.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66174677

1 user thanked author for this post.

kevin46

[FDOS]

Perhaps time the competition authorities took a look?

As most airports do not have any close competitors (e.g. within 20 miles) are they using unfair leverage?

[AndrewinHK]

I have mixed feelings about these charges. I think for airports that have good public transport links, the fee is justified to discourage car journeys, for regional airports with fewer public transit options, the charge seems a little like price gouging.

3 users thanked author for this post.

kevin46, wingcommander, Johnnyg

[scott1nthesky]

I rarely get dropped off at airports but I have noticed the sharp increase in fees recently. LHR seems a particular rip-off although does have the benefit of a range of different public transport if you’re coming from the city or near west. On a similar tone I sympathised with some recent tourists at BRS who wanted a luggage trolley who decided to take a pass seeing the £2 fee for doing so. If it was a deposit, like a supermarket trolley, I can see the attraction. However this is a service fee levied by the trolley operator, SmartCarte. Interestingly, I arrived in ANC a couple of days ago and saw the familiar SmartCarte trolley lanes neatly ready for service….at $8 a pop. My airport contacts assure me they are seldom used.

[FDOS]

AndrewinHK

Public transport ain’t exactly reliable in the UK, these days, with lots of strikes, that have been going on for many months.

One cannot rely on it, so I disagree strongly that it is okay to penalise car drivers for managing the risk of the rail/tube companies letting them down.

[AndrewinHK]

FDOS I would push back on this. LHR you can access by London Underground, National Express, Crossrail, Heathrow Express, TFL buses, and other long-distance coach operators. You cannot make an argument that you need a car to access LHR. I would also make a similar argument for most of the London airports. If you want to use a car, the opportunity cost for doing that is to pay a fee. The LHR charge of 5 pounds to me seems reasonable, if you are carrying 3 or 4 people to the airport it’s a marginal cost.

[FDOS]

“FDOS I would push back on this”

Then you do not understand how unreliable the tubes and trains are at the moment.

My daughter has just had an event completely disrupted because of a train strike announced a week before.

Try finding availability on coaches, etc. on a strike day LOL.

The £5 is a monopoly organisation gouging customers, IMO.

3 users thanked author for this post.

LuganoPirate, fatbear, DerekVH

[AndrewinHK]

The airport though is not liable for transit strikes, and they are the exception, not the norm. Of course, being disrupted by those types of events is unfortunate, and perhaps the airports should have policies in place to waive charges during times of disruption.

2 users thanked author for this post.

kevin46, cwoodward

[FDOS]

“The airport though is not liable for transit strikes, and they are the exception, not the norm.”

Not true, they are becoming the norm and are arranged in such a way as to cause maximum disruption, like the one in June that caused me to have to use my car to get to Heathrow on a day when there were no trains.

Airports are part of the ecosystem, not a stand alone operation and have a responsibility to be fair and reasonable to their stakeholder groups – at the moment, they are tilted in favour of shareholders.

[AndrewinHK]

FDOS clearly you have been somewhat scarred by your recent experiences of strike action, and I certainly sympathise. Unfortunately though airports in the UK are for the most part no longer public assets, the tax payer got its cut when the government sold off the assets to the private sector, and they are run as businesses not charities. Airports ideally in my view should have common sense and good will policies surrounding strikes, but that in itself would cause controversy, which strikes warrant drop off fees being waived etc, and has the potential to cause more confusion. On the odd chance a strike disrupts, just pay the 5 pounds, on the majority of other days, plenty of other options to get there.

[FDOS]

“FDOS clearly you have been somewhat scarred by your recent experiences of strike action”

Are you a Chartered Psychologist?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Travelfoot

[AMcWhirter]

Thanks for all the comments.

The issue here is that not every traveller is provided with convenient public transport.

Yes LHR has many options but what if it’s an early morning flight ?

What if you live well outside the Central London area ?

Now I remember it was EDI who instigated these drop off fees some years ago.

Reader feedback at that time suggested that not everyone has access to the trams and buses serving the airport (noting that Fife falls within the EDI catchment area).

4 users thanked author for this post.

kevin46, lostantipod, LuganoPirate, FDOS

[FDOS]

Thanks Alex, for taking a broader view.

[AndrewinHK]

Hi Alex, thanks for your reply, the airport should not be liable to decisions people make regarding timing of flights, and or where they live. We all have more than enough information to make decisions regarding such things. The airport provides public transit infrastructure, and access for private vehicles for a nominal fee to discourage use. The animosity towards these charges show they work, the more people who are vexed by them, the more people will consider alternates. My points are again focused on major airports with extensive transport infrastructure, regional
airports like for example Newcastle having such fees, is in my view price gouging as they are not providing enough alternates for users.

1 user thanked author for this post.

kevin46

[Inquisitive]

As much as I hate various tit-bit charges that are added as extra those we encounter everyday, we can only complain but cannot dictate how a private entity makes their profit. Airports have somewhat captive customers but so have railway companies and we cannot do anything about their fare or schedules.

Even for airports, there are significant charges added to ticket prices as airport development fees, security fees etc. and that is paid by all passengers. There were a lot of discussions about extra fuel charges by some airlines that took time to remove long after fuel prices came down. At least the drop off charge is paid by only the users.

Capitalism! But I believe it is better than other forms of controlling businesses.

1 user thanked author for this post.

AndrewinHK

[Author]

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