Horrendous airport drop off charges

[Cardhey]

AIBU to be pleased that the UK consumer watchdog is investigation the ridiculous drop off fees at airports and the increases over the past few years. It’s just a con. Hope they get banned.

@PolkaDotPorridgei really feel for you. This is outrageous greed.

What? This argument makes no sense at all! Are taxi drivers somehow magically able to identify terrorists and not let them make a booking? Are potential terrorists not able to either be taxi drivers themselves, or buy an old taxi, or indeed use a normal car and just add a taxi decal? Actually with uber etc you don't even need to do that.

are taxis the only vehicles somehow immune to breaking down, getting a flat tyre, driver's card not working? i.e. all the other things apart from security I highlighted.

Not to mention it doesn't matter if it's 100 taxis or 100 private cars, that's still 100 vehicles taking up space and therefore making it harder and slower for the park and ride buses/car park users to enter/leave the site.

@tokennamechange with security it's about the car being used as a weapon. A terrorist passenger in a taxi could as easily come by bus. The method of transport as long as they are not driving it, makes zero difference.
They know people getting taxis usually have no choice but to do so, so they charge them.

I really don't get the point you're making. If it's about the car being used as weapon then that's another reason to not allow taxis, not to allow them!

Besides, as I've said twice now, I never said security was the only consideration.
I don't really understand why you're focussed on taxis as being somehow uniquely affected - it's not as if they are the only vehicles that have to pay the drop off fee, all cars do.

@tokennamechange because it disadvantages those with mobility issues who can't just use public transport. We already have to pay more for all forms of travel, and no we don't get pip as the criteria for simply physical mobility issues is so high.
Taxi drivers for decent firms are screened for their license.

It’s an absolute disgrace as holidays are so expensive now anyway and the airports are totally raking it in with these extortionate charges.

Sometimes you don’t want to take public transport or can’t so instead you’re totally ripped off. Taxi drivers are driving around trying to find places to wait where there isn’t some camera trying to fine you and same goes for people attempting to pick up travellers. It gives me the rage.

@shinny

It’s an absolute disgrace as holidays are so expensive now anyway

But compared with how much they used to be (in real terms) they are not, there are a lot of good deals out there...and airfares can still be stupidly cheap.

We've possibly been through a period where holidays/flights have been as cheap as they possibly can be and IMO that's led to some very unrealistic expectations about how cheap travel can be.

Yeah how dare the poors want an annual holiday

It's not about "the poors"....

Air travel isn't run as a charity, somebody has to pay for the airport,.somebody had to pay for the flying.

That somebody is the passenger.

Airports aren’t a charity. As you say, £10 for a family isn’t that bad.

Not only families travel you know. For us it's £5 a head each way, plus taxi cost.

I know that, the last holiday I went on I was on my own. I got the bus to the airport for £20 return.

Is the airport a long way from where you live? Costs £6 return where I live. Taxi cost is £140 return.

Well they wouldn’t let anyone near uf that was the case, not charge them a tenner.

Absolutely. My local airport (East Midlands) used to charge £5 for drop off and that's suddenly increased to £8, I think. And you're usually taking at most 5 minutes to unload your cases and say goodbye. It's daylight robbery.

Stansted drop off up to 15 minutes £10. 15-30 minutes £28.

so airports should only allow 'decent firms' to drop off? Come on, you must know that's unworkable.

Look, I can fully understand why you're unhappy. Nobody Iikes paying extra money, and you're right that people with disabilities would find it harder to utilise other options like park and ride. But you could equally argue that it's more awkward for people with kids. Or that people who live further away have to pay more to get to the airport in the first place. I find it annoying that if you have a flight that gets in at 11:50 you won't get back to the car park until after 12 so have to pay for a whole extra day. Lots of elements of flying are inconvenient and expensive, that's part of it.

None of that is really anything to do with my main point which is that airports don't want loads of cars close to the terminal and the high charges are as much to discourage drop offs as to make a profit, if not more.

I didn't say anything about whether that was fair or not, or who is most negatively impacted by it.

According to this there are bus options- just in case that helps you next time:

www.bournemouthairport.com/to-and-from-the-airport/

@tokennamechange but your whole “discouraging cars” thing isn’t true.

a) because cars doing a drop off haven’ been problematic.
Also they are no more a risk to an airport than one driviing round the perimeter. where all thd hotels are
b) They encourage you to use the drop off by having pay in advance, use an app and not promoting the free parking option.
They could make all cars go via car parks. They don’t.

https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/parking/drop-off-and-pick-up/

Here's the price for drop off at Bristol Airport. The only way to get there is to take your own vehicle, catch the airdecker bus (limited stop bus that runs from Bath-Saltford-Keynsham-south Bristol), taxi or get a lift.
There's no trains (nearest is Blackwell, several miles away), no tube, no trams.
It's not unusual to see folks walking to the airport from a mile away).
It's in the middle of the countryside. Ironically the runway at Filton has been sold for development and the hangar where Concorde was built is going to be a concert arena.

That’s “ broken Britain” . Theres no issue with things becoming harder due to a real issue. The no fluids over 100ml rule after 9/11, paying for seats together/ hold bags etc to raise income.
But charging an amount that is equivalent to a 24 parking in any other place is just rude.

@tokennamechange it's not about what's easiest. It's about what is physically possible. Comparing someone with a mobility disability to a parent is just clueless

I agree and they should not be. What should be happening is that you pay a real price for air travel and not have all these extra charges.

If it meant that Ryanair could not advertise as many so-called cheap flights, would that be so bad?

This is it. People have become conditioned into thinking that air travel is cheap and complain when they get charged.

In the past a plane ticket cost say, £200 and that included checked luggage, a drink, seat selection and a meal.
Now a low cost carrier will charge £100 for just the ticket and charge extra for the luggage etc. People complain that it used to be included when they were always paying extra for it.

It’s a scam, not surprising they are being investigated.