Just been robbed at Stansted Airport

[michaelw]

Just dropped my daughter at Stansted Airport. You know how you can pick up and drop off at Heathrow, Gatwick etc,,......well not at Stansted. If you want to just drop someone off or pick them up at the terminal for even 30 seconds you are charged. It''s been renamed"Express drop off" and you are informed it is private land that is camera controlled. Its £4 for 10 mins and additional there after. Madness. Somebody is making a mint. There is nowhere else to stop so they have you by your wobbly bits !!!!!!

Stansted Express doesn't always run at night, you'd have to leave the night before and sleep at the airport for some flights, which given we live 30 minutes away is quite extreme.

My theory is that they deliberately make the public transport crap so we are forced into paying private companies masses of money to use 2m of road for 10 minutes.

There has to be restrictions on car usage; if drop off right outside the terminal was free, you’d never be able to get a space!

It used to be that if you stayed 10 minutes it was free, 10 - 30 minutes was a reasonable charge, then over 30 minutes extortionate. This was perfectly adequate for ensuring that there was always space for people to drop off.

We're 2 hours from Stansted airport, it's takes less time for me to drive there and back than get a bus or train. Flexible train tickets are also expensive and when relying on getting out an airport you need the flexibility.

I could always get a space outside the airport.

It's the same at Glasgow Airport. Even taxis have to pay to drop off, which given that you can't get the train there is a pain in the backside

Just checked it's still an option as I'm going to Stansted in two weeks: free set-down at the car park, then hop on the free bus and you are at the terminal in minutes. Parking is free at the set-down for an hour, and only £1 for two hours. I think that's reasonable and works well.

It is pretty shit walking ten minutes with a suitcase, yes, particularly when there is nowhere to put the suitcase on the bus, and particularly when there is an actual car park but they've just decided to fleece you to use it.

Agree with flexible train tickets being a problem from airports. Particularly if there are two or more of you, it's often cheaper to get a taxi and at least you can go door to door and not be subject to your route becoming replacement bus service due to engineering works as happened last time we flew from Manchester.

Why are you saying you were robbed?

And no - you have to pay at Gatwick too to pick up.

You need to use the car park and pay, or get a taxi or other public transport. £4 is hardly being robbed is it?

I live 10 mins drive from our local airport, public transport would take over an hour so I'll continue to drive thanks!

Why are you saying you were robbed?
Just a wild guess,and I could be wrong, but maybe it's a figure of speech for paying a ridiculous amount of money for not much!!

Driving to an airport and then getting a bus from the car park to the door doesn't= being less reliant on cars anyway.

Thanks for the tag acatcalledjohn but I haven't posted yet

Stansted has charged for 10+ years for simple drop off/pick up. In contrast, I picked up a friend from Barcelona airport last week and there were free pick up bays all the way along the road outside terminals A+B, 80% empty. Plus their transport system is pretty good.

Is this thread going to descend into Rip Off Britain territory?

I thought you meant you were properly robbed was going to sympathise I had handbag containing money purse phone passport and top I just bought stolen at Heathrow so don’t feel overly sympathetic at minor parking moans sorry

Lazyarse123 Leeds Bradford airport does have a free car park (30 mins i think) but it's very well hidden and a bit further away. If you look on the website it tells you where it is. I normally use that now.

After I was also robbed at Leeds Bradford I discovered they have a free short stay car park for up to one hour further down the road, four minutes walk apparently.

cuppycakeyWell it’s free to drop off at Gatwick ( did it this morning) so you could use that to pick up.

Top tip; drive to the end of the drop off lane rather than panic and pull in early ( super congested ). No one at all at the far end.

Just about every airport charges to drop off now. Leeds Bradford has been doing it for many years, but as others have said, there is a free, sign posted short stay (30 mins to 1 hour I think) car park about 5 mins walk away, so feasible to drop off or pick up and walk into the terminal to help people with luggage or just say goodbye/welcome back etc.

As with everything to do with airports, do your research in advance if you want to avoid being charged for X, Y and Z.

lazyarse123 you need to be careful now as they've painted double red lines on the surrounding roads. So you could be fined for stopping at the roadside. There were police there yesterday when i dropped off.