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Original poster

Was planning on picking dh up from the airport next week and have just checked the price of the short term parking..

25 replies

foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 16:44

and to park for 1-1.5 hours it is £5.80, 1.5-2 hours is £7.40, 2-3 is £10.20. What a rip off! He could probably get a taxi for about that price but I thought it might be nice for the kids (and for him) if we met him off the plane.

It's so annoying that they can get away with charging that much ggrrrrr

OP posts:
Katymac · 29/07/2006 16:50

Can you pick him up from just outside the airport?

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 17:17

well it's heathrow so not easy to do that - thanks for your thoughts though!

It just annoys me that they have such a captive market and take advantage of it! I bet they make a fortune out of parking!

OP posts:
Katymac · 29/07/2006 17:24

Is there a bus? or a train?

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 17:27

there is a bus from here but then we'd have to pay for the taxi back anyway so I might as well take the car - haven't driven to the airport for ages!

Will curse them hugely while paying their extortionate fees - lining the pockets of some fat cat no doubt!

OP posts:
MaryP0p1 · 29/07/2006 17:29

Is there not a pick up/drop off point point?

thechildsslave · 29/07/2006 17:35

why not park just outside the airport in a side road just off the Bath road and get a bus in . The bust stops are on the bath road . I live 5 mins from Heathrow .

thechildsslave · 29/07/2006 17:36

Or park at Hatton cross tube station and get the tube in to the airport its 1 stop and get the tube back to carpark .

mummydear · 29/07/2006 18:01

Go to the vistor center ( check whether its open or not as I beleive it has been having some work done tomit ) get hubby to get taxi to there. I think parking is £1 per hour .

I used to wait at Hatton cross for Dh at times , park there, kids loved it especially when the planes were coming into land right overhead.

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 18:03

visitor centre is closed for refurb (v annoying, why did they close over summer of all times!) otherwise I would have gone there

thanks for all the other ideas but I am resigned to taking the car (dh on hectic business trip, has taken far too much luggage and will be very jetlagged!) so will park in ST parking because it's so close

drop off/pick up zone you can only stay for 20 mins and can't get out the car so it's a bit of a pain

I'll check his flight is on time before I leave then hopefully, I'll only need to be there for an hour!

OP posts:
Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 18:04

was just posting really so you could join me in outrage at the parking fees (it's always nice to feel that other people feel your pain!)

OP posts:
cat64 · 29/07/2006 18:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

motherinferior · 29/07/2006 18:30

I have had to put up with DP's long explanation of the different parking options at Gatwick for our car while we're on holiday, complete obviously with Which One Would I Suggest.

It was a lot like me asking him about a new frock, really; I did my best to second-guess him on the basis of no passionate commitment to any option.

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 18:38

lol - without wishing to make you glaze over again

what you want on holiday is the one where they take the car for you and park it somewhere - they meet you at the terminal, take your car, look after it (supposedly) and then when you return, they check your flight and meet you at the terminal in the drop off bit (i.e. right by the gate)

have done this a few times and it's certainly the least hassle alternative

OP posts:
Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 18:40

should say we are not car precious people so didn't mind someone carting our car off (they have their own insurance etc.) - don't know whether your dh feels your car is 'not to be meddled with'!

cat, can't believe they charge to see the planes - any way of bleeding the money out of us!

OP posts:
motherinferior · 29/07/2006 18:41

Ah. Now is that the best option? Because I guessed (correctly) that DP wouldn't want to hand over his car to someone who wouldn't appreciate it properly.

(This is the man who spent the nine months of my first pregnancy recoiling from anything vaguely, you know, gynaecological, but hours quizzing me on the sort of Family Car he should get. Actually, come to think of it, his first response to the Thin Blue Line was 'oh sh*t...I'll have to get a bigger car' )

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 18:43

if he feels that way about his car, it's prob not the best option for you but it is, by far, the most convenient (almost every other option involves one more mode of transport - so parking in long term and getting the bus or somewhere else and getting a cab).

OP posts:
motherinferior · 29/07/2006 18:45

Apparently we can park right by the terminal.

When I say 'we', obviously I mean him. I do actually now have a driving licence (acquired five days before the birth of DD2) but driving with DP is quite horribly stressful. For both of us. He once claimed it was the most stressful thing in his life, which is particularly rich from someone who has both witnessed an emergency delivery and spent two years not knowing whether his political prisoner father was alive or dead.

ediemay · 29/07/2006 18:48

I agree fox, I always use that meet & greet service - otherwise it's nightmare by shuttle bus! Can you find out where the meet & greet drop-off place is for his terminal and lurk there?

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 18:49

maybe he is planning on short stay parking (v close but also v expensive)? are you going for long (where are you off to - she asks nosily)?

does he find it stressful because you are the passenger? are you one of these nervous types that gasps every time the car brakes ?

(poor him and his dad)

OP posts:
motherinferior · 29/07/2006 19:01

Crete, two weeks from Tues. He's weighing up the short stay option which appears to be cheaper than the Unappreciative Stranger one.

Oh, I pay no notice when DP drives; I meant his reaction when I drive. He gasps or, even worse, ostentatiously bites back gasps.

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 19:14

lol at your poor dp - can imagine him worrying about the different parking options

he is obviously a man who likes to be in control of his own vehicle - I doubt it's your driving, I have been out with men like that before and you can almost feel their blood pressure rising as you sit behind the steering wheel! Gasps are v annoying!

crete sounds lovely (have never been) - imagine your two go beautifully brown and look even more gorgeous (if such a thing is possible)

OP posts:
motherinferior · 29/07/2006 19:15

Will send you a pic! We're all madly unwinding (despite the fact I do have a meeting on Monday) and I'm happily diving into the booze.

Original poster
foxinsocks · 29/07/2006 19:28

that would be lovely

did I read somewhere that you had taken on a 'proper' (i.e. not strictly freelance) job?

OP posts:
Alipiggie · 29/07/2006 19:30

If it's terminal 1/2/3 how much is the Hilton's parking they have a courtesy bus and you could use that to an fro and maybe have a snack at the Hilton. Alternatively couldn't you park off site and he ring you when he gets back? The kids will love it. My ds's always want to go and get h from the airport.

mummydear · 29/07/2006 19:38

How about taking the kids to Hounslow Urban farm, five mins from airport and the Dh phoning you to pick him up, might be just slighly cheaper than parking and waiting for him.

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