Airport drop off charges

[Mozd]

You can pick up from the preceeding or following stations, surely?
Free parking at the train station would be a joke as it is moments from the terminal.



'Herded from queue to queue' is stretching it a bit. It's a couple of queues and you are free to roam. Not too much different to Eurostar either.
I am not sure where you are buying your water as £3.50 is extreme. Sub £2 is found at most airports. Plus prices are no different that at train stations.
Anyway, you can take an empty bottle through and fill it airside at every UK airport. Some now allow you to take liquids through, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham and Edinburgh, where 2 litres is the new limit.

Handy hint. Airport branches of Boots still often have tiny bottles of water for 90p

 

[camflyer]

I think we’ll have to disagree on that one. Being herded from queue to queue and then being asked to remove various items of clothing before sending my valuables through a scanning machine where anybody can pick them up at the other end, all at at 0530 isn’t my idea of a great start to turn day. Then I have to buy a £3.50 bottle of water because I’m not allowed to take my own with me, which is also irritating. Al of this takes 2 hours, and none of this happens at a railway station. I use them, but I really dislike them, whereas a railway station I find I can do things at my pace and generally enjoy the experience.

Maybe I'm odd but I generally like airports (as long as it isn't Stansted at 6am). Great places for people watching and considering all of the possible places you could be flying to.

If you are a regular airport user then you soon learn a few tricks which makes them less stressful places.

For a start, put all of your valuables inside your bag rather than in the tray so nobody can walk off with them.

 

[TravelDream]

For a start, put all of your valuables inside your bag rather than in the tray so nobody can walk off with them.

Yes, no idea why people put everything in the tray.
Phones, wallets and keys can just be placed in your bag/ a coat pocket.
I also always wait until my bag is just about to go through the scanner before going through the body scanner. Common sense IMO.
The risk is next to none.

At the end of the day, airports are generally only 'stressful' as some seem to leave their brains and common sense at the door.

Same with the drop off fees. 10 minutes earlier and you can just use the free option at most airports or even drop off outside the airport and walk in. Not such a big deal if £5-10 bothers you.

 

[Harpo]

Plus prices are no different that at train stations.

Really? A quick price comparison, via their app, of identical items at ‘Spoons on New Street station and ‘Spoons at BHX shows the typical additional gouge we all expect at airports. Oh, and the airport meal price won’t include a drink.

 

[Dave W]

For a start, put all of your valuables inside your bag rather than in the tray so nobody can walk off with them.

These days with the amount of scrutiny in the scanner, I don't think my tray of belongings has beaten me to airside in the last 10 times I've been through security - everywhere from Heathrow to somewhere small and domestic like Belfast.

as long as it isn't Stansted at 6am

I flew with child and the mountain of stuff that comes with one from Stansted at 6am last September. I expected carnage, but it's amazing how far a pram gets you... Special security and even a smile out of staff. Almost made up for the 2 and half hour nightmare that she was on the plane (in our defence it was a TUI flight that had over twenty babes-in-arms so we were not alone!)

In fact on that occasion, with a booked parking space out in the long stay car park, I drove up to the terminal at 4am and dumped wife and child and aforementioned mountain before going back to the car park myself. I suspect the reason people do this without a second thought is that they're about to do something that's probably cost them several hundred quid - for an extra tenner (one round of drinks on holiday), I didn't have to lug my baby, my wife and my vast range of bikinis on a draughty bus.

I appreciate at the outset it looks like a rip off, but in the context of what you're spending on your holiday (and the alternative of an airport taxi) - is it that bad?

 

[nlogax]

At the end of the day, airports are generally only 'stressful' as some seem to leave their brains and common sense at the door.

There's a certain amount of airport 'muscle memory' that travellers only gain through repeated travel that makes the whole rigamarole quick and painless to navigate. It shouldn't be forgotten that infrequent or new flyers can find airports to be stressful, as well as those with young kids. CT scanners do make things easier, but not everyone has the luxury of being able to waft through check-in and security without a second thought.

 

[Harpo]

I appreciate at the outset it looks like a rip off, but in the context of what you're spending on your holiday (and the alternative of an airport taxi) - is it that bad?

Precisely the mindset that airports hope we’re in. Ready to be gouged.

 

[TravelDream]

Really? A quick price comparison, via their app, of identical items at ‘Spoons on New Street station and ‘Spoons at BHX shows the typical additional gouge we all expect at airports. Oh, and the airport meal price won’t include a drink.

Yes, really. We were talking about bottles of water. Prices at Boots and Smiths in airports are the same as train stations. A bottle of water can be had for under £1 in Boots.

No doubt some prices are higher at airports, but the costs aren't comparable. Staff at train stations don't have to go through extensive background checks. Food/ drink doesn't have to be searched on entry. Etc. etc. Of course that means in some cases prices are higher.

Spoons prices aren't always that much more. Spoons in Stansted and Waterloo are fairly comparable with pints being about 5% more despite all the extra costs.

There's a certain amount of airport 'muscle memory' that travellers only gain through repeated travel that makes the whole rigamarole quick and painless to navigate. It shouldn't be forgotten that infrequent or new flyers can find airports to be stressful, as well as those with young kids. CT scanners do make things easier, but not everyone has the luxury of being able to waft through check-in and security without a second thought.

Fair enough.
I still think some people make it far more difficult that it needs to be though.
Especially as more modern scanners have come in at many airports where people leave laptops/ liquids in their bags.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The overheads are a lot higher for operating in an airport. The prices reflect that. I'm sure they also add a bit on top for good luck but that's supply and demand for you. Don't like it, don't pay it.

The pick up charges are the ones that really grind my gears, because there's nothing you can do to control the cost. At least with drop off you're in and out quickly. With pick up there are too many variables.

At Manchester I'll pay to be dropped off at the door, but on pick up I'll arrange to be picked up at Wythenshawe town centre and get the tram to meet my pick-up. Otherwise, if things like slow baggage handling or long passport queues happen, you can end up with a huge bill.

I still think some people make it far more difficult that it needs to be though.
Especially as more modern scanners have come in at many airports where people leave laptops/ liquids in their bags.

There's no consistency, though.

I fly a lot compared to most people, I do 20+ flights a year, and I have to think about it every time.

The IOM doesn't have the new scanners (and probably never will) so it's the old rules- 100ml, plastic bag, and everything out. The security staff there are also very particular about boots; they make me take off my trainer-style walking boots whereas every other airport simply doesn't care.

Manchester has the new scanners and has just brought in the new 2 litre liquids rules. London City has the new scanners but the old 100ml liquids rules, although you can leave them in your bag. Liverpool is the same- new scanner, old liquid rules- and they're also a bit more fussy about electronics.

And that difference is just between British airports.

 

[Dave W]

Precisely the mindset that airports hope we’re in. Ready to be gouged.

Or have they correctly identified the price I'm willing to pay for convenience in the circumstance?

A bus for a 30 minute journey, or I can get a taxi and make that journey 10 minutes. The taxi will cost several times what the bus does. Is it worth it? Depends on circumstance.

50 quid for two tins of paint, or 350 quid for two tins of paint and a bloke to apply them to my wall. Is it worth it? Depends on circumstance.

£10 to get dropped off after a trip in Dad's Taxi (an otherwise free journey), or £40 quid in an actual taxi? Everything has a price...

 

[Harpo]

Or have they correctly identified the price I'm willing to pay for convenience in the circumstance?

A bus for a 30 minute journey, or I can get a taxi and make that journey 10 minutes. The taxi will cost several times what the bus does. Is it worth it? Depends on circumstance.

50 quid for two tins of paint, or 350 quid for two tins of paint and a bloke to apply them to my wall. Is it worth it? Depends on circumstance.

£10 to get dropped off after a trip in Dad's Taxi (an otherwise free journey), or £40 quid in an actual taxi? Everything has a price...

Absolutely agree about the value of goods or services but it’s the airport way of ramping everything to distress purchase levels that I resent.

It’s not about a price I’m willing to pay but one that I have to and with, say, a 3 hour flight involving around 6-7 hours inside the sealed world, my lack of options are priced in.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Absolutely agree about the value of goods or services but it’s the airport way of ramping everything to distress purchase levels that I resent.

It’s not about a price I’m willing to pay but one that I have to and with, say, a 3 hour flight involving around 6-7 hours inside the sealed world, my lack of options are priced in.

Airport prices tend, IME, to be somewhere between 15% and 30% higher than the high street price for things like food and coffee.

I'd say that more reflects the extra costs of operating out of an airport. Staffing costs are notably higher at airports- wages are higher to reflect the cost and inconvenience of working at an airport, security clearance for all your staff doesn't come cheap, nor does the screening for all your deliveries- not to mention the rents that the airport will charge retailers.

I'm sure the pricing does take supply-and-demand into account too, but I don't perceive too much out and out price gouging. WH Smith excepted.

Same with the pick up and drop off charges, really. It's £6.40 to drop off at Manchester Airport and I'm sure they'll be increasing that again soon. But a single on the train from Manchester city centre to the airport is £5.20. Even from Wythenshawe, my collection point of choice, it is £1.40 on the tram. For drop off, I'll pay the extra fiver (less if it's not just me travelling), but for pick up I won't because of all the variables.

 

[TravelDream]

Absolutely agree about the value of goods or services but it’s the airport way of ramping everything to distress purchase levels that I resent.

This is just wrong.

Both @Tetchytyke and I (and probably others) have mentioned previously that airport costs are simply much higher than train station costs or high street costs.

Staff background checks take time and cost money. Working at airports is less convenient in general. Therefore staff are generally paid more at airports than the high street/ train stations. I'll use Wetherspoons as an example. At Stansted Airport, they offer bar staff a wage starting at £14.94. In Bishop's Stortford, the nearest town to the airport, they are offering £12.31. That's 21.4% more on the basic hourly wage (the overall % increase is obviously higher with employer's NI/ benefits/ their % based bonus scheme). They also have to pay for background checks etc. which don't apply at normal pubs. Do you really expect prices to be the same at both when the cost of staff is substantially higher?

And there's more. Products have to be searched prior to entering the secure area of every airport. Airport stores are often required to open from first flight to last even when there are often quiet periods during the day. It's much more difficult to cover staff absence due to the requirements of airside IDs. These are all costs that need to be calculated and they add up.

So how can you say prices are 'ramped up' to levels you 'resent' when, I think it's fair to say, most costs are no more than 25% more than the high street.
They often aren't ramped up that much at all as well. As I said previously, pints of beer are about 5% more at Stansted airport than at Waterloo station. Often you can find 'cheaper' stores in airports as well like Boots which tends to only add a small increase over the high street.


With car parking fees, I think people often misunderstand the economics of airports and how they make money. Airlines push hard on landing fees/ passenger fees so airports look for alternative funding sources. Airports are not cheap things to run and even small airports will have an army of backroom staff doing a multitude different things.
Yes, £10, or whatever it is, for 10 minutes is a fair chunk of money, but all airports have some sort of free option which isn't that inconvenient.

 

[The exile]

Airport stores are often required to open from first flight to last even when there are often quiet periods during the day. It's much more difficult to cover staff absence due to the requirements of airside IDs. These are all costs that need to be calculated and they add up.

They also have a captive (literally) customer base that is entirely predictable in terms of numbers (barring war, Icelandic volcanoes or similar)…

 

[sprunt]

The increased costs are a red herring, as businesses don't set their prices by examining the cost and adding on what they want to make in profit. They set the prices to maximise profit, and pretending that the captive market they have in airports doesn't enter into those calculations is naive at best.

 

[TravelDream]

They also have a captive (literally) customer base that is entirely predictable in terms of numbers (barring war, Icelandic volcanoes or similar)…

But this simply isn't the case. Go to any airport in the country and there will be times of the day where it is quiet. Especially so in regional airports which might have very few to no flights after 3pm - but Ryanair has a flight to Dublin at 10pm so the shops are required to stay open until the last departure. That's a huge cost to any business.

The increased costs are a red herring, as businesses don't set their prices by examining the cost and adding on what they want to make in profit. They set the prices to maximise profit, and pretending that the captive market they have in airports doesn't enter into those calculations is naive at best.

That's obvious and is the whole point of capitalism. But I don't think it's fair.

Hypothetically, If it costs Wetherspoon's £2.00 to deliver a pint in London and £2.50 at the airport, but they charge £3 in London and £3.20 at the airport, it's obvious they aren't profiteering despite charging more.

I'd say, given the sometimes massive extra costs of operating at an airport, it's obvious that most companies are not profiteering.