Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Rip Off Airports
Birmingham Airport is now charging an outrageous drop-off parking fee of £1.00 for a 20 minutes stay – with an even more outrageous charge of £3.00 for every 15 minutes after that.
Because of the attempted Glasgow bombings, cars are no longer able to stop outside the Departures entrance but are diverted to the short-stay car park where they have no choice but to pay the fee. The charge is nothing short of racketeering and the speed with which the airport authorities managed to install the signs and fees shockingly indecent.
I spoke to one car owner picking up his grandson who had phoned him when the plane landed. He had to wait a long time for the baggage to come out and it cost poor old Granddad £7.00 in car parking fees for less than an hour. It’s not often I agree with Ken Livingstone, but his recent comments on greedy airport owners are spot on.
On a recent visit to Knock airport I was flabbergasted to be fleeced of a 10 Euro ‘Development’ charge before I was allowed to leave – this is a new one on me. I’ve paid departure tax before, but have never been asked to contribute towards building the airport. An airport which is there because they want to attract tourists in to spend money in the shops, bars, hotels and restaurants. I’m renovating a house at the moment, should I charge all my visitors a tenner to come in? I think not - because I would very quickly have no visitors….
And another thing – since the ban on liquids going through security, passengers wanting to buy water to hydrate themselves on flights (as we are constantly told to do) are at the mercy of the so-called duty free shops. I paid £1.20 for a 500 ml bottle of water and 75 ml bottles were a whopping £1.60. How long is this blatant profiteering going to be allowed to go on?
Because of the attempted Glasgow bombings, cars are no longer able to stop outside the Departures entrance but are diverted to the short-stay car park where they have no choice but to pay the fee. The charge is nothing short of racketeering and the speed with which the airport authorities managed to install the signs and fees shockingly indecent.
I spoke to one car owner picking up his grandson who had phoned him when the plane landed. He had to wait a long time for the baggage to come out and it cost poor old Granddad £7.00 in car parking fees for less than an hour. It’s not often I agree with Ken Livingstone, but his recent comments on greedy airport owners are spot on.
On a recent visit to Knock airport I was flabbergasted to be fleeced of a 10 Euro ‘Development’ charge before I was allowed to leave – this is a new one on me. I’ve paid departure tax before, but have never been asked to contribute towards building the airport. An airport which is there because they want to attract tourists in to spend money in the shops, bars, hotels and restaurants. I’m renovating a house at the moment, should I charge all my visitors a tenner to come in? I think not - because I would very quickly have no visitors….
And another thing – since the ban on liquids going through security, passengers wanting to buy water to hydrate themselves on flights (as we are constantly told to do) are at the mercy of the so-called duty free shops. I paid £1.20 for a 500 ml bottle of water and 75 ml bottles were a whopping £1.60. How long is this blatant profiteering going to be allowed to go on?
# posted by hotelreviewer @ 2:17 pm 
Comments:
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£1.20 for a bottle of water - you were lucky. I was unaware the EU and Switzerland have also now joined in this "no liquids" farce. Coming back from Geneva last week, I bought a 500ml bottle of water from the supermarket at the airport station for the princely sum of 60 cents. But no, I could not take that through security, even though it was obviously sealed! The price airside? An almost unbelievable 4 Swiss francs! How long will this be allowed to continue? For as long as the airport operators can keep cashing in I fear.
# posted by 
: 7:23 pm
: 7:23 pm
Although i agree that the prices are expensive, i think for the incresed safety and security of our country its a small price to pay, so get over it!!
# posted by : 3:37 pm
: 3:37 pm
Increased prices for security! It's a blatant rip off I'm afraid, airports know we are going to buy stuff in departures, and bump up the prices, just like service stations! END IT NOW!
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# posted by : 10:11 am
: 10:11 am << Home
