You're complaining about being charged for spending over 10 minutes in the drop off zone when you were actually being picked up?!

I’ve just checked the Edinburgh airport car parking webpage: Long stay car park 0-30 minutes is FREE.

Looks like that’s the price you’ve paid for the “necessary” convenience :ok:

Used to operate in and out of Edi many times. It’s not an airport, it’s a shopping mall with a runway. ridiculous charges. The taxi drivers are getting fleeced as well.

Better to add £10 to your airfare for airport charges and make the pickup free. That way you would be happy.

I have a feeling that might be a challenge....

£10 seems reasonable to me if you're spending unnecessary time in the pick up zone. The charges are very clearly advertised before you enter the area and not only that but EDI revealed these new charges some time ago on their website and social media channels and it also got the attention of local media too.

As you say, Aviation is in the doldrums. Do you expect the airport to run on thin air? They have every right to make money off the very few people who are using it these days. Why on earth would you expect Otherwise?
​​​​​

I agree it looks extortionate but of course if there was no charge you'd have to have a very large waiting areas as people would arrive early or wait until people get out from airside - LHR used to have that problem at all their terminals 20 years ago.

i'm sure they'd say you're paying for the convenience of not using public transport to get you to your destination or somewhere cheaper to be picked up.

Its really just part of the democratisation (or Ryanisation) of the airline business - 60 years ago you were special - now you're treated as if you where on a local bus - you get what you pay for.............. if you're rich enough you can still get a car to the steps of your private jet

You can walk to the park & ride and get picked up there. It's free and you get the health benefits of a walk :)

(Other unofficial pickup points are available nearby but frowned upon by EAL)....

Do tell :)

LHR doesn’t charge to drop passengers off. They have an ANPR system which will fine you for picking passengers up at the drop off point but there are not long queues. If they want to make money off passengers fair enough but let’s not make this out like it is necessary to control the terrible queues caused when no charge is in place because that doesn’t happen at far busier airports.

It's a case of people can take a good idea too far. Unbundling of costs was a godsend to low cost travel. But the idea has been taken to extremes, with the concept of paying for a better seat now extended to paying to ensure you don't have a bad seat. The notion of having a proper meal included has gone as far as to have no tea or coffee included at all. There is a nice balance that people would pay a tiny bit more for to avoid hassle, but everyone in strategy and direction is fixated on following the crowd and not being left behind. Ryanair went from being the great innovater to being the new normal.

I am praying for some innovation in the other direction, because fundamentally, flying short haul is a pretty subpar experience and there are ways to improve this with marginal gains that could make a decent difference. But not in a collapsed post COVID industry.

Evidence BA & a Greggs sausage roll.

LHR car parks are more expensive than EDI and the airport in general has more expensive offerings when it comes to shops and food, so LHR most certainly wants to make money off passengers too. I also seem to remember at LHR they had wardens scaring away people who were picking up outside the terminal and signs stating it was for drop off only. When I was staff there around about the time the new T2 opened I had a warden threaten to have my staff car park pass revoked because I'd gone to pick up my then girlfriend from the terminal after her shift at 11pm one night in the pouring rain. He ranted about how it wasn't a pick up zone and as staff I shouldn't even be using the kerbside facility.

Rather bizarrely Ryanair have loaded in 2x weekly EDI-STN flights from the 4th of December until the 8th of January. Dates after that show a loading sign so possibly more to come. Flights will be operated by Ryanair UK.

Post removed

Wasn’t there something the gov no deal brexit planning that allowed EU airlines to continue existing domestic UK services up until the summer season? I think it’s been rewritten due to the transition deal but might be something to do with why they’d reinstate a route that straddles the end of the year...as well as likely decent demand for Christmas!

I seem to recall that part of the reason the STN route was cut was because of the shortage of airframes due to delayed delivery of the Max200 aircraft. With lockdown happening in so many countries and with so many international routes suspended, it makes sense to me that Ryanair would use a little of its underutilised capacity to add to their domestic operation from EDI which is currently just Londonderry.

Ryanair just titling the added STN service as flying UK students ho ho-home for Christmas.

No use schedule (currently). Fingers crossed for more...