East Midlands Airport brings in £1 drop-off fee

[fireflybob]

East Midlands Airport brings in £1 drop-off fee (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicester/10507564.stm)

Am at a loss for words!

[oceancrosser]

Shocking! Now shift this to JB. ;)

[Avman]

Brum have been doing this for quite some time now. I get the taxi to drop me off at the Long Stay (15 mins free) and I take the shuttle bus to the terminal. It adds between 5 to 7 mins of time which is of little significance.

[Dave Clarke Fife]

Maybe Ms Coates has had a few pints with Ryanair management in Diseworth and came up with the idea :}


Penny Coates, EMA Managing Director said,
“We are delighted that Ryanair continues to grow its Nottingham East Midlands base. The 27 routes they now offer have added significantly to the range of destinations enjoyed by the people of the Midlands and have played an important part in assisting EMA in fulfilling its role as wealth generator for the region.”

[Union Jack]

Penny Coates

More like "Penny Pincher"!:p

Jack

[fireflybob]

So will the taxis add £1 to the fare if you want to drop off at the terminal?

[Starbear]

I truly despair of this world in which we now find ourselves. And I despair even more of those who seek to justify the continuing degradation which seems to have no end.

[kwateow]

I presume you're kidding, about something which escapes me....

[TightSlot]

...the continuing degradation which seems to have no end.

Life is essentially a process of degradation:If you don't believe it can get worse, wait 10 seconds and then ask yourself the same question!

This is what I have become, and the worst thing is - I know I am like this and I just don't care

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[AlpineSkier]

East Midlands Airport brings in £1 drop-off fee

Well if you thought that was bad, this will really upset you ( from the DT).

: ''London Luton Airport notes that Bagport, the company running our trolley concession, has increased the fee it charges to hire a trolley from £1 to £2.

Odd. i'd always imagined TightSlot to be female:*

[davidjohnson6]

I'm a little puzzled as to why so many people are turning grumpy over this. The idea of a company offering a product cheaply, and then charging customers all sorts of extra charges for the things they need to go with it was dreamt up a long time ago.

Many people, certainly most grumpy old men, will have a razor. Gillette usually sell (manual) razors at a loss. They know however that people need the blades to go with them, and because the razor is shaped in a way that the only blades which fit are the ones made by Gillette, they know that people will keep on buying Gillette products. The blades of course are highly profitable.

Thus the customer is lured in with an attractive initial offer (cheap flight or cheap razor), but over time ends up paying for the subsidy through other means (drop-off charges or replacement blades)

Both Gillette and airport companies need to make their money somehow. Once upon a time, you paid a big fee to the airport purely through the ticket fare. Now you pay that profit margin through a mix of ticket fare and drop-off charges.

[PAXboy]

Not to mention the way that mobile phones are sold in the UK!!!! "Would you like a free upgrade of your phone? Just sign up for another 24 months during which we may vary rates at out will." Humans want to pay less money, so they always go for the headline figure. Always have and always will.

John Glenn, the first American to go into orbit, when asked what went through his mind while he was crouched in the rocket nose-cone, awaiting blastoff. He wryly replied "I was thinking that the rocket had twenty thousand components, and each was made by the lowest bidder".

[fireflybob]

In the great scheme of things £1 isn't a huge amount to pay but rather than the amount charged I think it is the principle (no pun intended) behind it.

There is an argument which says that airports are there to provide a service to the travelling public. Do railway stations charge a drop off fee? The main station in Nottingham has a 20 minute drop off zone which is free. Ok different numbers but I feel there is a principle here. Do they have drop off fees at airports in France or USA? What reaction would people in those countries have to the imposition of a charge?

If they are so worried about passengers behind dropped off by road transport then why not build a railway station at the airport on the Nottingham/London line instead of the hideous Parkway station which doesn't even have a shuttle bus to the airport anymore so that you have to use a taxi.

[RevMan2]

Am I missing something or is it TOTALLY FORBIDDEN to stop momentarily in front of the terminal to enable someone to get in/out of a car and retrieve their luggage?

Only one thing for it, chaps - practice the commando roll, wear robust clothing and exit the vehicle at speed......

[Avman]

Am I missing something or is it TOTALLY FORBIDDEN to stop momentarily in front of the terminal to enable someone to get in/out of a car and retrieve their luggage?

It all began after the Glasgow fiasco. Some airport managers were quick to identify the "security" need to close the terminal access road as a great money-making opportunity. Well, they do have to earn their bonuses don't they! Of course, any terrorist with half a brain will now realise that there's no need to crash a vehicle into the terminal building. At peak times airports like Birmingham concentrate hundreds of passengers into a small drop-off car park, presenting a sizeable target. When that happens (only a matter of time) passengers will, for their safety, be banned from airports unless they enter by an approved airport bus shuttle - at a cost of course!

Seriously, I thought a part of the passenger airport tax we pay on our tickets went towards passenger services. It's time the Government looked a little more closely at all these additional charges such as drop-off and baggage trolley charges to name two.

[Diplome]

Oh my goodness...I have to show that video to my husband.

Loved the part about self-examination though until they are clamped as hard as they do women's breasts during examinations men really don't have too much to complain about.

[radeng]

Regrettably, the Monopolies Commission seem totally toothless about such things - look at the Olympic limitations on not taking a drink into the stadium. That should be made illegal with a £100,000 fine every time they break it!

[fireflybob]

I get more and more amused by these excuses for doing things because of the government protecting us from "terrorism".

I wasn't at all surprised recently when someone high up in the anti-terrorism system voiced disquiet about the spending cuts and that it would leave UK more liable to terrorist attacks. Well, as somebody once famously said, "He would say that, wouldn't he?". A whole new Empire has been created with many vested interest to supposedly "protect us".

[Mr Angry from Purley]

LTN do the same I believe, it's just another money laundering service for the airport to contribute to the management bonuses. I guess they might ask FR to sponsor it Bob!. Shame folk don't dump pax at the garage or outside the security hut :\

[fireflybob]

Shame folk don't dump pax at the garage or outside the security hut

I think some folk probably will!

This craze must be catching - just been to the local M & S which is adjacent to a municipal car park which, until recently, between 0800 and 1800 Mon-Sat was £1.00 for 2 hours (quite reasonable as it's busy in the day). I choose to shop late to avoid the queues and the parking charges. You've probably guessed it - there is now a £1 charge between 1800 and 2359. When I spoke to the sales assistant at M & S she said even some of the staff had been caught out by the change!

Needless to say I parked for free on the road just round the corner - we'll have to pay to breathe soon.

[Avman]

In Brum the taxis came up with the idea of dropping pax outside the IBIS Hotel entrance (it's close to the terminal). That worked for a while until the Airport Gestapo got wind of this and began to fine them 60 quid a go!! If you know the BHX airport layout you will also know that a quick drop off at the IBIS is pretty harmless and does not block traffic flow. The airport authorities just needed to protect their fat cash cow. It's really disgraceful.

[Dont Hang Up]

In Brum the taxis came up with the idea of dropping pax outside the IBIS Hotel entrance (it's close to the terminal). That worked for a while until the Airport Gestapo got wind of this and began to fine them 60 quid a go!! If you know the BHX airport layout you will also know that a quick drop off at the IBIS is pretty harmless and does not block traffic flow. The airport authorities just needed to protect their fat cash cow. It's really disgraceful.


Yes the arrangement in Birmingham is a shambles, and not at all safe with the mix of cars and milling pedestrians.

And it is all so unnecessary. Yes we know the drop off lane was closed as a panic response to the Glasgow incident, but a better solution was eminently feasible. The placement of concrete blocks to prevent cars mounting the kerb would have been far more intelligent than concrete blocks and bollards closing the whole drop-off lane (apparently for good judging by the look of them).

The cynical turning of a security issue into a money-making scheme is shameful.

[Crusher1]

I drop off near the roundabout at BHX, along with lots of others from what I've seen, I can use a permit at EMA but the petrol station is just as good.

I refuse to pay the parking fee on principle.

I'm either bringing or collecting THEIR customers, none of which would have been using the airport had they not been visiting my company, so in effect I'm being charged a fee for generating business for the airport.

Anywhere else I'd be getting paid a commission!

[radeng]

What about disabled people? Do they provide the necessary facilities for them free of charge?