Landing fee and parking charge rip-offs

[Grim Reaper 14]

Twofold, my intentions are, with this posting (he said, coming over a bit 'Yoda').

Firstly, for a bit of personal reference as to where to avoid.
Secondly, if we name and shame a few people and places, maybe things will change.

Sorry about not asking for personal details, you can add your inside leg measurement if you like....;)

[Field In Sight]

Before we start slagging off heavy charging airports such as Wolverhampton Galactic Space Port it is probably worth also mentioning those airports that are very good value for money.

I recently flew to Huddersfield airport which has an interesting approach over a quarry and is half grass and half paved.

Got into the pilot reporting offer, the one one marked with a capital "C" for cash and found out it was free :eek: i.e. free touch & goes for FREE . It was almost like I was back in America. :)

Mugs of tea were very cheap and you could donate some cash for the upkeep if you wanted.

[big.al]

Hats off to Huddersfield then. Paving the way in making GA more affordable. Well done to them - must drop in there sometime. Just like being back in the Land Of The Free...

I've yet to travel afield in the UK after passing my PPL in the US but intend to go to Norwich in a few weeks - they have advised me that the total landing fee (including handling charge, transport to the terminal and parking) will be about £11. This is reduced to less than £8 if it's any kind of training flight. I didn't think that was too bad for a reasonably major airport with ATC etc. Provided you don't do touch-and-go's, Lord knows how much that would cost...

[englishal]

Believe it or not the Channel Islands are very good value for money (Jersey / Alderney anyway)...Jersey was £9 which I thought was fair, and Alderney, about £6 if you take on fuel. Might as well, its cheaper there, plus if you rent from a club, you get it knocked off your rental price...oh and don't forget to claim fuel drawback, and get you duty free fags and booze (not US fags;))....All in all a very good day out.

Cheers
EA :)

[Wrong Stuff]

Nipped into Norwich the other day and they were indeed as advertised. Big(ish) airport, transport to the terminal where they checked if I needed fuel or weather and rang for a taxi for me. Clean loos and a smattering of shops too. On the way out they even x-rayed my baggage and gave me a pat-down. What more can you ask?

[BRL]

Secondly, if we name and shame a few people and places, maybe things will change.

Be very, very careful if you name names. If you do, leave your name and contact details too so they and us if necessary, can get in touch with you quite easy. If not, instant deletion. I have had to deal with 2 cases of this kind of naming and shaming thing since i started moderating this forum, and i mean i had to make phone calls to unhappy people who threaten legal action. Just look back recently to the friends reunited case that went to court. Just be careful when you name and shame thats all i am saying :)

[Grim Reaper 14]

Surely a 'naming and shaming' along the lines of, "I flew into xxx and was charged £35 for a landing fee, handling and parking by 'xxx handling ltd. In my humble opinion I do not believe that I got value for money" would not lead to any Friendsreunited style lawsuits, would it?:confused: I'm sure all the barristers out there could tell me whether I'm right or not, but then again, without £2000 up front and £100 an hour, they might not respond....;)

[long final]

Have to agree with Grim there, if the facts are correct then I can see no problem discussing them.

One thing that gets my goat re. landing fees is when airfields advertise in AFE etc. free landing fees. As an example, I visited Kirkbride some time ago, now the book said ( and still does ) nill fee. On arrival I was told that the 'landing fee' was a fiver.

Now, if I land anywhere where it is free, I always donate a fiver towards upkeep anyway, so the ammount was fair enough to me, but I didn't like to be told I had to pay.

It was one of my first land aways, and I was in the local club house, so typically Englishly, I kept my mouth shut and paid.

Now the hositality was great there, and I enjoyed the trip, but it still sticks ( sad arn't I ) and I havn't been back since.

Oh, and has anyone else had attitude when using the flyer free landing fees?? Made to feel like a freeloader and unwelcome twice - surely it was their idea?

Moan over

LF :)

[QDMQDMQDM]

Surely a 'naming and shaming' along the lines of, "I flew into xxx and was charged £35 for a landing fee, handling and parking by 'xxx handling ltd. In my humble opinion I do not believe that I got value

Facts are OK -- that's not libel -- but beware if you get it wrong. English libel case law shows that you can and will be sued, as will the operators of this forum unless they do all within their power to rectify the libel as soon as possible. English libel law is much more rigorous than American, where they have a freedom of speech thingy to their constitution, I believe.

Also, don't rely on anonymity. The last thing you are in reality is anonymous -- you will be tracked down by your IP address.

If in doubt, the moderators should delete. It ain't worth doing otherwise.

QDM

[Evo7]

Also, don't rely on anonymity. The last thing you are in reality is anonymous -- you will be tracked down by your IP address.


This bit isn't necessarily true. Most of us have no reason to hide the IP address, but it isn't hard to route yourself through a carefully-chosen proxy (some will leak information about you. Others will not) so that PPRuNe will log an IP address in Burkina Faso. You could be tracked down, but they'll need to go and get the proxy logs from Ouagadougou (assuming logging is turned on and the logs are archived). Go through a couple of proxies and it is effectively impossible.

[Bouncy Landing]

I agree about Norwich, tho it did cost me about £28 including about 4 hours parking on teh main terminal, but I got a ride of about 50' on the little milk float..... Very friendly and good service.

Like "Wrong Stuff" I got Xrayed & searched plus they even searched my flight bag, having asked if I had packed the bag for myself and was I carrying anything on board for anyone else...... Words such as "pilot" and "solo" didnt seem to register. In the end I was told it was becasue I could be carrying something and hand it to someone on the apron as they were about to board a commercial aircraft. The fact that I could have walked to my aircraft, collected an AK47 / hand grenade / nail scissors and walked back and passed said lethel weapon to someone about to go to Palma seemed to have escaped their attention. As long as I had my hi-vis vest on the apron was mine for the exploring!

Also had a smile on arrival as nice customs lady asked to look in my flight bag, I asked if (small London area airfield) was considered international, she seemd shocked and kindly let me go!

All were very polite and well meaning, it was just a wee bit bizzare and blindly following rules.

[BRL]

Grim Reaper 14 I agree whith what you are saying 100%. All i am saying is be very careful thats all. QDM has got it in one, write what you want but if you get it wrong.................:eek:

[topunicyclist]

Isle of Man - £4 (if on a training flight, staying 2 hours or less and not leaving the airport); otherwise the normal rates also seemed good (a little over £10 if my memory serves me correctly).

Nottingham - £5 on a weekend.

Kirkbride (about 10 miles west of Carlisle) - £5 (includes free cup tea for pilot and pax)

Sleap (Shropshire) - I think that was a fiver as well.

Sherburn-in-Elmet (a bit east of Leeds, a few miles outside their CTR) - also good value!

All above are for single engine light acft and are correct as at the time of visiting.

BTW, does anyone know offhand what the charge is for Liverpool?

[bcfc]

So what is a fair landing fee? If I pop into somewhere on a Sunday morning for a bacon sarnie, I think £5-£7 for a 172 is fair enough. Any more than £12-15 for somewhere bigger and I think twice.

So what are you prepared to pay?

[Negative 'G']

Yeah hats off to HUDDERSFIELD I visit there quite regularly and I've always had a good warm welcome, I've been told several times by the locals that the kettle is always on :).
The best kept secret about Huddersfield apart from the beautiful scenery is "The Sands" public house situated at the end of the runway (literally 5 minutes walk), the food is Yorkshires finest whether it be a simple Beef sandwich & soup or a full Sunday roast.............Unbeatable value for money:D :D

Why not pop down to their FLY-IN on SEPT 1st and see for yourself, especially as the Food & Drinks (Bar-B-Q) are absolutely FREE for visiting aircrew:D :D :D Now that must be a first:D :D :D

Neg G

p.s Their A/G Frequency has just changed, I'll post it as soon as I find/remember it:rolleyes:

[Romeo Romeo]

Yep, Huddersfield's great - I grew up in a house on their base leg and it was watching aeroplanes gracefully fly past my bedroom window it what got me interested in flying. I've flown there a few times and it really is a nice airfield. You're spot on right about The Sands House as well.

[ETOPS773]

Blackbushe was offering three landings for £5 once,not sure if they are still doing it.

[BlueRobin]

The most expensive I have paid is at Schiphol 5 weeks ago. I think it worked out to around £110 for a PA28 :eek:

If you want cheap and large, Luxembourg comes second in my logbook with £11 overnighter and a 4km runway with Jumbos chasing you (don't fret on this point). Big does not mean scary! One gripe at Lux was that not many of the staff seem to know how to check-in and direct GA pilots. Be very forward in this case and things do get done.

First place must be Munster-Osnabruck in Germany. Long runway, excellent terminal facilities, very plush and zero people about. We got charged about a fiver and the met man stationed there even gives you a face-face full weather briefing.

Plus, if you fly Lux to Munster, you get to bash the Nurburgring and bomb a certain Moehne Dam... ;)

Perhaps we should quit flying around Blighty and spend weekends abroad? They seem to have GA sussed :)

[big.al]

So Huddersfield provide:

- free landings
- tea and coffee
- free BBQ and drinks on 1st Sept
- good scenery
- a great pub lunch
- a warm welcome...?

Is this real? Fantastic! I know where I'm off to next opportunity...

Well done Huddersfield - fighting the corner for us GA pilots.

[foghorn]

Nottingham, Retford/Gamston, York/Rufforth and Sherburn in Elmet are all very high on my 'friendly, pleasant and cheap' list. Well worth a visit.

I'm not a big fan of Lydd or London Ashford International or whatever they are calling themselves these days. I do not think that their landing fee is value for money at all, and I've had bad experiences in the past with their A/G operators thinking that they are London Ashford Director or something.

foggy.