Very expensive airport parking - will it get cheaper?

Pollycat

Hi
I've been looking for airport parking at Gatwick South Terminal for 20/2/2010 - 14/3/2010 and both Holiday Extras and GatwickParking.com are coming up VERY expensive.

I've booked (with Holiday Extras) for the same number of days 14/11/2009 - 5/12/2009 and paid £75.00. I booked this on 18/7/2009.

For next year, the prices are showing:
GatwickParking Long Stay Plus £158.70
GatwickParking Long Stay £170.20
HolidayExtras are showing the same prices, but they do have a cheaper option with Airparks for £80.49 but the transfer time is longer and the frequency of transfers is less.

Does anyone know if the prices are likely to come down nearer the time?
I've got a sneaky feeling that this period is half term and that is why the prices are so high - so should I bite the bullet and pay the £80.49 on offer now?

Thanks

phatbear

I've found that no matter when you travel the parking is a set price, the only way to get a discount is probably to book through a 3rd party as they may get a group booking discount thingy

Incapuppy

Are you in the AA Pollycat as they offer a discount on some airport parking, or have any credit cards that offer a discount for hols/holiday parking if booked t hrough them?

Incapuppy

I've played with a few dates for next year and can't understand how they work their pricing out. I was in agreement with you that the price hike for Feb-Mar was probably for school holidays, but looking at your Nov-Dec dates for 2010 rather than 2009, there has been a massive price hike and this is not in a school holiday period.

Mrs_Thrify

Hiya, try APH purple parking for park and ride @ Gatwick. I would recommend them. We paid £40 for 2 wks in May 09. Go through quidco for even more discount. We have used them several times. Very quick and a good polite service. They park your car and help with the cases onto the waiting coach.

crocodileteeth

Just checked dates through essential travel. I generally use them with 8% cashback on quidco but their prices are coming up the same. The meet & greet is cheaper, but it's not an option I have tried before.

Also have checked for dates that we are away 23 nov to 9th Dec and this is only coming up as £58.80 with the meet & greet at over £100.00.

The prices for february seem a bit odd.

Pollycat

Thanks guys.

Incapuppy, no we're not in the AA.
I too did some messing about with different dates and can't work out their pricing either.

After further checking, half term seems to be 13-20th Feb 2010 so I don't think that's the reason why it's so expensive.

I wonder if I'm trying to book too EARLY so there aren't any deals.
Looking at January 2010 for the same number of days, it's showing prices as cheap as £67.30 which is almost £100 cheaper than the quote for my dates.

julie_d
Thanks - I looked at Purple Parking and Airparks is slightly cheaper with them than With Holiday Extras (£77.45 versus £80.49) but we would really prefer to be closer to the airport and with a more frequent service.

As I'm fairly sure that it's not half term, I'm going to hang on and check in a couple of weeks.

Regards

Voyager2002

Why not take the train? Gatwick has its own railway station, and there are always discounted train tickets if you buy in advance.

Pollycat

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Why not take the train? Gatwick has its own railway station, and there are always discounted train tickets if you buy in advance.

Thanks for the suggestion, Voyager but we live 200 miles from Gatwick and as we travel out on Saturday and return on Sunday, it would involve too many changes - at least with hold and cabin luggage to manage.
Also, in our experience the return flight can be delayed and taking into account that the return train journey is much longer than the outward one (5 or 6 hours against 3 hours 6 mins) a delay would really complicate things and make the return journey much longer.

Train tickets are not available until 12 weeks before travel but I've had a look and it looks like costing around £70 each - which is not far of the £158 that I'm currently balking at.

I've looked at National Express but that's no better.
The outward journey takes 6+ hours and if we miss the 18:50 coach on our return (quite possible as we are scheduled to land at 17:00), the next one is not until 22:10.
The ecomony return fare is £50 each so is more expensive for both of us than the cheapest parking.

Regards

crocodileteeth

Have you tried calling them? I really don't understand why long stay parking would be dearer than the meet & greet.
You could stay at the marriot hotel which is on airport with parking for £164.00.

davetrousers

crocodileteeth wrote: »

Have you tried calling them? I really don't understand why long stay parking would be dearer than the meet & greet.
.

Because meet and greet just park your car on a nearby industrial estate!