Leeds Bradford airport drop off charges :-(

Money_User

thepeterleeknowledge wrote: »

oh silly me and that's why I thought they charged for CAR PARKING charging someone £2 to drop somebody off? What other reason than to maximize profit. Greed that's all it comes down to greed.

Whats the difference between being greedy and tight fisted? Nothing both want the pound in their own pocket.

Money_User

dmg24 wrote: »

I'm a dumbass for suggesting that a business wants to make a profit? Brilliant!

Keep complaining with your 'knowledge', I could do with a laugh! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I've got to admit reading his sig about knowledge and saying the idea of a business was just to provide a service and not make any money has made me laugh! :rotfl:

shaun_from_Africa

they have never charged before and are just looking at making a quick buck

Of course they charged before. It's just that the fees would have been incorporated into something else such as one of the passenger fees.

Airport operators have always had to build and maintain the roads, and one way or another, the cost of this would always have been passed on to the airport users.
If you fly from an airport run by BAA, each passenger is charged £20.25 in airport fees, but Leeds Bradford charges are approx £16 per passenger, so even with the drop off charge, it is still lower than many other airports.

if ASDA charged you a quid for waiting outside to pick up your missus or to park while you do your shopping would you pay it?

Where exactly do you think ASDA get the money to build and maintain their carparks?
From their profits which have been given to them by their customers.

dickydonkin

Think yourselves lucky.

Durham Tees Valley [STRIKE]Aerodrome[/STRIKE] International Airport charge everyone a 'Passenger Facility Fee' of £6.00 just for departing the airport.

As for dropping off fees, I don't know what the situation is regarding that - nor do I wish to as I have only used the place once and would prefer not to do so again.

Talk about scoring an own goal! The management at Newcastle Airport (who do charge a £1.00 dropping off fee) must have laughed their heads off when DTV announced the charges.

When an airport can find a way to screw their passengers - they will. The plastic bags required to carry liquids on board is a prime example. The better airports will provide these for free whereas many UK regional airports will charge a stupid price for them.

I accept that the airport has to make money - whether the £6.00 fee is a step too far is debatable - it certainly won't attract passengers - something DTV needs to do as it is losing routes and pax which could compromise their future.

fluffnutter

If they start charging at Southampton, I shall not stop any more. I'll just slow down a bit, unbuckle his seatbelt and push the OH out.

bluenoseam

Prestwick also charge you i believe (given the number of Ryanair flights that depart from here it's hardly a surprise!), personally i think it's agreeable especially if like Prestwick there's excellent public transport links.

Storck

At Leeds/Bradford you can still park in the long stay car park for a couple of hours for free so the secret is to pull into there to get dropped off and just walk up to the front door. Save yourself the couple of quid and walk up the hill. Easy.

Norfolk_Jim

just wait till they introduce a pee fee - after all, someone has to pay for the loo roll, cleaners, hot air, lights etc. Dont agree with any of it but its the capitalist way to charge for whatever you can. And just to be even handed politically, I had the same sort of charging at an airport in communist China as well.

whatmichaelsays

There are two big problems with Leeds Bradford when it comes to accessibility.

Firstly, the airport is only accessible by road. There are absolutely no rail links and no bus link to the nearest station to the airport (Horsforth, on the Leeds-Harrogate line).

Secondly, the airport management will only allow one private hire company onto the airport premises. The new owners of the site removed the hackney carriage taxi rank (using Glasgow as the excuse for that) and put the taxi facilities out to tender, creating a monopoly on the airport for one cab firm. All other cab firms (including hackney carriages) have to use the drop-off facility, paying the new £2 charge - which is passed on to the customer.

The only other options are to drive yourself (and LBA has some incredibly expensive parking facilities compared to other local airports, particularly Manchester), or use the slow & infrequent bus service to the city centre that has special "airport fares". Whatever option you take, you're paying more that what you arguably should be.

I got done by this charge last weekend and it just stinks. It is completely needless and it is hardly well advertised on the approach roads to the airport. You've got a few small green signs that are impossible to read at 30mph and the first time you're likely to realise is when you're approaching the gate, already stuck on the one-way system.

People can talk about public transport all they like but until the system is actually workable and fit for purpose, it is a waste of air. I often travel by public transport (with luggage) to Manchester Airport or Heathrow but I would never consider public transport to Leeds Bradford Airport - and I live little more than five miles away from the runway threshold.

liam8282

LBA was sold by the councils that owned it in 2007.

Since then the current owners are free to do what they like with the Airport, the land, the carparks etc.

Personally I think the charges are over the top and there should be an alternative route somewhere in the vicinity solely for picking people up and dropping them off.

It all comes back to the Airport being privately owned and the owners maximising their profits. They sold the rights for one taxi firm to have exclusive use of the Airport, so if they do not charge other taxis for picking up or dropping off, what is the real value of the exclusivity of the taxi firm buying the rights?

BTW, Leeds City Council recently said they were considering building a taxi rank on the road at the bottom of the Airport, so hopefully something will be factored in here for a pick up / drop off zone too. But no doubt it will just be something else to catch out ordinary people and fines will be issued for stopping in a taxi rank!