Luton Airport: a new trick to part unwary motorists from their money

dazster

I occasionally use Luton Airport (it's horrible but convenient), usually for short trips of a day or two.

I'm currently arranging another trip and have just tried to book official parking at the airport. The new stunt they have dreamed up is thus:

If your arrival/departure times are for a period of less than 48 hours, the only option they offer is the new multi-storey car park next to the terminal, at an eye-watering price (£43.99 for the period I'm looking at). The obvious first conclusion is that the cheaper car parks are fully booked, but no: if you extend the period to exactly 48 hours without changing the arrival date/time, all the cheaper car parks magically appear!

In other words, they are trying to force you to pay for the most expensive car park despite the cheaper ones clearly having availability.

The obvious way of getting around this is to book for at least 48 hours even if you don't need to stay that long. For my dates it's £21.99 for the long-term car park for 48 hours i.e. less than half the price they are trying to charge for a shorter stay. They can hardly refuse to let you out if you come back early!

I note that on the website it states "Can be cancelled or amended up to 24 hours in advance of your stay." Which leaves me wondering if you can book one of the cheaper car parks for 48 hours, and then amend it to a shorter stay (I haven't tried this - yet!)

worried_jim

Thankfully my local airport is Gatwick and £15 by train. Luton sounds a shocker!

glider3560

Stansted have done something similar in the past, but actually worse. This was about a year ago, haven't checked recently.



Under 4 days, you couldn't book the Long Term or JetParks.


Between 4 and 7 days in the Long Term or JetParks, it was always cheaper (about £20 usually) to book 8 days instead of 4 (or 5, 6, or 7 days)!


I never really understood the massive difference in price between Long Term and JetParks either. They're the same car park, just with different entrances (about 30 seconds drive apart) and a fence separating the two halves.

Muscle750

I dropped my son and daughter in law off at Gatwick a few weeks back and were amazed at the number of cars rammed onto wasteland around the airport alot were totally boxed in 5 cars plus deep on all sides. I know theres been alot of bad press on these parking scams of late id like to know what they are paying for their car to be parked in this way dare say in secure 24 hour manned parking.............NOT

Soulginge

I would suggest the Airparks at Slip End for Luton parking, but the last time I used them there was an extra 30 odd miles on my mileometer. Fairly sure one of the employees had been using my car for the weekend.

I had a better experience with Paige Airport Parking, on the same site at Slip End but a different company. They looked after my car well and will take you to the airport drop off in pretty comfortable mini-bus. Worth having a look at them instead.

dazster

When Luton Airport was asking me for £43.99 for the official parking I checked out the unofficial competitors. The reviews on TrustPilot for the main operators are shocking: cars being damaged, stuff being stolen from the car (without the car being broken into i.e. it's the staff who are thieving), cars clocking up significant mileage whilst supposedly parked and on and on. One guy left his SatNav activated and was actually able to see the routes of the joy rides his car had taken around Luton!

dazster

Yeah, Airparks is one that has shocking reviews. I checked out Paige, for my day-and-a-half it's more expensive than paying for 48 hours in the official mid-term car park.