Teesside International Airport - an absolute gem of a place to fly from

phatbear

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Unless you get dropped off at McDonalds etc they now charge for drop off at Southend

daveyjp

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Completely agree with this as someone who flew for the first time from Southend (to Vilnius, self-connecting to Minsk the following morning on a Vilnius-London one way Belavia ticket with an 8 day stopover) in February 2020.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Only complaint (which was nobody's fault) was we missed celebrating a birthday with friends in Vilnius as we didn't land until 3am.

Sadly many airports have changed, and not for the better though.

daveyjp said:

Since Doncaster closed MME is now where you need to go to see the only 727s now operating in the UK.

Just wondering the airline Davey, as I didn't think any of those were left in Europe due to noise limits.

Its an emergency oil spill response unit that still operate two examples:

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/doncaster-sheffield-airport-on-board-the-final-boeing-727-departure

CKhalvashi

phatbear said:

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Unless you get dropped off at McDonalds etc they now charge for drop off at Southend

That's a shame, it's a really nice little airport

I think it was 15 minutes free in the short stay at that point. Luton is actually still free in mid stay, a really short walk from the terminal, but as someone who's just paid £48 for 3 days parking at Stansted (6:50 departure, we travel with mom who has some specialist medical equipment to go with her so wants to be before the first train arrives), free drop off is a nice thing to have.

daveyjp said:

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Completely agree with this as someone who flew for the first time from Southend (to Vilnius, self-connecting to Minsk the following morning on a Vilnius-London one way Belavia ticket with an 8 day stopover) in February 2020.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Only complaint (which was nobody's fault) was we missed celebrating a birthday with friends in Vilnius as we didn't land until 3am.

Sadly many airports have changed, and not for the better though.

daveyjp said:

Since Doncaster closed MME is now where you need to go to see the only 727s now operating in the UK.

Just wondering the airline Davey, as I didn't think any of those were left in Europe due to noise limits.

Its an emergency oil spill response unit that still operate two examples:

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/doncaster-sheffield-airport-on-board-the-final-boeing-727-departure

Thanks for the info! Interesting to see them still flying and hope I get to see one someday (thinking about the last commercial IL-62 we managed to get a glimpe of on takeoff at Minsk when going to I think Tirana, obviously banned from EU airspace now).

Edit: Last 727 we saw in person was 4K-8888. Not sure where this is now as that registration is on an A319, but it was at Tbilisi some years ago.

Murphy_The_Cat

I can confirm that one of the 727's was at "home" when we landed at MME on the 3rd Jan !

Whilst we were away they had a 747 freighter at MME doing a test run, so hopefully they'll get some of them usinf the airport in the future as well.

bagand96

CKhalvashi said:

phatbear said:

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Unless you get dropped off at McDonalds etc they now charge for drop off at Southend

That's a shame, it's a really nice little airport

I think it was 15 minutes free in the short stay at that point. Luton is actually still free in mid stay, a really short walk from the terminal, but as someone who's just paid £48 for 3 days parking at Stansted (6:50 departure, we travel with mom who has some specialist medical equipment to go with her so wants to be before the first train arrives), free drop off is a nice thing to have. 

Therein lies the problem. Airports don't make their money out of being a runway and terminal anymore. They make their money out of being a shopping centre and car park! 

CKhalvashi

bagand96 said:

CKhalvashi said:

phatbear said:

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Unless you get dropped off at McDonalds etc they now charge for drop off at Southend

That's a shame, it's a really nice little airport

I think it was 15 minutes free in the short stay at that point. Luton is actually still free in mid stay, a really short walk from the terminal, but as someone who's just paid £48 for 3 days parking at Stansted (6:50 departure, we travel with mom who has some specialist medical equipment to go with her so wants to be before the first train arrives), free drop off is a nice thing to have. 

Therein lies the problem. Airports don't make their money out of being a runway and terminal anymore. They make their money out of being a shopping centre and car park! 

Completely agree Bagand.

Free drop off in most airports is now too much hassle to bother.

bagand96

CKhalvashi said:

bagand96 said:

CKhalvashi said:

phatbear said:

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Unless you get dropped off at McDonalds etc they now charge for drop off at Southend

That's a shame, it's a really nice little airport

I think it was 15 minutes free in the short stay at that point. Luton is actually still free in mid stay, a really short walk from the terminal, but as someone who's just paid £48 for 3 days parking at Stansted (6:50 departure, we travel with mom who has some specialist medical equipment to go with her so wants to be before the first train arrives), free drop off is a nice thing to have. 

Therein lies the problem. Airports don't make their money out of being a runway and terminal anymore. They make their money out of being a shopping centre and car park! 

Completely agree Bagand.

Free drop off in most airports is now too much hassle to bother.

It's a complex debate but it's the change in the industry over the last 20 years or so. Some very relevant points made in this thread about the airport experience and how it's changed over the years.

We do have to acknowledge though that air travel over that time has become far more accessible and much cheaper. I could hop on a plane to Mediterranean next week for less than it would have cost me in the 80s or 90s in real terms, let alone inflation adjusted. I've flown from my local regional airport to some cities in Eastern Europe I'd barely even heard of 10 years ago and had fantastic weekends for under £50 return.

The industry and the business models have shifted and arguably the consumer has benefitted greatly.

All that said... the Teessides Cardiffs and Southends of the world are great to fly from! 

CKhalvashi

bagand96 said:

CKhalvashi said:

bagand96 said:

CKhalvashi said:

phatbear said:

CKhalvashi said:

eDicky said:

Good tip..! It sounds like how Stansted and Southend airports, probably others outside London, used to be - before they were expanded and adapted to the price-gouging and user-unfriendly culture that has been forced on air travelers since.

Free drop off (thanks mom), friendly ground crew at the gate (during a 4 hour delay caused by a major storm, OH is a pilot so she dragged me to speak to them) and a generally good atmosphere.

Unless you get dropped off at McDonalds etc they now charge for drop off at Southend

That's a shame, it's a really nice little airport

I think it was 15 minutes free in the short stay at that point. Luton is actually still free in mid stay, a really short walk from the terminal, but as someone who's just paid £48 for 3 days parking at Stansted (6:50 departure, we travel with mom who has some specialist medical equipment to go with her so wants to be before the first train arrives), free drop off is a nice thing to have. 

Therein lies the problem. Airports don't make their money out of being a runway and terminal anymore. They make their money out of being a shopping centre and car park! 

Completely agree Bagand.

Free drop off in most airports is now too much hassle to bother.

It's a complex debate but it's the change in the industry over the last 20 years or so. Some very relevant points made in this thread about the airport experience and how it's changed over the years.

We do have to acknowledge though that air travel over that time has become far more accessible and much cheaper. I could hop on a plane to Mediterranean next week for less than it would have cost me in the 80s or 90s in real terms, let alone inflation adjusted. I've flown from my local regional airport to some cities in Eastern Europe I'd barely even heard of 10 years ago and had fantastic weekends for under £50 return.

The industry and the business models have shifted and arguably the consumer has benefitted greatly.

All that said... the Teessides Cardiffs and Southends of the world are great to fly from! 

At risk of going off topic, completely agree. Southend definitely was a lot more relaxing than Luton or Stansted is.

What is annoying though is that 3 days 'premium' parking is around 8x what the drop off at STN costs. When you know the free drop off areas (or have a residents card) for Stansted it is a lot different though, but many aren't in that position.

Neil49

Exeter is another really lovely airport and came out very highly in a recent Which review. 

gingerdad

Murphy_The_Cat said:

By a long shot, Teesside International Airport is the best airport that I've used for many years.  It's absolutely tiny and the number of destinations that it services are limited, but if it fits your criteria, then give it a go ! Friendly people, flawless service, carparking just outside the terminal building, quality food and drink service - an absolute pleasure from start to finish.

If your default airport of choice is MAN, NCL or LBA, then MME is potentially an option that you may not have considered in the past.

I quite like Leeds but agree MME is great. 

Personally I try and avoid any of that medium to bigger UK airports. So for the states I went LPL - DUB - LAX. 

Glasgow, Edinburgh and Prestwick also can work well.