If you’re flying from Luton airport, be sure to put an extra £98 in your holiday fund. Leave your car there for a week this summer and you’ll be paying the highest airport long-stay parking charge in Britain.
Our survey of 22 airports in the UK has revealed that Luton, a hub for package-holiday passengers, is charging up to 165% more than its rivals.
We looked at the second week in August — peak summer-holiday season — and found that the airport’s passengers were being charged £97.99 for a week in a distant corner of the airfield from which three buses an hour take 10 minutes to reach the terminal. At Liverpool, where you can leave your car a six-minute walk from the terminal, the price was £36.99. Luton was more expensive than Gatwick (£83), Heathrow (£83.60) and even London City, where parking fees are often absorbed by business travellers’ expense accounts (£88).
Luton, which handled 14.5m passengers last year, has form for this kind of thing. It charges £3 for dropping someone off at the terminal and £2 for using a luggage trolley. Until recently, it charged for plastic security bags.
So how does the airport voted Britain’s least favourite in a survey published last month by FlightDelays.co.uk justify its sky-high parking charges? “Like many other airports, our parking prices are variable and based on demand and availability,” it said. “We are delivering the biggest investment programme in our history, and this includes the provision of more parking spaces and even more public transport connections.
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“Overall, passengers flying from Luton get exceptional value for money compared to other UK airports, with holiday flights, on average, 47% cheaper than at Heathrow.”
Those public transport connections include replacing the shuttle bus from Luton Parkway station with a £200m driverless rail link... in 2021.
So what are the alternatives to the long-stay? You might find lower prices at private car parks not officially approved by the airport — but ensure they have the police-assessed Park Mark certification and, ideally, adhere to the Buy with Confidence trader-assurance scheme, which means they’ve been vetted by Trading Standards. And check your car insurance: a survey by Gocompare last year found that 43% of policies exclude “damage to the vehicle while in the control of valet parking staff”.
Research by Admiral Insurance has revealed that a premium valet parking service is sometimes cheaper than the long-stay car park. While it found that a premium service could cost as much as £629 for a fortnight at Gatwick’s North terminal, Stansted’s Meet and Greet option — in which your car is collected at the terminal, parked at an approved off-airport site and delivered to you on your return — cost just £78. A fortnight in the long-stay car park at Stansted was £90.
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Tour operators have welcomed a clampdown on fraudulent claims of holiday food poisoning. Last month we revealed that these had risen by 1,400% at some hotels since 2015, driven by touts working for claims companies. Last week, Thomas Cook won a case against a Liverpool couple who were found to have made up a bout of food poisoning in the Canary Islands in an effort to win £10,000 in damages. Amid concerns that British holidaymakers could be asked to pay more to stay in some resorts, or even banned, the government said it wanted caps on potential payouts and longer jail terms for fraudulent claimants.
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Atol clarification
Last week we said that travellers booking flights, accommodation and other travel services through separate companies were to be covered by Atol protection. This is not the case. From July 2018, the extension will apply to customers booking through “travel organisers” that book two or more holiday elements with different companies on behalf of customers.
