Heathrow Airport’s £5 drop-off and taxi fee delayed to 1st November

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• A says:

  29 Sep29 September 09:44

  For those who have no choice, say, people who don’t want to come from the west on worst late western and doubling back on the HeX, it is a p*sstake

  • Mike P says:

    29 Sep29 September 09:48

    Or south. It’s about a 25% rise on the cost of a taxi to T5 for me!

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:23

    That’s why there’s the Railair coach from Reading

• IanM says:

  29 Sep29 September 10:06

  Very commonplace, I think you only get 5 minutes at EDI for £4

• Martin Louis says:

  29 Sep29 September 11:11

  Some fees are introduced as “nudges” to change people’s behaviour. The London Congestion charge is an example – you’ll only really pay that fee if you have to go through or to the city, otherwise you’ll drive round.

  This doesn’t give you much choice, particularly if you have lots of luggage or elderly travellers. If you have disabled guests, you personally probably won’t have a Blue Badge so you’re forced to pay the charge.

  This does nothing for any cause except raise revenue for the shareholders and executive’s bonuses. Out and out cash grab.

  • GJB says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:18

    A disabled badge can be used even if it belongs to your passenger.

  • JDB says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:55

    I am sure you appreciate that the drop off charge, along with other ancillaries such as car parking, goes into the ‘single till’ regulated pot so goes towards reducing the passenger charge; it doesn’t raise money for the shareholders or executive bonuses as you suggest.

    • Lady London says:

      29 Sep29 September 14:42

      Really JDB, do you seriously believe that.

      • JDB says:

        29 Sep29 September 15:58

        Yes, it’s crystal clear; it cannot believe you even question it.

      • Lady London says:

        30 Sep30 September 11:33

        You cannot be serious. No charge ever goes to reducing anything. Not in a profitmaking business paying dividends to shareholders.

• Jordan D says:

  29 Sep29 September 11:23

  I just wish they would be more honest and say it was a cash grab to refill the coffers after the pandemic. I’d respect them for the honesty, because there was never going to be any respect for the actual fee amount.

  The long stay drop off/collection window (which I think is now 2hrs) is all well and good, apart from the fact that long stay buses are “on demand”, so you can’t guarantee when one will come, and the 2hrs includes you shuttling to/from the car park to the terminal, which cuts into that window. Not really a valid alternate.

  • Skyshare says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:30

    The buses are no longer on demand, they are timetabled every 15 minutes, at least for T5 long term

• Paul says:

  29 Sep29 September 11:27

  A trip to Glasgow now has £18 in additional airport fees if you use cars at either end! It won’t be long before it’s £40.

  I get it’s to try and change behaviour but the infrastructure doesn’t exist. In Europe, and I appreciate that’s a dirty word in Engerland! You rarely find an airport not connected the mainline railway system. Here you need few airports are genuinely connected by rail including Heathrow! It’s time to bite the bullet, build a new hub and connect to a modern rail network serving the entire country

  • AJA says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:55

    Crossrail will eventually be linked to LHR which means access will be possible from Reading in the west, London in the middle, to Shenfield in the east. It already has TfL Tail, HEX and the tube. Plus the railair busses from Woking and Reading and the London bus network. I’d say LHR is pretty well served by public transport already.

    LGW has a railway station which has the dedicated Gatwick Express and also Southern Rail.

    • JDB says:

      29 Sep29 September 12:03

      And LHR is already connected to the rail network via Hayes & Harlington, very convenient for anywhere on the Great Western line.

  • Ian says:

    29 Sep29 September 12:53

    Why use a car at GLA? The 500 bus is waiting for you right outside the door of the terminal, takes 15 mins to get into the city centre and doesn’t cost much.

    • kk says:

      29 Sep29 September 17:50

      and if you live in oban?

      • Nick says:

        29 Sep29 September 18:03

        Walk/bus to Paisley and get the train. Shame the bus is no longer free though.

• NG says:

  29 Sep29 September 11:33

  A money-grabbing exploit. What if a taxi makes several drop-off in a day – is the charge for each drop-off or once only per day?

  • Rob says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:58

    Once each time, but it will be added to your fare so the driver doesn’t lose out.

• Dave says:

  29 Sep29 September 13:14

  London black taxis have been granted drop off exemption until April 2022..So there won’t be any extra charge on the fare until at least unti then…

• Dave says:

  29 Sep29 September 13:21

  The long term car parks now have signage showing free drop off..Be aware there does not seem to be any provision to collect passengers and even if waiting is allowed , the free time waiting in the car park has been reduced from 2 hours to 30 minutes , possibly only 20 minutes..

  • J says:

    29 Sep29 September 15:40

    Ah that’s what happened, I was sure I had 2 hours free, and checked the night before pick up, saw 30 mins, and had to change plans. Takes away a free pick-up option if you need to help someone with their bags.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.