5 UK airports: drop-off and pick-up charges

What does the table compare?

Each row is one UK airport, with the first zone a private driver may use for each action: the drop-off zone open to the public, then the pick-up zone. The prices are the ones the airport had published on the date in the last column, and the sign at the entrance wins over any page, this one included.

One column prices a collection that runs on past the quick stop, at the same point for every airport, so the rows can be read beside each other. Where an airport caps the stay in its pick-up zone before that point, the cell says so instead of giving a price.

Every UK airport with a record here is in the table, which is not every airport in the country. Airports join as they are recorded, and the count in the title follows the database.

Why does a pick-up cost more than a drop-off?

Because the two are sold as different lengths of time. A drop-off is one stop: pull in, unload, drive out, and the charge covers that entry. A collection waits for a landing, a passport queue and a bag on the belt, and none of that is in the driver's hands. So these airports keep collections off the departures kerb and price them by the time the car is there.

Where does each airport send a pick-up?

• Heathrow sends collections into Terminal Parking, the car park beside the terminal, where the road signs still say Short Stay. Terminal 4 no longer has one, so its collections use the Priority Pick-Up kerb or the Park & Ride.
• Gatwick has express pick-up areas inside the Short Stay car parks, for collections only. Dropping off in them is not allowed.
• Manchester has its own Express Pick Up areas with a cap on the stay. A collection that needs longer goes into the multi-storey car parks, signed P3 at Terminal 2 and P14 at Terminal 3.
• Stansted sends pick-ups to the Green and Blue Short Stay car parks, or to Mid Stay.
• Luton runs one shared Drop Off and Pick Up Zone, about five minutes on foot from the terminal, and nobody may stay past its limit.

Can you drop off or pick up for free?

Every airport in the table has a car park further out where the start of the stay costs nothing, and a free shuttle to cover the distance.

• Heathrow Park & Ride, signed Long Stay: the first 29 minutes are free, for a drop-off or a pick-up. Zone A of the Terminal 4 Park & Ride gives two hours.
• Gatwick Long Stay: two hours free, either direction.
• Luton Long Stay: two hours free, and Luton points drivers there when a collection needs longer than its zone allows.
• Stansted Mid Stay: 60 minutes free, either direction.
• Manchester Free Drop Off at JetParks 1: 60 minutes free, drop-offs only. The shuttle runs one way, to the terminals, so it cannot bring anyone back to the car.

The free option is paid for in time instead: every one of these car parks is a shuttle ride from the door.

What is a parking charge, and who issues it?

It is what follows an unpaid or overstayed visit, and it sits in the last money column of the table. At a UK airport this is a private charge from the car park operator, not a police fine. Each airport says something different about who asks for it.

• Gatwick names Times24 UK Limited in its drop-off terms.
• Stansted and Manchester name APCOA.
• Heathrow does not name the company that issues the charge, and sends payment, refund and complaint questions to APCOA.
• Luton calls it an enforcement charge, does not name an issuer either, and sends payment questions to APCOA.