Stansted parking - hidden fees
I Love meet and greet, the most experienced airport parking team, says that customers are not being told the whole story about charges for parking at the airport. The company has reviewed the terms and conditions for all the meet and greet companies providing parking at Stansted and found there are often additional fees which are either hidden or very difficult to identify before booking
There are a number of confusing terms used by airport parking companies to describe their service and it can be a real challenge for customers to understand exactly what they are paying for. Firstly, there is valet parking on the forecourt – this is where the travellers drive to the airport, stops directly on the forecourt outside the terminal where a uniformed driver is waiting.
The travellers proceed into the terminal and the driver takes their car to be securely parked. This can be referred to as meet and greet parking but the essential elements are the location of the delivery and collection of the traveller’s vehicle and the human interaction between uniformed driver and customers. This is where I Love meet and greet is able to distinguish itself through exceptionally high standards of politeness, punctuality and professionalism. To deliver this service we have to pay the airport an access fee which we show clearly as an additional charge when booking our service.
An airport access fee is a payment made by meet and greet companies to the airport's management for allowing them to operate their services there. Meet and greet services charge this access fee for the return and collection of travellers' vehicles on the airport grounds. Some meet and greet operators include the fee in the main total of the bill while others may refer to it as an additional charge. Many companies don’t even publish details of their charges on their website, making it near impossible for prospective customers to make an informed choice or compare like for like.
Sarah Anglim, managing director of I Love meet and greet, says: “We want all airport parking companies to be clearer about the fees that they charge and stop hiding the details away in pages of terms and conditions. The airport should step up to enforce this, along with Trading Standards, so airport passengers can make a fully informed choice.”