Airport Carparkz at Luton Airport

...am of course referring to airport car parking.

At its best the whole experience of using your airport car park should be so insignificant that you scarcely even register that part of your trip. In reality things can be very different. At its worst a bad choice of car park can delay your arrival at the terminal and fire up your check-in stress levels. On the way home, a bad choice of car park can extend your journey into a long wait ...
...the choices available to Luton airport so you can be aware of the different issues. Then I'll tell you about my latest bargain find - a company called Airport Carparkz. I'm almost reluctant to tell you how good they are in case I can't get in next time I need them.

Hopefully even if you are using another airport, you'll still find some advice in here that will be useful.

What are your choices for Luton?
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Background
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In these days of budget travel when it seems like we could fly three times round the moon for 50p with squeezyJet or RyanScare, there's still one aspect of travel where competition hasn't had any great impact. I am of course referring to airport car parking.

At its best the whole experience of using your airport car park should be so insignificant that you scarcely even register that part of your trip. In reality things can be very different. At its worst a bad choice of car park can delay your arrival at the terminal and fire up your check-in stress levels. On the way home, a bad choice of car park can extend your journey into a long wait for a bus that eventually takes you to a distant field. Inevitably you're always the last to be deposited in a dark and dismal badly sign-posted hell where every car looks just like yours - but none of them actually are.

If you are off to Heathrow or Gatwick you can find a lot of options available to you - none of them very cheap, but there's plenty of choice. I generally use www.holidayextras.co.uk (previously known as ABC Holiday Extras) to shop around but I find that they don't provide a lot of choice for Luton. If you have a morning flight, be sure to check out hotel offers that include parking - they are often cheaper than parking alone.

I'm going to start by reviewing the choices available to Luton airport so you can be aware of the different issues. Then I'll tell you about my latest bargain find - a company called Airport Carparkz. I'm almost reluctant to tell you how good they are in case I can't get in next time I need them.

Hopefully even if you are using another airport, you'll still find some advice in here that will be useful.

What are your choices for Luton?
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***On-airport or Off-Airport
First of all you need to decide whether to go on-airport or off-airport. Off airport tends to be cheaper but may be quite a distance away with irregular transfers. This choice is best if you are going for a long trip and are leaving and arriving at 'civilised' times of day. Transfer times can be very long (over an hour) during the rush hour and some only transfer every 20 or 30 minutes because they use large buses and wait for a minimum passenger load before leaving. These car parks are best suited to people that like to turn up at least 8 hours early to be absolutely sure they don't miss their flight. (This is my Auntie June! - she also packs 2 weeks before her holiday)

***Do you trust the car park staff to park your car?
If you do - there are car parks convenient to the airport where the staff will drive your car away to some distant field and bring it back again for you when you return. I like these services - but I'm usually in a company car and if something goes wrong, I'm not worrying too much. If you absolutely adore your car and don't like anyone else to touch it - this isn't for you.

The advantage of this sort of service is that you don't have to go yourself to that distant field so they tend to be more convenient and they may also cheaper than on-airport car parks. The down side is that if someone dings your car you are going to have a fight on your hands. Bear in mind though that you could just as likely get dinged in a regular car park by another driver who may be much less skilled than the chap who parked your car. Try to keep the risk in perspective.

***Short- Medium- or Long-Term Requirements?
The three official airport NCP car parks are short- medium- and long-term. Short-term is the closest and is near enough that you walk to the terminal. Medium- and long-term need a bus shuttle ride.

So how do you find a car park for Luton?
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Well if you are made of money, you can just turn up and pay the standard rates for the on-airport car parks. However, as the short stay is something like £25 per 24 hours if you don't pre-book, you may want to reconsider that option.

The medium- and long-stay car parks are cheaper and involve a short bus journey. But be warned - at peak periods (e.g. school holidays) if you haven't booked, the long-stay can be full and you risk turning up and having to use the medium-stay at a higher price. Medium-stay standard price is £13 a day and long-stay is £11 a day.

So if you want to use the official car parks be sure to book in advance. I recommend to check out the Luton Airport website www.london-luton.co.uk . For this weekend they were offering 2 days short stay for £22, medium at £13.30 and long for £9.95. Prices vary by date but pre-booking will always save you money.

Warning - Watch out for the parking option on easyJet's website. Despite their 'can't buy cheaper' promise, when I looked the best they had for the same weekend in short-stay was £36 - i.e. £14 more than booking direct with the airport. I have been tempted to call their bluff and book with two different sites but experience suggests that getting a refund out of easyJet is far from easy.

The short-stay is within sight of the terminal and should take you no more than 5 minutes to walk. However, be aware that this is a big car park so if you are a bit unstable on your feet you could have a long walk. There are lots of disabled spaces at the end nearest the terminal but I know that many people with walking problems don't have a disabled badge. The tarmac tends to be uneven and it's a job to drag your luggage across it. If mobility is an issue you may be better to either get someone to drop you in the drop off area before parking or consider one of the further car parks with a bus service which will involve less walking.

Non- NCP Car Parking - the Choices
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Depending on the search site that you use you can find a variety of off-airport options. I took the following info from www.simplyparking.co.uk
Airparks Luton is advising to allow an additional 30 minutes for transfer due to roadworks on the M1 - this is on top of the 50 minutes standard advised transfer time. That's longer than it takes to get from my home to Luton so I hate to think where they are parking.
Alpha Car Storage and Central Car Storage apparently take 5 minutes for transfers which sounds pretty good. For an additional fee, Central will do a meet and greet service for extra convenience.

My Choice - Airport Carparkz
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I found this car park in May when I wanted somewhere for three days parking. It needed to be very near the airport because I had a 6.20am flight and I needed it to be cheap. I found the site through a comparison website - sorry, I forget the name - and was so pleased with the price and service that I used them again last weekend.

** Where are they?
Airport Carparkz are on the approach road to the airport, between the large round about at the bottom of the hill and the mini-roundabout at the top (where the hotel is). They are on the right hand side of the road and are well sign posted (so long as nobody has let the vegetation get out of hand).

** Procedure
When you arrive, park your car in the small car park in front of the office. So far I've not had to wait more than a couple of minutes. The office staff will put a tag on your key - they will have it written up for you in advance. Then they will give you a slip with the number to call when you get back and within five minutes of arrival you will be in their minibus and on your way. Because they use a minibus rather than a full sized coach, they don't hang around to wait for it to fill.

You must leave your keys and any immobiliser. After you go to the airport, one of Airport Carparkz staff will take your car away and park it. They seem to use an indoor warehousing space just behind the office - this is a big benefit compared to services that can park off-airport, sometimes many miles away.

**Transfer
The transfer distance is 500 meters and takes just a few minutes. It's a similar distance to the medium-stay car park but without all the stopping to pick up other passengers. They leave you in the dropping off zone outside the terminal. The minibus they use is past its best and a bit shabby but well capable of doing what's needed

** On return
As soon as you pass customs, give them a call and they'll confirm the pick up point. You should be waiting 5-10 minutes but if it's a particularly busy period and they can't get into the pick up zone there may be a short delay. When you arrive back you car will be waiting and within 2 minutes you should be back on the road.

So what does it cost?
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Just £6 per day. Minimum booking is 2 days - i.e. £12. This is by far the best value I've found for the service provided.

How do I book?
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Either directly through their website - www.airportcarparkz.com - or if you find them listed with another car park comparison site, you can book through that. I found some problems with using the direct booking because my trip was less than 48 hours and their system defaults to noon to noon booking times on any booking under 2 days. I rang and checked this and they were aware of the problem and were expecting us at the correct times. They confirmed that for bookings over 2 days their system doesn't have this glitch. There is no additional fee for using credit cards.

Would I recommend?
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Based on my two experiences to date - definitely YES. The staff are quick and courteous and the service is very efficient. This is an ideal car park for anyone who wants:

 Parking close to the airport - ideal for an early flight
 Short transfer times
 Low prices for 2 days or more - Half the list price of the standard long-term (or quarter the price of the short-term) on-airport car park

You need to be willing to:
 Leave your keys and immobiliser
 Let someone else park your car

My only caveat would be to avoid this coming weekend - June 9/10/11. Coming back from the terminal we overheard the driver telling another passenger that he and three other staff had resigned and would be leaving on Friday morning. They were apparently in dispute over pay with the owner (he's making money hand over fist and they want a pay rise??) and believed that he would be in complete turmoil with their departure. I'm sure this will all blow over quite quickly but you might want to avoid them for a couple of weeks.

We also noticed that the service is becoming much more popular and on our second visit the drop-off car park was full to bursting. As this was early June, I would suggest that anyone wanting to use the service in the school holidays should book well in advance.

Be aware - variable prices
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Prices of most of the Luton car parks vary with the demand/time of year/day of the week/amount of notice given so it's always best to investigate and book as early as you can.

n.b. please ignore the stupid criteria below about petrol pumps and food - this is just a car park.
 

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