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Airport parking – save money on long-stay parking
Photo credit: Umair Abbasi
I’m sure we are all well aware of the cost of airport parking. However, this is often something we forget to add into our holiday budget.
Luckily, we have one simple tip to significantly reduce your airport parking costs – skyparksecure.com.
By booking your airport parking in advance online, you could save up to £100s!
Just turning up at the airport
The most expensive way to park at the airport is just to turn up on the day. Imagine you are going on a two week break (lucky you), between 10th July & 24st July. If you rocked up at Heathrow airport, for example, and drove into the long-stay car park at Terminal 4, you would be charged the drive-up prices of £25 for the first day and £20 every 24 hours after = £285.
I’m pretty sure that when you are booking your two week holiday, you could find a lot of things that you would rather spend £285 on!
Book airport parking via the airport website
The second way to book, which is much more cost efficient, is to use the airport website. If we booked exactly the same deal as above, we would be charged £83.90 for the 2 weeks in the very same car park – just for paying online in advance. That represents more than a 70% discount on the original price.
Most people book their airport parking this way, but they are missing a trick!
If you search online, there are even better rates available than going through the main airport site.
Book airport parking via Sky Park Secure
By following the above banner or any link on this page, you will be taken to Sky Park Secure where you can make even better savings on your airport parking.
A quick search for airport parking at Heathrow for the same dates gives us a charge of £64.95 for the 14 days stay.
This represents a 77% saving compared to paying on the day, but more importantly gives you another 23% saving compared to booking in advance through the airport website (which most people do)…dummies!
What airports are served by Sky Park Secure?
Airport parking is available at multiple airports, all across the UK. To help you understand the savings you could be making on your airport parking, I have duplicated the 2 week holiday example for all airports which are served by SkyParkSecure Airport Parking.
All prices are accurate at time of writing, but may vary in the future. Therefore, they should be used for representative purposes only.
Airport parking | Pay on the day | Aiport website | Sky Park Secure | Saving |
Aberdeen | 147.00 | 142.49 | 132.99 | 10% |
Birmingham | 158.00 | 69.99 | 59.92 | 62% |
Cardiff | 98.50 | 61.99 | 59.99 | 39% |
Doncaster – Robin Hood | 67.36 | 50.49 | 41.99 | 38% |
Durham Tees Valley | 105.00 | 69.00 | 69.00 | 34% |
East Midlands | 112.00 | 83.99 | 79.99 | 29% |
Edinburgh | 188.00 | 78.99 | 46.99 | 75% |
Exeter | 113.00 | 85.00 | 82.90 | 27% |
Gatwick | 435.00 | 153.10 | 85.00 | 80% |
Glasgow | 117.50 | 67.00 | 58.99 | 50% |
Heathrow | 285.00 | 83.90 | 64.95 | 77% |
Leeds Bradford | 101.00 | 70.00 | 68.00 | 33% |
Liverpool | 115.00 | 46.99 | 42.99 | 63% |
Luton | 212.80 | 75.49 | 67.00 | 69% |
Manchester | 168.00 | 49.99 | 49.99 | 70% |
Newcastle | 133.50 | 82.99 | 74.99 | 44% |
Prestwick | 69.50 | 69.50 | 69.00 | 1% |
Southend | 210.00 | 98.00 | 80.99 | 61% |
Stansted | 252.00 | 65.99 | 48.00 | 81% |
A few points to note:
- At some airports, the savings can be up to 81% of the drive up and pay parking price. This is especially the case in London where savings at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted are 80%, 77% and 81% respectively.
- DO NOT DRIVE UP AND PAY. At Gatwick airport, drive up and pay parking for 2 weeks will cost you £435! You can get entire holidays for less than that!
- Respect to Prestwick airport – the only airport offering similar rates if you drive up and pay
- Robin Hood Airport (Doncaster) wins the award for the cheapest parking. However, this is fairly understandable as the airport is in the middle of nowhere and hence the land isn’t really in demand.
- Whilst the airport website and Sky Park Secure prices are often fairly similar, the Sky Park Secure price is always equal or below the airport booking price. Therefore, you can book with Sky Park Secure safe in the knowledge that you will be getting the best deal.
Compare this with other options
It is also a good idea to compare these prices to the alternative options. Could you take the train or bus to the airport from where you live?
Well, if you live next to a station which has direct access to your airport, this might be a better option.
However, when you consider the price of the fare to the airport, add in the effort of dragging your luggage onto the bus or train and the fear that a train delay/strike will hold you up, it is probably worthwhile using long-term parking (especially for the airports outside London where transport links are not as good).
Things to look out for
When booking your airport parking, there are some things that you should look out for:
- Cancellation fees – some car parks charge fairly high cancellation charges should your plans change. Therefore, make sure you have noted these before you book. If there is a chance that your plans might change, paying more for a “flexible option” may be a wise move.
- Security – check that the airport parking has security ratings and features. These are detailed on the Sky Park Secure site when you look at the options available at your airport. Again, you may want to pay a little more for extra security.
- Transfer times – Often, the cheapest options are those which are the furthest away from the airport. They all offer regular shuttles to and from the airport (usually every 5 minutes or less). However, you should make sure you factor in transfer times when arriving to make sure you don’t miss your flights!
- Rating – Sky Park Secure also show you the rating of each car park as voted for by their users. Therefore, if there are potential problems with any of the options, you should be able to find out about them before you book.
Book Airport Lounges with Sky Park Secure
Do you have a few hours wait in the airport? Are you looking to treat yourself a little?
Well, SkyParkSecure Airport Parking also offers Airport Lounge bookings at many airports.
You may think that this is a waste of money and that lounges are only for the famous, high class businessmen and pretentious idiots! Well, they are for all these people…but they can also be for you.
When we flew from Newcastle to Marseille last year, we had a six hour stop-over in Gatwick. If you book your airport lounge stay in advance on Sky Park Secure, The Aspire Lounge at Gatwick Airport costs £18.99 each.
This may seem like a lot.
However, you get to stay for 3 hours. You get free wi-fi, newspapers, magazines, games (we had an epic game of risk), free food (with a good menu) and free alcoholic drinks.
Given the prices in the airport, with a bite to eat and a few beers or glasses of wine and use of the wi-fi, you have more than paid for time in the lounge. Also, it is a lot more comfortable.
I wouldn’t make a habit of it, but if you are looking for an affordable way to pamper yourself whilst on holiday, I would recommend a stay in the airport lounge.
Conclusion
So, if you follow these tips and book through SkyParkSecure Airport Parking, you should find yourself with some extra spending money for your trip.
You could even consider booking through Quidco for an additional 20% cash back.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
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Jon @ Money Smart Guides says
My wife and I use Groupon a lot to save on airport parking. Since we live near a major city, the parking company that offers the discount has a lot near us. It’s usually good for a few free days or 20% off the price.
For longer vacations, we have a friend drop us off and pick us up. We pay him $50 which is a savings for us.
MrsFinancialFreedom says
We have normally booked into an airport hotel the night before and paid to park at the hotel for the length of our holiday and that doesn’t work out to bad.
This year we are flying later in the day so I’ve booked ours well in advance and its not worked out too expensive at all (£29.99 for 1 week)
Zee @ Work To Not Work says
Interesting, I’ve only parked at the airport once and that was a long weekend. I never would have thought to book it in advance. I’ll definitely remember this next time I might need to actually park at the airport, though I’m pretty good at convincing friends to drive me there 🙂
Remraam Apartments Dubailand says
In Dubai, they offer short term, long term even daily rate which is cheap but mostly for corporates !