Parking your car at an airport is different to popping to your local shops, you never know how busy the car parks will be or how close to the airport you can park. If you are not a regular visitor to the airport it may take you time to find an airport. I nearly had the problem of missing a flight at Stansted Airport once simply because I had not pre-booked my airport parking.
In fact a member of staff of the Stansted transport team was issued a warning for picking me up as a passenger. Why, why, why was this the case? Well I am wheelchair bound and was told that special transport was 25 minutes away; the coach driver who was performing pick-ups from the car park allowed me on to his vehicle.
When reaching the terminal one of his superiors saw me disembarking from the bus and issued the driver a warning. How did I find out? The driver of the special assistance vehicle told me the driver in question had been reprimanded by his airport officials.
How ridiculous that an airport worker was disciplined for helping a person in a wheelchair. That was a lesson learnt, and to be fair an expensive lesson, as the car parking for two days was not cheap I can tell you.
This took place back in 2002; the Internet now allows far better pre-booking and organisation of airport parking. Travelers can gain discounts on airport parking via pre-booking websites that offer incentives for online booking.
If you are disabled then I would recommend GoSimply as their car park details includes information on disabled facilities. Within the car park details listed on the site, I can clearly see if the car park offers disabled access, which not all don't. The other excellent feature on the GoSimply site is the amount of reviews from other travellers
Booking airport parking in advance makes sense for the following reasons:
- It gives peace of mind
- You can reduce costs
- You can park closer to the airport
- Take the worry out of finding a suitable parking
- Major car parks are monitored 24/7
My subsequent travels to Stansted airport have all resulted in me pre-booking my Stansted Airport Parking in advance. as all disabled travellers should.
Don't be foolish and leave airport car parking arrangements to the last minute! Longer transfer times do happen when you are not parked close to the airport terminal, if you are delayed in heavy traffic, this could affect your ability to reach your flight check-in in time.
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