Watch out for hidden 'charges' (London Luton Airport (LTN))

Member Name: alexlea88

Product:	London Luton Airport (LTN)
Date:	13/08/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, well-equipped small airport

Disadvantages: £1 charge for dropping-off, £1 charge for security bags

As small airports go, Luton Airport is a pleasant enough experience. Neat and smart, pretty clean, a good range of shops in the departure lounge and a straightforward experience through on our way on holiday. In terms of the overall experience, Luton gets a thumbs up.

What really bugged me however, and would makes you think twice about using it again, are the added charges they try to get away with. To start with, we were charged £1 to be dropped off near the departure hall. For two minutes. Not only is this just plain cheeky, but it means that many people get dropped off down the road and walk up with bags, which not only slows the traffic down, it's just dangerous in some cases. And what iof you get there and didn't know, like we did? Luckily we had a couple of quid on us, otherwise we would have had to go back and drop off back down the road.

Secondly, just before walking through security, we were forced to buy a pack of plastic sealable bags from a vending machine for our hand luggage liquids. Even though my girlfriend had only got a lip balm on her. Does anywhere else do this? I haven't been through a UK airport for a while, but the last time I did, they gave these out in the queue. Not massively environmentally friendly, but why can't they collect that bags after you've been through security and re-use them instead?

I just thought I'd use this opportunity to let people know about this. I'll leave it to the other reviewers to give a full account of the airport itself, which as I've said, is generally fine. They are only a couple of small things in the big scheme of things and we're only talking about a couple of quid, but they have an effect on your experience of a place, especially when you're off on holiday and should be enjoying yourself. Why don't they just bung another quid on airport fees or taxes? Why make people shell out?

It just feels like everyone's out to make a few quid out of you these days.

Sorry, moan over!

Summary: Great regional airport let down a bit by hidden extras