Airport Parking News

Customers leaving their airport parking till the very last minute pay more than they should because of demand and or the high gate rate based on time of year.

The travel group Travelrobe launched its new airport parking site in the UK as part of its expansion into the UK travel sector. The group which first started in 2006 with its www.travelrobe.com site providing Hotels, Flights, Cruise, Car Hire, and Vacation Packages worldwide has now ventured into the UK’s airport parking segment with http://www.airportessentials.com providing airport parking, airport hotels and airport lounges to all its customers.

Mark Felix Travelrobe’s MD says that when making arrangements to travel, Gatwick or Heathroiw airport parking and possibly a hotel the night before should always be considered, those who drive on the day before their flight always risk unpredictable weather and traffic conditions and its not worth the hassle and stress before a long haul or short flight.

While there are many details to be considered when planning a holiday, it always seem that these very important elements of your travel is the last thing on everyone's mind.

An Airport Lounge at Gatwick, Heathrow, Manachester, Stansted is a good option to also consider which allows you to relax before a flight and there are lots of benefits in booking an Airport Lounge.

For starters, after booking there is no additional cost and the items available include alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, snacks, news papers and TV monitors to catch up on the latest news and for those who require internet access this option is also available at most Airport Lounges.

Other items apart from Airport Parking worth considering includes travel insurance, car hire, destination taxi service, online safe to secure your documents in case of an emergency abroad and all these can be booked from our partner site www.aph.com

One of the most difficult parts of choosing an airport parking company to park your car with while on holiday is knowing how safe and reliable these companies are which is why we have chosen APH who are recipients of the Park Mark, Safer Parking Award from the British Parking Association as our airport parking partner.

If you are looking to park at Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester look for the Park Mark award sign from our site http://www.airportessentials.com

Additional travel extras are available from www.travelrobe.com including flights, destination hotels, car hire, cruises, Gatwick Airport Parking, Heathrow Airport Parking etc.

If you are planning a trip this holiday season we urge you to plan ahead on your Manchester Airport Parking, Heathrow Airport Parking and Hotel, Gatwick Hotel With Parking and every other airport in the UK

To book a Hotel, Flight, Car Hire, Vacation Package, Cruise, visit http://www.travelrobe.com or UK Customers planning a trip this holiday season are urged to visit http://www.airportessentials.com to book their airport parking, airport hotels, airport lounges and any feedback on the new site is welcomed.

For more information contact - Mark Felix
info@airportessentials.com
http://www.airportessentials.com

Contributor's Notes:

About Mark Felix: He is the owner of the Travelrobe group of travel sites based in the UK and writes press releases and articles on various travel destinations - For more information contact - Mark Felix
info@airportessentials.com
www.airportessentials.com
Skype: Travelrobe
0208 697 8132

www.Parctel.com: We at Parctel are still in two minds as to whether Hamish McNeilly from the Otago Daily Times was having a slow news day or just wanted to highlight a strange aberration that airport parking attendants in the booth at Dunedin International Airport display:

The latest driving hazard could be the humble car parking ticket.

Tired of handling saliva-laden tickets presented by drivers, an attendant at the Dunedin International Airport ticket booth decided to do something about it and placed a sign in the ticket booth reading: "Please do not put the ticket in your mouth.

Your co-operation is appreciated."

Dunedin International Airport operations manager Richard Roberts investigated the issue and discovered an estimated one person per flight put their ticket in their mouth before handing it over.

It was unclear whether the sign - which had been up for more than a year - had deterred serial ticket biters, he said.

A wet ticket had the potential to spread germs and also jam machines that read tickets, a spokesman for New Zealand's largest private car parking operator said.

"But I think that would be unlikely.

"You see the odd person with a ticket in their mouth but besides from being a bit gross, it is not a big problem," Wilson Parking NZ South Island operations manager Daniel Bundy said.

People perhaps put tickets in their mouth because they were "multi-tasking" and that was one way of keeping it nearby, he said.

Citifleet team leader Brent Bachop said the Dunedin City Council had the potential problem licked.

Council-controlled parks used an automated system.

The only problem council experienced with the parking tickets was when people bent their tickets, he said.

As to which body part has the most germs, it seems to be a toss up between the mouth and fingernails with most people saying fingernails - so it seems to be a situation of damned if you do and damned if you don't for the poor airport parking attendant.

WikiAnswers votes for the Mouth as carrying the body part carrying the most germs.
Whereas Yahoo Answers and Answer Bag both vote for the fingernails.

I suppose the best solution would be to issue the queasy germ phobic attendant with latex gloves and a mask - wimps!

www.Parctel.com: Budapest Airport has sharply reduced its long-term parking fees and introduced new fares for the holiday season, the Ferihegy airport operator announced Thursday.

One-day parking at the airport will drop to Ft 2,500 from Ft 4,000, the three-day rate falls to Ft 6,200 instead of Ft 10,000, while parking for eight days will cost Ft 9,500.

A parking fee calculator is available on the airport website at www.bud.hu. Ferihegy Airport has 2,533 parking spaces, of which 234 are guarded.

Source: caboodle.hu

www.Parctel.com: EXORBITANT airport parking fees are about to come under scrutiny as the Government directs the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to examine charges at the nation's five major terminals.

Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the Government must ensure that airport monopolies did not lead to exploitation.

Parking at Sydney was now twice as expensive as New York's JFK and London's Heathrow airports, he said.

"If anti-competitive conduct is found, the ACCC can prosecute airports in the Federal Court," he said.

"Under formal price monitoring, individual airports will have a light shone upon their prices.

"There are genuine public concerns about airports using their monopoly position to exert significant market power and charge higher prices for the various periods of stay, particularly short-term stays to drop off and pick up passengers."

Visitors have been shocked by the fees at Sydney's main gateway, owned by the Macquarie Bank-linked Macquarie Airports, with $70 million in revenue taken last financial year.

All Australian airports generated up to $206million from parking over the same period. Revenue has grown by as much as 77per cent since 2002, far outstripping the increase in passenger numbers.

"We welcome the ACCC inquiry," Australian Airports Association chairman John McArdle said. "We feel they will be happy with the choice and the variety of pricing options for parking, which is fair and equitable. You can't satisfy everyone and we move 121 million passengers a year."

A Macquarie Airports spokeswoman said a comprehensive review by the Productivity Commission concluded that car parking charges were reasonable and, in some cases, lower than Sydney CBD charges.

"The commission has previously reported that both short and long-stay charges are about one-third less than in the CBD," she said.

"Sydney Airport was privatised in 2002 and since then car parking charges, in general, have only increased in line with the CPI."

Source: Heath Gilmore, The Sydney Morning Herald

www.Parctel.com: But only if you are a babu *, neta * or chela *!

The Times of India reports as follows: HYDERABAD: For babus and netas used to freebies, here is some good news. They will continue to enjoy free parking status for their official cars at Shamshabad international airport. In fact, a free parking lot to accommodate up to 50 cars is being created at the new airport. Not only this, a separate facility is being readied to accommodate vehicles of slogan-shouting chelas who accompany their netas to the airport.

To avoid paying parking fees, government cars stride up and occupy the lane right in front of the airport terminal at the present Begumpet airport. But while Begumpet is an Airport Authority of India (AAI) and thus government-run facility, Shamshabad will be a private operation.

* babu - Used as a Hindi courtesy title for a man, equivalent to Mr.
* neta - a politician
* chela - a Hindu disciple of a swami

Methinks I am gonna brush up on my Hindi, take a neta training course and press the flesh so that I can get me some free airport parking.

www.Parctel.com: If you thought finding parking for your 4x4 at OR Tambo International Airport was tough, try finding one for a motorbike.

The airport currently does not have designated parking for motorbike owners, who are forced to improvise when they get to the airport.

Even employees battle to find parking and some resort to parking on the pavement.

Shane Smith, an engineer for 1Time, said it was unfair that there was parking for different kinds of vehicles and people with disabilities, but none whatsoever for motorbikes.

Taking risks and parking wherever there is space has resulted in a few unpleasant incidents.

"We once came back from our shifts to find that someone had written 'park elsewhere, park better' (with marker pen) on the windscreens of three of our bikes," he said.

But they were lucky - another friend found his bike knocked over against the wall and damaged. No one claimed responsibility and he had to spend close to R32 000 fixing the damage.

Now the places that the bikers have been using have "motorbikes prohibited" signs on the wall and Smith's main worry was that now they could face countless fines if the situation was not resolved.

Tasniem Patel, senior communications officer at the airport, said the bikers' request was unreasonable because they were willing to pay only R65 for parking but that parking in the airport precinct meant a higher tariff.

"During a meeting with a staff representative regarding this issue, a total of four options were presented to the group using motorbikes.

"At the time, all the options were turned down, including the option to park at our Super South parking (about 7km from the airport) facility at R65 per month.

"We are stretched in terms of public parking and are not singling out a particular group. You also have to understand that bikes are not the norm for us as people who use the airport have luggage and our passengers come first," she explained.

However, she said they were in the process of putting in motorbike bays for staff and the public.

Source: IOL

www.Parctel.com: Maybe we should subtitle this one; "You never know who your Airport Parking Attendant is?"

In the early morning hours of a summer evening in 2002, Dr. Sam Bierstock was returning from a cross-country trip. On this particular evening, Dr. Sam was tired. He had parted with his band members and was headed home from a cross-country gig that had returned him to his home base in Florida at 1 AM. After retrieving his car from the parking lot, he handed his parking ticket to the elderly man in the collection booth. Retrieving his change, Dr. Sam wished the attendant a good evening. He was somewhat startled when he received an unexpected angry and resentful reply. " I took two bullets for this country," the attendant responded, "and look what I am doing now!"

Uncertain as to how to respond initially, Dr. Sam pocketed his change, rolled up his window and began to drive off. The time that it took to drive ten or fifteen feet from the toll booth was enough for him to digest what had just happened. With no one behind him, Dr. Sam backed up, rolled down his window and addressed the elderly attendant. "Sir", he said, " I have had a wonderful life in this country, and I want to thank you sincerely for what you did to preserve our way of life in this country." Saying nothing in response, the man began to cry.

As he drove home in those early morning hours, Dr. Sam was haunted by what had just occurred. As a 'Baby Boomer" his early years of life were within a decade of the end of the Second World War. His step-father had been wounded in Italy, and other family members had served in the armed forces. Distant relatives had perished in the holocaust. What would have happened, he thought, if we had lost World War Two to Hitler and his Nazi henchmen? He realized that not only would our entire way of life and system of freedom been destroyed, his parents and grandparent would have been killed, he would never have been born and his children would not exist. The same fate would have been met by virtually all other members of minorities, many religious groups, and the disabled. The personal freedoms that we take so much for granted would have disappeared. "How", he thought, "do you thank someone enough for the existence of your children, and for all of the freedoms and opportunities that we all take so much for granted?"

The next morning, Dr. Sam wrote the lyrics to "Before You Go". The lyrics came easily to him since they came so much from the heart. The challenge then came in setting them to music.

Dr. Sam's and John Melnick's goal from the beginning has been to get this message to every surviving veteran of World War Two while we still have them, to their families and to their descendants. "Before You Go" has had its own life, thanks to all of you who have helped to spread this message of thanks.

Links: The Story Behind "Before You Go"
Listen to "Before You Go"

www.Parctel.com: Shame, Airport Parking and the costs thereof always seem to be taking the brunt of jokes, and now even advertising companies are getting in on the act, with the 'tacit' approval of their clients.

Ad Agency DDB South Africa (*), on behalf of client, 1time Airline, parked a car in the Johannesburg International Airport parking area, right next to the walkway so that everyone could see it. They then covered the car in dust, parking tickets and wheel clamps on every wheel. A sign above the car carried the punchline which explained the car; "Paying less for flights means that you can stay on holiday longer."

Airport Parking Stunt Image shamelessly stolen from Adland - click on the image to see more from this Airport Parking Stunt.

(*)By the way, at the time of this post the DDB site was 'Under Construction' - must be a case of the cobbler and his shoes. Poor show DDB.

www.Parctel.com: Taxi-drivers and shuttle bus operators have blasted new traffic lights on the Brisbane airport roundabout as a "pointless" exercise that has doubled peak-hour congestion.

Four sets of lights were installed on each corner of the roundabout at the end of August to improve safety and traffic flow.

The Department of Main Roads says the $1.48 million project has reduced to zero the number of accidents on the notorious trouble-spot.

But businesses that rely on access to the airport say the new system has turned a traffic headache into a congestion nightmare, with cars banking up back to the international airport on a daily basis.

BAP Airport Parking General Manager Andrew Bell says his business has been inundated with complaints from frustrated customers.

Full story on the Brisbane Times

www.Parctel.com: Q-Park car parks Mosae Forum in Maastricht and Spaarne Hospital in Hoofddorp received EPA Awards. The awards were presented on Thursday, September 27th, in Madrid during the biennial conference of the European Parking Association (EPA).

There were a total of 19 nominations in eight countries, divided into four categories. The jury chose a winner from each category. Q-Park was honoured twice, once for the Mosae Forum car park in Maastricht, in the category New Projects and once for the Spaarne Hospital car park in Hoofddorp in the category Special Projects.

Special design of Mosae Forum:
The Q-Park Mosae Forum car park is located directly next to the Maas and twelve metres deep, below Maasboulevard in the historic centre of Maastricht. This four-storey underground car park is the largest in the city. Developed by 3W, designed by architect Jo Coenen and further developed by architect Mark Hermans, it is innovatively integrated into the modern shopping area of Mosae Forum. It has a luxury design, clear lighting and clean, shiny floors.

Unique collaboration with Spaarne Hospital:
The Q-Park Spaarne Hospital car park is the result of a unique collaborative effort between Q-Park and the Spaarne Hospital. This car park is designed to provide practical features that meet the specific needs of hospital visitors. This includes wide and disabled parking spaces, wheelchairs, and special ticket machines at wheelchair height. The artistic design of the car park also creates added value. The aluminium outer walls are constructed to depict human DNA after nightfall.

European Parking Association Award:
The EPA Award is a biennial European prize for excellence in parking service. The goal of the award is to promote the quality improvement of car parks. Important quality criteria are practicality and efficiency, construction and design, maintenance, management and safety. This is not the first time that Q-Park car parks have received the prestigious EPA Award. This award was previously presented to the Laakhaven car park in The Hague (1999), Museumplein car park in Amsterdam (2001) and the (2003).

Zuidplein car park in Rotterdam - 2003 Renovated Car Park, European Parking Association Winner

www.Parctel.com: In order to improve the image of parking in multi-storey car parks, the European Parking Association has instituted a European Standard for safety and customer friendliness in car parks.

The Standard contains guidelines and a score sheet for:

• lighting and reflective surfaces
• vehicular entry/exit
• parking areas
• pedestrian routes
• lifts
• stairwells
• security
• maintenance
and several other items.

The European Standard Parking Award can be obtained by car parks owned or operated and that gain a required minimum of points on the score sheet.

Application forms are available at the European Standard Parking website.

The national Parking Association will present the Award in the name of EPA and will reclaim the plaquette if the awarded car park does not conform to the requirements anymore.

Plaquettes are obtainable from the EPA office in Cologne at a cost of 70,00 EUR apiece + shipping costs.

www.Parctel.com: Panama - Chris Berry had no trouble finding a parking spot at the Panama City-Bay County International Airport on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s about 100 yards that way,” Berry said, pointing to his left as he awaited the arrival of his girlfriend. Berry was parked in the airport’s ropeenclosed, sidewalk-free overflow lot, a grassy area that sits about two blocks away from the main parking area. Joe Lopes made it into the main parking lot, but that’s not always the case.

“Sometimes it’s a little crowded and you have to hunt to find a space,” said Lopes, who was in the airport waiting for family Tuesday afternoon.

The Airport Authority is in the process of building a new overflow parking lot, and on Oct. 1 raised the parking rate. Customers now will pay $1 per half-hour, up from $.50 a halfhour. One day of parking now will cost $8, up from $6.

The airport is raising the rate, in part, to pay for the new parking lot, said Randy Curtis, the executive director of the airport. The new, 150-space lot has a $400,000 price tag and is being built by Carr Engineering. It is slated to be finished at the end of the month.

The expenditure comes as the Airport Authority is relocating to a 4,000-acre, St. Joe Co.-donated site in West Bay. That project is supposed to be finished by the end of 2009.

Full Story in News Herald

The Harrisburg International Airport today proposed a deal to resolve court dispute with the owner of nearby Cramer Airport Parking property in Highspire.

The board of the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority offered to withdraw the attempt to seize the property by eminent domain in court and to make payments instead to compensate lot owners Stanford and Lynn Cramer.

In return, the agreement calls for the state attorney general's office to end its action against the authority on Cramer's behalf in Dauphin County Court and in federal court. The attorney general's office contends the authority's eminent domain attempt violates federal antitrust laws.

Full Story on PennLive.com

Improvements to parking at Auckland airport's domestic terminal have been completed.

The one-level covered carpark has been transformed into a parking area specifically for short-stay parking.

The new pick-up drop-off carpark with tariffs starting at $2 for stays of up to 20 minutes is a safe and convenient place to wait for arriving passengers or to park while farewelling those departing.

Full Story on Stuff.co.nz

www.Parctel.com: The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has pumped R1,3-billion into the construction of Cape Town International Airport to cope with a "startling" growth in visitors.

Total passenger numbers grew 22,3 percent in a year, from 550 000 in July 2006 to 675 000 this year.

"This translated into 4 000 more passengers a day compared with the same period last year and this is traditionally the low season," said Acsa spokesperson Deidre Hendricks.

Upgrades include two multistorey parkades, upper and lower roadways similar to those at OR Tambo International in Johannesburg, a central terminal building with a new domestic departures lounge and additional aircraft parking bays and air bridges, Hendricks said.

The first parkade was commissioned in April 2006 and the second which will add 4 000 parking bays, is due for commissioning in October next year.

The car rental agencies had to move from the site across from the International terminal, to a new site in the central parking precinct, to accommodate the new five-storey building.

The new central terminal is being constructed between the international and domestic terminals and will comprise a large common check-in area and a central security point.

This new building, with state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure, includes a new departure lounge for domestic travellers.

"But, passenger numbers have continued to grow at a startling rate, placing much strain on the current airport infrastructure. This continuous growth, in addition to the on-going construction, is placing huge pressure on the airport.

"The construction process, though necessary, will cause airport users some inconvenience. This is why we ask our users to please bear with us and to be reassured by the fact the gain will be well worth the pain. Airport users are reminded to come to the airport early to provide themselves with sufficient time," said Hendricks.

The SA Rail Commuter Corporation, Metrorail and the government recently announced plans to spend over R400-million on a rail link between the airport and the CBD. In October last year the City of Cape Town announced the plans to set up a rail link between the airport and the city, with various stations along the way.

A dedicated airport platform would be built at Cape Town station.

The aim was to ease pressure on the N2 and the airport's parking areas ahead of 2010. The project is still in the planning phase and an environmental impact assessment needs to be done.

Source: Karen Breytenbach, IOL