Norwich Airport development fee! WTF!!!!!

[Big Worm 1]

Having been unfortunate enough to stay in Norwich for the last two days, when I arrived at the airport to fly home, I discovered that anyone flying out of Norwich "International" Airport has to pay a £5 development fee!

What the hell is that all about????

[eldar]

They need to broaden the gene pool, thus anyone who can spare a fiver to escape would add a little too much enterprise, so keep only the poor.

[bad company]

Heard about this and decided not to use Norwich airport.

[KevF]

LOL....its been £5 for about 3-4 years....Don't worry about it...it goes up to £10 from 2012....

And they wonder why the footfall through the airport is going down.....

Apparently last year the 'tax' raised £700,000 for airport improvements. So, QED, the airport management have concluded that if they make it £10 now, in 2012 they will have £1,400,000 to spend on more improvements.......

Not sure I share their optimisim though

[Jonnas]

It's not the only place that does this, Newquay did it too when I last flew out of there......

[marshalla]

<ahem> Durham Tees Valley (aka Teesside nissen huts) £6 "passenger facility fee" to cover the cost of standing in a queue for 30 minutes (because they haven't noticed that they have two flights scheduled to depart within 5 minutes of each other) to get through the scanners and then sit in a cold, draughty run-down waiting area with toilets that stink like the inside of Rab C. Nesbitt's y-fronts on Sunday morning.

[fatboy b]

Let me get this right? You buy a plane ticket that includes the plane fare, flying taxes and airport taxes. Then these fuuckers charge another airport tax. That's double-dipping shirley?

[Getragdogleg]

If I recall correctly Newquay "airport" had or have this charge too, you had to pay at a big machine and then give the ticket to the check in staff.

Piracy.

[andym1603]

Surely it is like handing over a crisp tenner when you land in Turkey. Nobody complains there.

[al bebak]

andym1603 said:

Surely it is like handing over a crisp tenner when you land in Turkey. Nobody complains there.

well i do every year but in turkey it is a visa so totally different.
i now live in norfolk and i wont fly out of norwich for 2 reasons.
one the flights are about £300 more for the 3 of us to turkey, and there is no way im paying to use there poxy little facility.
we can scrape back about £150 if we did travel from there as that is what it costs to park and travel to stansted or gatwick.

[Getragdogleg]

If they made an attempt to hide it I would not feel so cheated.

I would not expect to go to the supermarket and pay £10 shop tax just for buying from them, I certainly would not jump through the hoop of having a tenner to wedge into a special machine that is located well away from the tills and then take the bit of paper/token it spat out at me to a till and have it validated and then be allowed to buy my milk and toilet paper.

Hide the charge and I will just assume the prices are high and thats life, I don't want to be treated like a compliant who will wear every daft surcharge imagined up by spotty wkers who have a degree in creating extra wallet opening tactics.

[Cupramax]

Bournemouth has something similar to this, they've done it by preventing you from dropping off passengers outside the terminal and there are no pavements to the terminal from the main road so you cant walk to it either, if you come in a car you have to enter the car park to drop off or pick up which has a minimum charge of £2.50 s.

[KevF]

Cupramax said:

Bournemouth has something similar to this, they've done it by preventing you from dropping off passengers outside the terminal and there are no pavements to the terminal from the main road so you cant walk to it either, if you come in a car you have to enter the car park to drop off or pick up which has a minimum charge of £2.50 s.

Norwich also has this......came in when the 'security' measures were around after the London bombings. Cab drivers are boycotting the place as they too have been charged for waiting....

[Cupramax]

Yep, same down here.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Blackpool Airport does this as well. To be honest £10 to leave that particular hell hole is a bargain.

[F i F]

Is the existence of the fee made clear when you book the tickets? Would have thought they would prefer the fee to be "hidden" in the ticket price rather than openly and honestly ps off passengers.

Is it one of these airports run by the local council? Which might explain the lack of clued up approach.

Last one of these council jobs I flew from was Sheffield, which shows how long ago that was. The council believed that a perfectly acceptable business model for airport parking being pay and display, and yes for a trip for a week you were indeed expected to go out and feed £35 in change into a p&d machine. One hopes they've changed the system by now, but voted with feet after one experience.

[surveyor]

F i F said:

One hopes they've changed the system by now, but voted with feet after one experience.

They have. Peel, who own (still own part I think) Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood bought it, shut it and are building offices on it.

[bomb]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Yep - Tee$$ide is six quid.

What grips my st is not so much the £6, but the fk on to get the token / paid voucher.

Naturally it doesn't take notes, or Cr Cards etc...

I use Durham-Tees on a very regular basis. I thought it was a...... 'Mr Bomb will pay to keep the airport open,(single-handedly), fee'.

You are correct about the palarvour needed to get your ticket.

Its a bloody rip-off, and just what I need at 0530am to get me off to a good start......