Edinburgh Airport's parking charges send a bad message from the place 'where Scotland meets the world' – Scotsman comment

Edinburgh Airport bills itself as the place “where Scotland meets the world”. Some travellers may find themselves wanting to add “… and the world gets fleeced”.

Edinburgh Airport's parking charges are too high

One unfortunate commuter decided to park at the airport for a day while flying down to London and back without checking the prices, thinking “how bad could it be?” The answer was £75, more than the cost of the flight.

But even those using the parking for a much shorter time, for example to pick up a passenger, face exorbitant charges. According to the airport’s website, staying in the “terminal” parking (there are several types) for “zero to ten minutes” costs £4. Presumably, they don't actually mean zero – which raises pseudo-philosophical questions about whether they are attempting to charge everyone who has spent no time at all in the car park, ie most of the world’s population of nearly 7.9 billion, the sum of £4 – but, judging by the way the prices quickly stack up, perhaps we should not be so sure.

People who like to arrive in good time to meet new arrivals after a long, tiring journey could find themselves shelling out £12 for parking for 30 minutes to an hour, while a relatively brief delay to a flight might result in a £16 charge for a stay of one to three hours.

All this may persuade some passengers to take a taxi instead. However, from April 14, only one company, rather than two, will be providing services, leading some to fear shortages of cabs on the rank. Priced out of the car park, and waiting in the rain for a taxi… welcome to Scotland.