Newquay Airport Passenger Reviews and Newquay Airport Traveller Reports

As a Newquay airport user of many years I am astonished to find that it now requires a fee to drop a customer off to catch a flight. Surely this must be the only airport in the UK to impose such a money grabbing policy on its clientele. If the management need some advice on the user friendly running of a small airport they could do no better than to make a visit to Kirkwall airport on the Orkneys. Needless to say, the majority of arrivals now appear to be deposited on the road outside. Fortunately traffic on that road is light. It would be thought that management would endeavour to make customers airport experience as pleasant as possible in view of the precarious economic situation it is experiencing at present.

Customers of Newquay Airport be warned that since 1st April they have implemented a minimum £1 car parking charge to just drop passengers off. As if the complete rip off compulsory £5 development fee was not bad enough. As a regular customer I notice that cars are now stopping on the busy main road to set down or using nearby farm entrances which will eventually cause a serious traffic accident. When will the Management wake up and realise that they are driving customers away to either use rail services or Exeter Airport, which is only 60 minutes away and has much better flights.

My wife's cousin was staying with us and was dropped off at Newquay airport to catch a flight back up to London on the 25/01/2013, her flight was around 18.00pm. Unfortunately she had taken my wife's keys by mistake, we had arranged that she was to leave them at customer services for me to collect. I pulled up in the Empty Maximum Stay Parking area of which I didn't notice any signs giving the time limits as it was dark, pouring with rain and blowing a gale. I went into the airport customer services desk, had to wait briefly for a lady to deal with my request she proceeded to give me my keys - I then went straight back to my car, I got in my car and left I have since yesterday being 05/03/2013 had a letter stating that I had overstayed by 3min 22 seconds and that it will cost me up to £92. I find this an absolute insult at an airport that relies on the Cornish people to try and keep running to then get charged with that amount for less than a 3.5 minutes overstay! I am now in the middle of booking my family holiday and was looking for my family of four to fly from Newquay to one of the larger London airports but I will not be using this airport again because of the parking charges! Newquay Airport needs to start reading these comments and start looking after there customers.

I am incandescent with rage at the way in which Newquay Airport Management have abdicated responsibility for managing their parking arrangements to a a disreputable organisation that operates on the margins of acceptability (AS Parking). Two charges of £92 for allegedly exceeding the maximum stay in the empty drop off zone for a couple of minutes is, by any standards draconian and confirms all the stories one hears about this 'cowboy' industry. Make no mistake, these are not fines but charges levied by a third-party without any provision of supporting evidence. All professional advice is to simply ignore such demands and let the demander pursue their case through the civil legal system - if they feel lucky! Most precedents demonstrate they will fail. As previous posters have pointed out, the real villains here are airport management who fail to see that treating customers in this arbitrary way will be the fastest way to shut down their business. I for one will not be using Newquay Airport any more. I will use Exeter instead.

Just received my fine. Despite what they say, as a new resident in Cornwall, and a new user of the airport, and a first pick up at night in the dark (and rain), it wasn't 'clearly signed'. I'm a regular traveller to London, and have decided to use the train instead - by the time all the connection hassle is added, the plane to London isn't that much faster than the train. And I will now do anything I can to avoid using this airport.

Just to reiterate the frustrations of other users at Newquay. I collected and dropped off 2 separate visitors last month in the 5min drop off area, which was totally empty apart from my car as the airport was not at all busy, and have now received no less than 3 separate fines for £92 each. On one occasion I overstayed the 5 mins by 2 min 10 seconds, another by 1min 30 seconds and the last by a mere 1 min and 2 seconds. This is a switched on outfit that have all the technology and correct signage to be just about covered by the law, so unfortunately I can't see any way of fighting these charges, we are totally at the mercy of these people and the way they unscrupulously make their money. My real gripe however is not at the parking company but with Newquay Airport Authorities and the fact that they have adopted and sanctioned this approach, ostensibly to further tax the users of this struggling enterprise. I think this is incredibly short sighted and negligent management. How can whoever is in charge truly believe that this is the correct approach when the airport so desperately needs to attract more loyal users and advocates unless there is a serious gain which we are unaware of? Regarding the £5 tax that all travellers have to pay to fly from Newquay, I can't think of any other commercial enterprise in the world that charges it's users a tax for the pleasure of being an already paying customer. In addition to all of this the airport has a generally disorganised and unfriendly feel, which is a shocking first impression or lasting final memory of our beautiful county. I will definitely vote with my feet when I fly in and out of the county from now on, which is at least 8 times a year and also tell visiting friends to fly into Exeter from now on. The additional 40 mins drive each way to is a small price to pay. Newquay is seriously in need of a management shakeup to bring in a team who have a focus on its long term viability, and who want to treat the customers with the dignity and respect they deserve and provide an experience worthy of the county. If you treat customers in the right way they become your best advocates which with cumulative effect will be far more valuable than the fees they are generating via these enforced taxes.

I join the list of customers who have been ripped off by AS Parking at Newquay Airport. When my wife dropped me off for a flight in November of last year in poor weather conditions, she hung about to make sure that the flight hadn't been cancelled. Because of the driving rain which was lashing across the deserted packing lot, we didn't hang around to read the terms and conditions. Today I have been issued with a £92 penalty notice for marginally exceeding the 5 minute waiting time. Having checked the small print on their website its apparently legal but still feels like I've been robbed. As a regular commuter between Cornwall and London, I was trying the flight option because of the flooding problems that the trains were having. With treatment like this though, I can't see myself wanting to use the airport again anytime soon.

Visited Newquay Airport to pick up my disabled Mum, I was charged £55 for staying 7 mins in a parking space by AS Parking. On dropping my Mum off at Newquay Airport she needed the toilet and I had to take her, I was charged another £55 by this company. How can Newquay Airport justify this amount of money and charge people if you over stay by 5mins. I will in the future go to Exeter and Bristol because they are better organised when it comes to car parking. Should Newquay Airport continue with AS Parking I think that it will be short lived, people will vote with their feet. I for one will not use Newquay Airport because of this company.

For a small regional airport the facilities are perfectly acceptable, with the exception of car parking charges and the £5 "Airport Development Fee" for departing passengers. While I can just about live with the ADF, the aggressive and punitive attitude to parking must be putting an awful lot of people off using the airport. Several earlier commentators have quite accurately (from my experience) described this aspect, but, be warned, it's about to get much worse. From the end of March this year, the drop-off zone will no longer be available, and all traffic will have to use the car parks at a minimum charge of £1. There's been a lively discussion on Radio Cornwall on this topic today: the participating officials gave the impression that they can charge what they like, and were clearly not listening to the rest who were outraged and pretty appalled. Cornwall CC need to wake up and smell the coffee. Yes, the airport is losing money, but driving your customers away is totally counter-productive. Exeter Airport is less than a 2 hour, very straightforward drive away - not a difficult decision, and they treat their customers with a lot more respect.

Be very careful when visiting this Airport, especially when collecting/dropping off! If you overstay the current free 5 minute allowance for dropping off/collecting you will get fined! If you park by the taxi area, even if there are no other cars parked you will get fined. There is also an extra £5 charge per person for using this Airport. I did witness cars being ticketed in a virtually empty area, so be warned. I collected my Niece from the Airport last year and was disgusted by the antics of the attendant giving out tickets. After March 2013 you will be charged £1 to drop off and pick up. Welcome to Cornwall.

Reasonably useful airport but after getting fined by AS Parking services for an alleged 3 minute overstay I'll be going elsewhere - Bristol is not that much further away from me and is a different world in terms of quality.

Earlier this year I booked a flight for the 1st Sep 2012 from Newquay to Manchester at a cost of around £150, flight was due to depart at 16.00 hrs but was delayed 2 hours due to staff problems earlier in the day. Return flight on Monday 3rd Sep scheduled to land at 13.45 hrs and I only travelled with hand baggage. Today I have been sent a Parking Charge Notice asking for £80! My wife who came to collect me was parked in the drop off Zone for an overstay of 2.53 mins! Contesting the charge would appear to be futile upon reading the small print.

Airport itself fine but beware of drop off parking zone. Sent parking charge notice of £80 if in area for longer than 5 mins, not enough time to pick up passengers and load car and get out of zone. This parking charge notice is not a fine and is not enforceable unless through the courts as it is on private land.

What a terrible place and it must be costing us a fortune. If they get rid of AS Parking they might just survive. The destinations are so limited that in practice one needs to go to Bristol.

Airport itself quite nice, and (apart from over zealous searching of Grandmothers and £5 tax) fairly easy to use. Booked everything online including parking. This is where the con starts. you drive into car park, take ticket from machine, barrier lifts and you think you've done everything correctly. Do not park in the first 5 or 6 bays on the left hand side after the disabled bays, these are 15 min bays, which should be separate from main car park. These bays apart from one were full, I backed into that space and did not see the sign, came back 3 days later to find £80 parking fines on all vehicles in these bays. If you pay within 7 days its reduced to £55, not many people holiday less than a week so the con costs the full £80. AS Parking and NQY Airport should be ashamed though I'm sure they won't be.

Beware when using the drop off area. If you go over the 5 minutes by just a minute you will receive a PCN for £80 from AS Parking. Your vehicle registration details are caught on camera as soon as you enter Newquay Airport and a member of AS Parking waits for the 5 minutes to tick away and then hands you a very threatening PCN! Staff and waiting facilities at airport were fine. Great to have an airport in Cornwall. AS Parking just spoils it as not very welcoming.

The car parking may well be close to the airport but what ever you do, do not take time to say goodbye to your loved ones if you parked at the short stay drop off. The fine for being there more than the measly 5 minute allowance is £80! You may think you're on public ground but it is private land which gives A S Parking the money-grabbing company enforcing the parking, the right to charge anything they like within the British Parking association.

Something of a tin-pot airport that seems to be going downhill - at a time when most regional airports in the UK are improving. Aside from staff that seem to think they are working at JFK or similar hub (and who are frankly quite rude and dismissive), they have now introduced parking fines of GBP55 for the passenger pick- up area. Money grabbing might be okay for an airport that is crowded or full of traffic, but Newquay is after all just a large shed in field in a remote part of Cornwall? Shame on the Council that operate this very sub- standard facility. There are even discussions as to whether the airport will survive, and since most Cornish people prefer to use Exeter or Bristol airports, I think that Newquay's days as a commercial venture will not last long. Definitely recommend to avoid this poorly managed facility, and drive up the A30 to Exeter.

Customer Rating : 4/5

Customer Rating : 4/5

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