Off site parking at Heathrow? A cautionary tale

It is said that there is nothing like a personal recommendation and this, my friends, is nothing like a personal recommendation…

You know how it goes.

You need to be at Heathrow for an 04.00 check-in, so public transport isn’t going to cut it.

And you don’t want to have your bank account violated, so you choose not to pay on-site parking charges.

No, instead you hunt around for an off-site parking service which will still cost you money, but cost less than the on-site licensed bandits.

Step forward Quality Airport Parking (website: http://www.qualityairportparking.com)

Their website looked healthy so I did the deed; made the booking, paid the money and received a confirmation email.

The first hint that the one thing that could conceivably be missing from Quality Airport Parking’s service would be ‘Quality’ became apparent when we arrived – a sign that said we should ‘Allow half an hour for airport transfer’ was displayed on the wall.

What?

The thought that we were five minutes from the Terminal crossed my mind, but, I reasoned, the sign might be there to take account of day-time rush-hour traffic.

As we were arriving at Quality Airport Parking’s depot at 03.25 I wasn’t particularly worried by a half-hour transfer or the thought of rush-hour traffic…

… right up until the check-in person said that the next transfer coach would leave at 04.00. This, coincidentally, was when our check-in desk opened.

Well, it’s still not a big deal, right? That was only the check-in opening and it was sure to be open for at least an hour and a quarter.

No worries.

Our transfer coach actually left the depot at 04.12 and we arrived at our Terminal just before 04.20.

But let’s examine that for a moment:

Arrive Quality Airport Parking:	03.25
Depart Quality Airport Parking:	04.12
Arrive Terminal:	04.20
Total transfer time:	55 minutes

Fifty-five minutes?

At that time of day (03.25) it’s possible to drive from the centre of London to Heathrow Airport in that 55-minute span of time.

What does the Quality Airport Parking website say about the whole transfer process on their website?

You drive your car to the allotted airport car park and once your luggage has been transferred onto a bus you will be taken to your departure terminal. On your return, just contact the number on your receipt and one of our many buses will collect you and your party.

Nope, not a single mention anywhere in there about the process taking just a smidge under an hour. Also missing from their website, you’ll note, is the mention of the ‘half-hour’ stated on the sign that you don’t actually get to see until you arrive at their depot.

But the shortcomings with the outbound transfer don’t stop there.

Have a guess how many seats Quality Airport Parking have put for customer use in their waiting room.

I’ll tell you.

Four.

And, unsurprisingly, there were more than four of us waiting for our transfer to Heathrow.

It just seems to me that if you’re going to have regular gaps in your service (and I use that word ‘service’ advisedly) of half an hour or so, you’d make sure there were sufficient seats to go around.

Wouldn’t you?

Anyway, we got to our Terminal, checked in and flew out, even though I felt as though we’d been cheated by Quality Airport Parking somehow.

At the end of our time in Munich we arrived back in the UK and, as instructed, we called the Quality Airport Parking depot on our arrival: 22.34.

The dispatcher advised us to walk to the designated bus stop and that she’d send a bus out to us.

We walked, arrived and waited.

We saw a transfer coach from Flightpath Parking.

We saw a transfer coach from Purple Parking.

We waited some more.

We saw another transfer coach from Flightpath Parking.

And another transfer coach from Purple Parking.

We waited some more. Again.

At 23.07 – 40 minutes after our first call – and as a third coach from Flightpath Parking pulled in to the bus stop, I called Quality Airport Parking again.

Let’s just say that the call was frostier than the late night November weather, and involved me telling the dispatcher how many coaches from Flightpath and Purple had been through, and the dispatcher saying that I was speaking to Quality Airport Parking and my cutting retort that there didn’t actually seem to be any Quality going on here.

At 23.15 our coach turned up.

At 23.25 – 55 minutes since our check-in notification phone call – we arrived back at Quality Airport Parking’s depot.

So let’s summarise things in broad terms…

Total time, rounded up, on the outwards transfer: one hour
Total time, rounded up, on the inwards transfer: one hour

Time spent hanging around on the outwards transfer: 40 minutes
Time spent hanging around on the inwards transfer: 50 minutes

Would I use Quality Airport Parking again?

Absolutely not.

Would I recommend Quality Airport Parking to anyone?

Not under any circumstances.