Are Luton airport taking the Mick?

5th July 2010

Luton airport charge 10,000 % more to hire a trolley than a car

Airlines ingenuity for finding extras to add to the overall bill has now been joined by the owners of Luton airport who in their wisdom have seen fit to charge £2 for using a trolley. At least supermarkets give you the pound back for returning the trolley to the right area, does this mean you are buying the trolley or just hiring for 10 minutes while you check in?

The airport clearly has a monopoly position and while £2 is not a lot, to get some prospective to the cost, I have compared to the cost of hiring a car on the Costa del Sol from Malaga airport. For a Ford Ka the cost for eight days from Saturday to Saturday in July is £198 and in minutes this comes to 11,160 the car is in your possession.

The cost of the vehicle per minute comes to less than 2 pence a minute making the cost to hire a trolley 10,000 % more expensive than hiring a car. Clearly this trolley must be a top of the range model capable of at least driving itself with no lifting required.

Sorry about taking the Mick but the airport started it first.