Flight Only / Airline and Airports

Discussions relating to flight only, airlines and airports.
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hi this is a link to prestwick airport http://www.gpia.co.uk/AirportInfo/hotels.asp I dont think the hotels are in the airport as prestwick is only a small town.But depending on when you fly you could probably get parking in glasgow as the train from glasgow central stops in the airport and it only takes about half an hour and they are every 15 mins to ayr stoping at prestwick you get your train ticket half price if you show your plane ticket or why not do the whole journey by train we fly out from manchester and live in glasgow very rairly fly from glasgow it works out quite cheep if you have a family rail card £89 to manchester 2 adults and 2 kids and that was £20 rewnewing of our rail card included and your rail card lasts a year.Hope this helps you.
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Thanks for that info unfortunatly we arrive back into prestwick about 23:00 and dont want to be left stranded.
On the other hand this is worth thinking about for our break later in the year.
Thanks again.
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Due to recent incidents, all the parking areas appear to be changed/moved at this airport since I last used it. Any recommendations for the easiest car park facility to use? Prices quoted varied from £28 down to £5 odds. Crazy!!! If you have flown from there recently then I'd appreciate your comments. :fly
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Hi Jade ... in view of the current security restrictions, the on site car parks may be the easiest to use, although perhaps not the cheapest.

As far as off site parking goes, I believe Watsons Ayr Park is still one of the more popular:
http://www.watsonsayrpark.com

One of the major drawbacks at the moment with off site parking, is that the courtesy coaches drop off and pick up out on the main dual carriageway which passes the airport. Passengers then have to make their own way to the terminal on foot, which may not be so easy with a lot of luggage. Trolleys are not provided on the dual carriageway and so if you need one, you have to go into the airport to collect it and then bring it back out to the dual carriageway.

It's even more inconvenient on the return journey, because the courtesy coach pick up point is on the opposite side of the dual carriageway. This means that when you pick up your luggage and leave Baggage Reclaim on the ground floor of the airport, you then have to make your way to the first floor via stairs, escalator or queue for the lift, and head along the corridor to the footbridge leading to the rail station. Trolleys are not allowed on to the footbridge, although many families have to ignore that if travelling with a lot of baggage. At the end of the footbridge, you then use the stairs or queue for the lift, which brings you down to the station platform and the exit leading out to the dual carriageway.

If you are travelling as a family with luggage and using an off site car park, my advice would be to go directly to the airport first and drop off your passengers and luggage. There is a free 5 minute drop off facility in one of the car parks close to the terminal. The driver alone can then take the car to the off site car park, and take the courtesy bus back to the dual carriageway. On the homeward journey, again it would be easier if the driver alone treks across the bridge to the dual carriageway, takes the bus to the off site car park to collect the car, and then drives back to the pick up facility in the airport car park.

It is a bit of hassle. You would be best obtaining quotes for on and off site parking, and then weigh up costs against convenience.

More info available on the airport website, although it is perhaps unlikely than any website will go into much detail about the possible inconvenience involved:
http://www.gpia.co.uk/

David :wave
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Thats great David. I heard that it was a lot of hassle and your reply confirmed this. Cheers.
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Blimey - all that seems to me to make Prestwick and possibly Scotland as an enterance point into the country a bit of a laughing stock. Why cant courtesy coaches get close to terminasl building? They can make it at Gatwick and Heathrow amongst many ,more - why not an isolated airfield on the Ayrshire coast?

Nivsy
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Hi Nivsy ... as far as courtesy coach drop offs are concerned, it's not too far to walk from the dual carriageway to the terminal, in fact it's probably closer than the drop off points at some other UK airports. But the situation could be made easier if authorities could at least maintain a supply of luggage trolleys at the bus stop.

Courtesy coach pick ups are a bit more of a problem, because the bus stop is located on the opposite side of the busy main road. As I mentioned, this requires passengers having to go the upper level of the airport to use the footbridge across the dual carriageway, then downstairs into the rail station, before exiting on to the dual carriageway and walking along to the bus pick up point.

To me it would make far more sense if the drop off point was also used for pick ups, removing any need for passengers to trek upstairs, across the bridge and down the other side. I'm sure there must be some logical reason why this doesn't happen. :hmmm
David :wave
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I decided to pay for the car park nearest to the termminal and it cost £28 for 3 days. The rest were too far out. :fly
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Heavy snow is causing problems for anyone trying to reach Prestwick Airport by road today. The M77 is currently blocked at Junction 2 just outside Glasgow, and long queues are building back towards the city. Train from Glasgow Central may be a better option at the moment.

David :wave
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The situation with regard to off-site parking now appears to have improved somewhat at Prestwick. A new and extended bus lay-by has been created on the A79 dual carriageway, slightly closer to the terminal than the old one. Car park courtesy/shuttle coaches now drop off and pick up passengers at the same point on the southbound carriageway, meaning that there is no longer any need to use lift, escalator, stairs, footbridge, etc to access the bus stop on the northbound side of the dual carriageway.

However, public service buses (such as Stagecoach) still use their respective north or southbound bus stops.

Hopefully more will be done to maintain a sufficient supply of luggage trolleys at the coach drop off point, but I think there is a concern that if passengers do not secure them properly once used, they may roll or blow on to the dual carriageway and perhaps cause a serious accident.

David :wave
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Prestwick Airport is to axe a quarter of its workforce due to the economic downturn ... click here for full story.

David :wave
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Hi,
Flying with Ryanair to Tenerife 22nd May at 6.25am from Prestwick airport. Having never flown from this airport before was wondering about the following:
Will there be somewhere to get something to eat at this unearthly hour?
Is it better to get priority boarding?

Many thanks.
Theresa
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I have not used Prestwick for a good number of years now however over the past few months there has been reports (negative ones) about the appearance, standard and cleanliness of the terminal at Prestwick.

Poor seating (fabric replacement most needed in the departure hall) and the two catering outlets were merged into one recently and it serves anything that can be processed by immersing it in fat. While Ryanair have a number of flights going out early in the morning I guess the catering outlet will be open should you decide to use it. Would be quite nice to get a report on the outlets if you are willing to try it (on behalf of holiday truths! :cheers
The toilets have also come in from criticism.

Nivsy
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when i flew from prestwick to gran canaria a few years ago we needed a car park and found one which cost £30-£40 for 2 weeks, the car park also provided a courtesy mini bus which came every 10 mins and took us straight to the front door of the terminal. ill have a look and see if i can find the name of the company.
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I too am wondering what will be open in the airport , i am also flying ryan air to tenerife on the fourth of may and flight leaves at 0625, we were originally supposed to be leaving at 1425, but they changed the times and we were just going to get lunch before we went, i looked on the website for prestwick airport but it doens't give you opening times on things, so if anyone has any info on this it would be great :cheers
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Hey kazza thats a pretty early take off =P im sure most outlets within the airport will be opened around 6ish at least. Im sure they will have the opening times planned in advance so they dont miss out in any business.
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I know it is, but better in the long run as we get extra time in tenerife as we are only going from monday to friday, we are joining family but can't get into our room till after 2pm thats how we booked the flight at the original time of 1425, but get there around 11am and going to stick luggage in their room :tongue . I usually fly from glasgow and been early in the morning for flights and mostly everything starts to open about 6ish, but b/friend is now worried he won't be able to get a beer as he is a nervous flyer if we miss the bar ha ha ;)
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theresa-a originally posted on the Ryanair thread where we advised to post here for more local information. According to Prestwick Airport Guide, food outlets are open between the first and last flights so should be open for the early departures.

Darren
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