Most travel plans tend to go off without too much of a hitch but as every frequent flyer knows, there are always exceptions. So how do flight delays affect your pre-booked airport car parking? These travel hitches can sometimes be on a large scale, such as the recent British Airways flight cancellations which were put down to a technological error, and sometimes it can be the thought of your car waiting for you at your home airport, while you’re stranded at the other end, waiting to hear news of when your flight might finally leave. So if you find yourself faced with either eventuality and you’ve already booked your airport parking, here are a few things you can do…

 

Flight Delays or Holiday Cancellations

Worst case scenario: your flight has been cancelled, or you find you can no longer go on your holiday. Depending on the reasons for the cancellation, it’s possible you could recoup some or all of your costs via your travel insurance, but where does that leave your airport parking booking? This very much depends on the timescale involved. For example, if you know about your cancelled flight or holiday more than 24 hours in advance, you can contact your airport parking provider and in many cases they will let you cancel your booking (charging a small admin fee in the process).

However, if the situation is rather more urgent and the cancellations occur less than 24 hours before you were due to park and fly, then in the first instance you should contact the customer services team of your parking provider to see if there’s anything they can do, but in most instances you will not automatically be eligible for a refund. It’s also worth asking your travel insurer, as cover for this extra cost might be available on more comprehensive policies.

 

Airport Parking Cancellation Protection

This additional cover is offered by many airport parking providers, but unfortunately it’s not cover for your parking costs, but rather those extra admin fees you have to pay if you do need to cancel your airport parking booking. So for example, you can choose to pay a few extra pounds for this cancellation protection when you make your booking, and this will mean that you will not have to pay the admin fee (usually around the £10) if you do have to cancel.

 

Delayed Return Flights

Imagine the scenario: you’ve had a lovely relaxing holiday, you rock up at the airport to catch your flight home and it turns out there is no flight home. Well, not yet anyway. And it looks like you might be in for a bit of a wait. Annoying at the best of times, but even more so if you’ve got a car waiting in a parking space back at Heathrow or Gatwick and every hour it’s left there over your allotted time means more costs added to that total holiday bill. Unfortunately you will have to pay for that extra time – flight delays aren’t the fault of parking companies, just as they’re not your fault either – but these parking providers do appreciate how annoying this can be and are flexible. Rather than charging you a fee or fine for going over your limit, many just charge you for the extra time you’ve used and you can pay when you pick up your car. But remember to check in the terms and conditions how they calculate this charge – whether it’s by the hour, or in 24 hour increments.

 

Car Breakdowns

There’s one very important thing you will need to access those excellent deals associated with airport parking discount codes – a car. But as any car owner knows, they can often break down at the worst possible times, and it can’t get much worse than when you need to drive to the airport to catch a flight. When it comes to airport parking bookings, this really is worst case scenario stuff because unfortunately you can’t claim a full refund due to the short notice, and you will also have to fork out for another method of travel to get you to the terminal. However, even though it looks bleak, always contact the customer services team of your airport parking provider in the first instance and they may be able to offer some advice and help.

It’s a fact of life that no matter how well-prepared you are, occasional hindrances do occur, especially when any form of travel is involved. The best thing you can do is just make sure you have contingency plans for all airport parking eventualities, and perhaps make sure you can has been recently serviced before you set off.