Cardiff, Airparks

Booked with Airparks Cardiff as their rates were really good and they were close to the airport and promised a quick turn around, with transfers advertised as taking 3 minutes and run from the car park every 20 mins. On arrival, everything was easy and went well. The return was a whole different experience... our flight landed in Cardiff around 12.30am, there were 3 flights in total that landed at the same time so there was quite a queue for the bus. The drop off/pick up point is the other end of the car park and it's quite a trek for people with mobility issues, of which there were 2 in our group of 7. I believe this is something that Cardiff Airport have to take responsibility for though as the driver explained they made the company move the drop off there..however, it's not made clear on Airparks' site which it should be imo! Most co's like that drop at the door, not the other end of the car park so you assume they do too.

Anyway, around 1am we found ourselves at the end of a huge queue, because we had 2 disabled people in our group we were slower to leave the building as we are last off the plane etc. The weather was appallingly bad, Thursday night (weather warnings were issued especially to Wales, which was in the news for floods). So after a long day, we joined the queue in the pouring rain and were drenched, waited for well over an hour. Airparks had one bus running and one mini bus. 3 members of staff, one of which had to stand and hand keys out and so not available to pick up passengers.

If the transfer is 3 minutes, why were we waiting for about 1 hr 20 mins? To see 1 bus and 1 mini bus? Every passenger there had booked in advance so Airparks had advance warning that it would be a busy time. Severe weather warnings were also issued, which we heard about in Lanzarote so surely the manager of Airparks Cardiff was well aware that it would be raining heavily. Yet all they sent was one bus and a mini bus which held so few passengers it was barely worth sending out. I am sure they own more than one bus so why didn't they use it? Well the drivers told us why - Airparks are too tight to spend the money and yes, they have more buses to use but they don't employ enough staff to do the transfers efficiently. They asked us to complain as it's a common thing that happens and the management won't change things. They also do it so that next time customers pay extra to have the meet n greet service... i.e. make them wait ages so next time they think what the heck, I'll spend more money and have no waiting.

So Airparks would rather their customers stand for ages in the torrential rain in the early hours of the morning and treat them like rubbish so they can make a few more quid for the night. Business is about profit, I get that... but what happened to customer service? Repeat business? seeing the bigger picture? I will never ever ever use them again, next time I will spend a bit more and use someone better who cares more about their customers. Now I know why Airparks are so cheap - because they don't employ the number of staff they need and cut corners at their customers' expense. By the time you find that out, it's too late and they have had your money.

Nightmare! They don't drop you at the actual airport, just at the main car park where you have to lug your luggage to the terminal and there were no trolleys. On the way back there was a tremendous queue and only 1 bus going to and fro from the airport to the parking area. We got on the 3rd bus but others had to wait much longer. NOT what you want when you've just got off the plane. Strangely, there was another bus available but only 1 driver. When I mentioned this to a member of staff at Airparks he urged me to complain as the limited staff they did have that day were rushed off their feet and clearly couldn't cope. Never again.