[SAS]

Mumbai domestic airport parking is irrationally high. Expect to pay approx Rs. 750 for a 24 hour parking. Slightly away where the taxis park is Rs. 500, but I didn't bother to park there and miss my flight since I was in a hurry. Overall, parking at the airport in Mumbai does not make sense. It is far cheaper to hire a cab than park here, since the airport is still in the heart of the city.

[torquecurve]

Background : I am travelling via Mumbai to the UK for a week on this Saturday. As I stay in Pune, will travel Pune/Mum via the E-way. Now, due to the 'celestial' play of amavasya starting at 2:55 p.m. on Saturday (family pressure), I have been asked to leave home before 2:50. And that is for a fight at 4:30 a.m Sunday!

The options I have to travel are

1. 1 - Take the office supplied cab (Tavera/Xylo) reach the airport at 6 - 8 p.m and spend the next 8 hours at the airport
2. 2 - Use my car to drive to the airport and then park it there for a week (i believe 850 bucks per day)
3. 3 - hire a driver who will get the car back to Pune after I am in the airport (12:30 a.m), costs about 650+food+return fare to Mumbai ~ 1K or so.
4. 4 - A kind hearted bhpian allows me to use his/her parking space

The other three options are intended for me to make best use of my time while I am in Mumbai. Some sightseeting, dinner etc.

Mumbaikars please help. I am sure we have others who have similar predicaments.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by torquecurve

I have been asked to leave home before 2:50. And that is for a fight at 4:30 a.m Sunday!

Mumbai has a great evening / night life. Prepare for FUN!

Take the office supplied cab (Tavera/Xylo) reach the airport at 6 - 8 p.m and spend the next 8 hours at the airport

The best option. Parking your car at the airport is prohibitively expensive, and giving a newbie driver the car to drive back alone is prohibitively risky. Take a cab down, dump your bags at someone's place and have some fun. I'd recommend spending the evening in the Bandra area (which is closer to the airport too).

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by GTO

).

Thanks GTO. I will take your advice, I just spoke to our transport team and will be taking an Innova, which I also will have the 8hr/80 km package on! (additional to the airport drop). Basically I pay for the 8hr/80 km package and the company pays for the airport drop. Win-win.

[download2live]

Is it safe to leave the car in BIAL parking for 3 days.
It is turning out much cheaper than paying around 2k to taxi guys.

[yosbert]

Originally Posted by download2live

Is it safe to leave the car in BIAL parking for 3 days.
It is turning out much cheaper than paying around 2k to taxi guys.

Its quite a common practice and many people are doing this (perhaps for the exact same reason you have mentioned). Check this thread for details.

[racer_m]

Originally Posted by download2live

Is it safe to leave the car in BIAL parking for 3 days.
It is turning out much cheaper than paying around 2k to taxi guys.

Are you sure that your 3 days of parking fee + fuel bill for to and fro journey is lesser than 2K!
I would prefer taking the cab than leaving out my car in the open for days together.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by download2live

Is it safe to leave the car in BIAL parking for 3 days.
It is turning out much cheaper than paying around 2k to taxi guys.

I have heard that it is safe. My mother's business associates do this regularly, and they travel mostly for 3-4 days at a time. None of them have said anything about their car being messed about. However, do follow the normal precautions of not leaving anything even remotely attractive in the car where it is visible ...

[download2live]

Originally Posted by racer_m

Are you sure that your 3 days of parking fee + fuel bill for to and fro journey is lesser than 2K!
I would prefer taking the cab than leaving out my car in the open for days together.

Its Rs 300 for first day and Rs 200 for everyday from then onwards. So works out to be Rs 700 which is less than Rs 900 charged by Meru cabs for distance from my home to Airport.

Of course the fare for cab from airport till home also has to be added.

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by download2live

Its Rs 300 for first day and Rs 200 for everyday from then onwards. So works out to be Rs 700 which is less than Rs 900 charged by Meru cabs for distance from my home to Airport.

Of course the fare for cab from airport till home also has to be added.

I have left my Laura for 3 to 5 days many times at BIAL and there hasn't been any issue till date (touchwood!). It works out much cheaper than taking a cab especially for the international flights at unearthly hours.

[tony05]

I had once parked my car in Hyd Internation Airport. They charged my 300 for that and considering the fact that 80 kms to and fro would cost me 250 Rs of diesel, it costed me a total of 550 Rs, which is very cheap considering the fact that

i. Cab charges 650 one way
ii. airport buses cost 200 one way, plus auto charges to the bus stop

[hyd_traveller]

Chennai Airport has a public fuming.

Read all about it in The Hindu at:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...3.ece#comments

I am copying and pasting the article from The Hindu here but urge you to visit the paper's website and read the comments posted there by public in response to the article:

At the toll booths at the Chennai airport, lines of cars move through the open gates in a hurry towards the new departure terminal of the Chennai airport.

The vehicles quickly disgorge hordes of passengers and their luggage, and rush to exit the airport at the earliest.

Ever since the Airport Authority of India threw open the departure terminal for operations, many cars have been forced to pay the parking fee despite not using the parking facility.

Under the booth system at the Chennai airport, four wheelers must enter and exit the airport within seven minutes failing which they pay the parking fee that varies depending on the time period by which they have overshot the limit.

Vehicles often struggle to exit the airport within the stipulated time as they are forced to take a circuitous route till the end of the terminal’s ramp and then through the service road to the booth in order to pay the toll at the usual exit spot.

“Till seven minutes, it is free for all vehicles. Between seven and ten minutes, depending on the size of the vehicle, we charge them Rs. 60 and Rs. 70 respectively. Beyond 12 minutes we charge Rs. 120 for all vehicles,” said an official of Mumbai-based Garuda Aviation that manages the booth system at the airport.

Taxi drivers and domestic passengers have expressed a need for toll booths at the end of the ramp.

“By the time I left my aunt with her baggage at the terminal and reached the toll booth it was over ten minutes. So I had to pay Rs. 60 as parking fee. Won’t it take at least five minutes just to allow the passenger to get off with their luggage? The authorities should either shift the booths or relax the time limit,” said Pallavi Rao, an IT professional living in Perambur.
The problem becomes more acute due to traffic congestion on the ramp when several domestic flights take off, she added.

Sources at the airport said it may be difficult to shift the booths now due to some issues faced with the electricity connection.

Airport director H.S. Suresh said, “We have such a time limit in place because we don’t want people to stay for long and congest the airport. We may try and shift the booths as soon as possible.”

[puchoo]

Simply to drop off and give a hug and say bye , no i dont think so , a minute tops in most cases. People simply tend to hang around chatting at times which is what causes the problems and they tend to then go overboard the time limit or everything is in disarray and stuff is moving between the car or the suitcases.



[quote=hyd_traveller;3232362] Won’t it take at least five minutes just to allow the passenger to get off with their luggage? [quote]

[tosathyas]

I have used the valet parking for long weekend outings in RGIA, Hyderabad atleast 3-4 times and had no issues. Its much more convenient and cheaper than the radio cabs.

Chennai airport seems to be sucking in all terms....

[hyd_traveller]

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

Under the booth system at the Chennai airport, four wheelers must enter and exit the airport within seven minutes failing which they pay the parking fee that varies depending on the time period by which they have overshot the limit.

Vehicles often struggle to exit the airport within the stipulated time as they are forced to take a circuitous route till the end of the terminal’s ramp and then through the service road to the booth in order to pay the toll at the usual exit spot.

Originally Posted by puchoo

Simply to drop off and give a hug and say bye , no i dont think so , a minute tops in most cases. People simply tend to hang around chatting at times which is what causes the problems and they tend to then go overboard the time limit or everything is in disarray and stuff is moving between the car or the suitcases.

RGIA at Hyderabad has seen a commercial opportunity to a side income based on AAI charging vehicles taking more than 7 minutes between entrance and exit at Chennai Airport.

RGIA at Hyderabad will soon start charging a fee in case a vehicle takes more than 3 minutes time from the start of the entrance ramp of arrival terminal to the end of the exit ramp of the arrival terminal. They have started issuing tickets but are not yet charging any money while trying to smoothen the system and ensure that there are no glitches.

Unfortunately, the 3 minutes is certainly less and very very less in case of differently disabled and senior citizens.

I timed myself a few days back and here is my experience :

The entrance booth operator who issues the ticket had printed the ticket even before I could reach the barrier and was all waiting to hand it over. The time had started ticking already for me even before I rolled to a stop. I rolled down the window and collected the ticket, rolled up the window, engaged the gear and took off slowly as the barrier was on the uphill ramp and my car is only 90bhp. There are are many spots further up where humps are installed and I had to cross 3 such sets before I reached the arrival pick up point where my arriving passengers were waiting for me. Each hump had me slow down to a crawl as by habit I do not like getting shaken and jerked and cannot afford to spoil my car by going fast over the speed breakers. I could not stop my car where the arriving passengers were waiting for me as nearly two dozen cars were parked there for their set of passengers which resulted in me having to go down the portico by nearly 50 metres and then call them up and explain my exact spot of stopping and then wait for my arriving passengers to having to walk with luggage till the car which took time as many people were obstructing the free passage while waiting for their pick up. Loading the luggage, shaking hands, hugging the arriving passengers and settling them into the car also took a bit of time. After all had got into the car, we restarted and took off but had to keep slow due to another 2 sets of humps. By the time I reached the exit barrier down the ramp, I had to wait in queue for my turn as there were 2 cars ahead of me. The barrier agent just took my ticket and waved me on (that is because they are testing the system and have not yet implemented the charges) but imagine the time it would taken while I waited for the 2 cars ahead of me to clear off. Also imagine the time it would take while I take out the money, hand it over, wait for change to be returned and all that which would delay the car behind me whose clock would continue to tick because of the slowness by me or even the toll agent. Anyway, I took a flat 3 minutes 23 seconds in my endeavour and I doubt it that I can do it in less than 3 minutes even if the airport operator does ensure that the arrival portico is kept clutter free and the exit toll barrier does not make me wait due to another vehicle ahead of me.

To sum up, very very sad news for people like me who need to pick up and drop air passengers around 4/5 times a month. It is absolutely blatant picking my pocket. If they increase the timings to 5 minutes, I would laud their efforts for trying to make the arrival portico clutter free but the 3 minutes time limit is nothing but blatant blackmail.