Birmingham Airport was affected by the ash cloud spewing out of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano once again during the middle of May. And if you were meant to be travelling from the airport during that time you may have run into problems with your car parking plans as well as your flight.
Although it seems as if the worst of the upheaval has now passed, travellers during May didn’t have the best time of it. Many of them were left abroad and were expecting to pick up their cars on a certain date. Instead of being able to do so their cars had to sit in their designated car parks beyond what would have been their normal pick up time and date.
Similarly many other people who were supposed to be flying out of Birmingham Airport ended up not being able to do so, and therefore they didn’t end up arriving to park their cars as they normally would have done.
This event may seem to be a rare one, and indeed it is. But the fact that it disrupted so many airlines, airports and travel plans shows that anything can happen when you have a holiday booked.
The important thing to remember when you are booking your airport parking at Birmingham Airport is to read through all the information made available to you, both before and after you make your booking. You should do this all the time anyway, simply because you can figure out exactly what the terms and conditions of your booking are. If you had to cancel it for any reason you should know whether this will incur any costs, or whether you can receive back the full price of the airport parking charge you paid.
In the case of the ash cloud, most airport parking companies at Birmingham Airport and beyond were very responsible. They allowed passengers to come back and pick up their cars when they eventually returned to the airport, without having to pay any additional fees. Those who had bookings for parking and were still in the country could postpone them and park later on, when they knew how their holiday plans would eventually pan out.
This was an unprecedented situation in many ways. But it did show the importance of checking where you would stand if you had to cancel your parking for any reason, no matter whether you were travelling from Birmingham Airport or anywhere else.