Fliers snub £2 airport security charge

Oct 10 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

John Lennon Airport (320)

NINE out of 10 passengers travelling out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport are refusing to pay a new £2 security charge.

Initially, JLA planned to make the charge compulsory for all passengers but opted for a voluntary system after a backlash from leading operators such as Ryanair and Easyjet.

Despite the poor uptake and claims the charge has led to queues of up to an hour for those who decline the fast-track paying queue – something the airport denies – officials at JLA claim the optional £2 tax has been well received.

Had every passenger agreed to pay the charge, it would have received just under £6m this year. If the current trend continues, it will instead receive just under £600,000. The airport’s largest carrier, Easyjet, last night said the low take-up was proof that passengers did not want to pay extra, while no-frills rival Ryanair said it was “monitoring” the impact the two-tier security system had.

The airport became the first in the country to introduce the charge, which entitles people to use a fast-track “lane” through security, earlier this year, after the cost of implementing anti-terrorism measures rocketed.

Tickets to the fast-lane are bought from machines dotted around the airport, and passengers will soon be able to buy them in advance from the airport’s website. Robin Tudor, the airport’s spokesman, said: “So far, about 10% of passengers travelling out of the airport have agreed to pay the £2 charge. “It is entirely at each passenger’s discretion whether they choose to pay the £2 charge, and from our point of view, it is a case of every penny counts towards the extra cost of security.

“Liverpool is the first UK airport to introduce this type of scheme, and it is believed that many other airport operators may consider adopting a similar product.

“Initial passenger feedback has been very positive and any negative impact on passenger flows from landside to airside areas will continue to be monitored over the coming weeks.”

Over the summer, a new website called ukairport delays, which produces fig- ures based on passengers’ input, claimed some people were waiting up to an hour to get through the security points.

But Mr Tudor said: “The problem with websites such as this is that people who have had a bad experience are more inclined to leave feedback than those who found everything to be fine.

“But the delays have never reached an hour.

“There have been delays, sometimes up to 35 minutes, but we have CCTV cameras to constantly monitor demand, and the delays happening this year aren’t because of the fast lane, they would have happened anyway.”

The current figures from ukairportdelays shows the average passenger waits nine minutes at security, half the time people wait at check-in. That compares with 32 minutes’ wait on average at Man- chester Airport.

Mike Flynn, secretary of the JLA consultative committee, said: “The additional security costs can’t simply be passed on to the airlines, since long-term deals are in place, so passengers are not currently paying for the additional security measures through increased airport charges to the airlines.

“As we know, the Government provides no subsidy, so airports like JLA are forced to foot the bill.”

“The focus is on the customer service benefits this delivers for those passengers who wanted to see such a system and is JLA’s solution to reducing queuing times, not creating more.”