Airports are contradictory places. On the one hand, you have austere lighting, 5am pints in Wetherspoons, and snaking queues. From a different angle – predominantly just outside the doors, or lingering at the bag drop for departures – you have the most romantic place on earth: where more hugs are given and “I love you”s are said than most other places on the planet. It’s the stuff of Hollywood; just ask Richard Curtis.
If the course of this year’s travel diary follows the last, then Saturday 1 August will be the busiest travel day of the year, as families and friends leg it for their summer holidays, despite increases in jet fuel prices and fears over flight cancellations swirling throughout the spring.
But even as travellers get away against the odds, airport sensibility has somewhat shifted, as drop-off fees for drivers at the UK’s major airports have risen by a third on average since last summer, according to analysis from the RAC motoring group, which found 16 out of 20 of Britain’s busiest terminals had put up their prices. Essentially, goodbye is now a race against time – and anyone with a wistful bone in their body is losing.
At Gatwick, you’re now charged a £10 “farewell fee” for just 10 minutes in the drop-off zone, with an additional £1 charged for every extra minute. Stansted costs the same, but allows a slightly more generous 15 minutes to say goodbye. Meanwhile, London City Airport, which only started making people pay at all this year, is the most expensive, with an £8 charge for just five minutes, which works out to a £1.60 fee per minute.
Helen, 39, was left disappointed when she was dropped off at Heathrow by her boyfriend for five weeks of backpacking around Australia, New Zealand and Asia earlier this year. “I’d been hoping to have a bit of a romantic goodbye – long, lingering looks, maybe some poignant parting words, or even for him to be able to help me carry my luggage into the airport and wave me off,” she says. “Instead, knowing we were on a very expensive time limit, we simply hustled my bags out of the car as quickly as possible and had a cursory few kisses while an imaginary countdown clock played in both our heads. Not very Love Actually.”
This problem extends well beyond the country’s capital, with Edinburgh and Bristol’s “kiss-and-fly” fees rising to £8.50 from £6 and £7 respectively over the course of the year. Meanwhile, Birmingham’s charges rose from £6 to £7 and Bournemouth’s almost doubled, going from £5 to £8.
Although the RAC acknowledged that many UK airports offer other locations for passengers to exit vehicles further away from terminals (my father once made me run across the bypass from a petrol station) the organisation’s senior policy officer Rod Dennis said it was a “disappointment” to see airports charge people for “a simple act of kindness in dropping off family and friends”.
Dennis noted that “a captive audience should be no excuse for these ‘farewell fees’ – especially when they’re completely at odds with how major airports around the world operate”. Indeed, when The Telegraph assessed 70 of the world’s biggest airports in 2024, the paper was unable to find a terminal outside of the UK that charges for drop-off.
The first kiss-and-drop charge was introduced in 2007 by Birmingham Airport, following the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport, where a Jeep loaded with propane canisters was driven at the glass doors of the terminal and set alight. After the incident, Birmingham closed the road to its entrance and instead opened a drop-off zone, which charged drivers £1. In 2009, Luton Airport followed suit, followed by Belfast, East Midlands, Edinburgh and Newcastle in 2010, and Bournemouth, Exeter and Leeds Bradford in 2011. Today, the only UK airport who don’t charge are Jersey, Isle of Man, Newquay, Inverness, Guernsey and Sumburgh.
Unromantically, airport drop-off charges, unlike the travellers they’re incurred by, show no signs of going anywhere. To adapt and overcome, Counselling Directory psychotherapist and relationship expert Tracy McCadden recommends relocating the opportunity for emotional connection elsewhere. “Some alternatives could include taking a few moments to say goodbye at home before you leave, or stopping for breakfast or coffee together before the airport to make the trip feel like quality time together, rather than just another journey,” she suggests.
McCadden adds that other rituals that could ease the pain of parting, where a prolonged goodbye isn’t possible, include recording a voice note for each other to listen to after you’ve said goodbye at the airport, or agreeing to send a message once checking in, boarded and landed to maintain connection throughout the day of the journey.
“Create a reunion ritual too,” the couple’s counsellor adds. “That could be a ‘looking forward to seeing you’ message prior to flight, cooking the favourite meal for the partner returning home, or planning a quiet evening together. The reunion matters just as much as the farewell.
“Romance isn’t about paying to drive through an airport drop-off and collection zone,” McCadden makes clear for those not in a position to stump up £10 or more to say goodbye to their loved ones in the terminal’s allocated area. “It’s about both partners saying ‘You’ll be missed and have been missed, and I’m looking forward to seeing you again.’
“Whether that’s at departures, over a morning coffee, or through a heartfelt voice note, it’s the emotional intention that strengthens the relationship and helps each partner feel important – not the location.”