The only 2 UK airports with free terminal drop-off
Cornwall Newquay (free for 10 minutes) and Humberside (free for 15 minutes) are the last UK airports in our index where stopping at the terminal itself costs nothing. The next best thing is City of Derry, where the charge is just £1 for 20 minutes. Everywhere else, driving up to the doors costs £2.50–£10 — see the full drop-off price index.
Birmingham: the one major airport with a free drop-off car park
Birmingham is unique among the big airports: alongside its £7 Premium Set Down it keeps a genuinely free Drop Off car park — 10 minutes free, short walk to terminal, with a covered walkway to the terminal and a no-return-within-one-hour rule.
Every UK airport's free drop-off alternative
Nearly every airport that charges at the terminal keeps a free option further out — usually a long-stay or mid-stay car park with a free period and a shuttle or walk. The airports rarely signpost them from the approach roads. Here is every one we've verified:
| Airport | Terminal charge | Free option | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | £7 | Long Stay car park | 1 hour free, shuttle to terminal |
| Belfast City | £4 | Long Stay car park | 10 minutes free (take a ticket), then £7 up to an hour — a short walk to the terminal |
| Belfast International | £5 | Long Stay car park | 15 minutes free for dropping off and collecting, behind the Maldron Hotel |
| Birmingham | £7 | Standard Drop Off car park | 10 minutes free, short walk to terminal |
| Bournemouth | £8 | None published | — |
| Bristol | £8.50 | Waiting Zone | 60 minutes free, bus to terminal |
| Cardiff Wales | £4.50 | Car Park 2 | 20 minutes free, walkable |
| City of Derry | £1 | None published | — |
| Cornwall Newquay | FREE | Drop-off itself is free | The drop-off itself is free — 10 minutes inside the barriered West Car Park |
| East Midlands | £5 | Long Stay 2 | 60 minutes free, walk or shuttle |
| Edinburgh | £8.50 | Long Stay free zone | 30 minutes free in the Long Stay car park — no shuttle bus, a signposted 10-minute walk to the terminal |
| Exeter | £8 | Car Park P4 | Free for up to 30 minutes for drop-off and pick-up |
| Glasgow | £7 | Long Stay car park | 1 hour free, walk or shuttle to terminal |
| Glasgow Prestwick | £4.50 | None published | — |
| Humberside | FREE | Drop-off itself is free | The drop-off point itself is free for 15 minutes; all car parks are within a 5-minute walk of the terminal |
| Inverness | £3.90 | Free Drop Off area | 15 minutes free in the Short Stay car park, about a 5-minute walk to the terminal — no return within one hour |
| Leeds Bradford | £8 | One Hour Free Zone | Up to 1 hour free, a 3–4-minute uphill walk to the terminal via the Mid Stay walkway — £68 minimum charge if you re-enter within an hour |
| Liverpool John Lennon | £7 | Drop-Off 2 | 20 minutes free at Drop-off 2, about a 7-minute walk from the terminal |
| London City | £8 | None published | — |
| London Gatwick | £10 | Long Stay car parks | 2 hours free, shuttle to terminal |
| London Heathrow | £7 | Park & Ride car parks (former Long Stay) | Free drop-off with free bus transfer to terminal |
| London Luton | £9 | Long Stay car park | 2 hours free, bus to terminal |
| London Southend | £8 | None published | — |
| London Stansted | £10 | Mid Stay car park | First 60 minutes free — pick-up or drop-off — with a free shuttle taking about 7 minutes |
| Manchester | £5.50 | JetParks 1 free drop-off area | Free drop-off at JetParks 1 (M90 5AZ) — one-way shuttle to the terminals, about 6 minutes, running 24/7 with marshals on hand |
| Newcastle | £6 | Callerton Parkway | 90 minutes free, shuttle/Metro to terminal |
| Norwich | £8 | None published | — |
| Southampton | £7 | None published | — |
| Teesside | £2.50 | Café validation | Up to 2 hours free in the same car park with a minimum £5 spend in the landside café or shops — show your receipt for validation |
Airports with no free alternative at all
London City, Bournemouth, Southampton, Glasgow Prestwick, London Southend, Norwich and City of Derry publish no free drop-off option of any kind — the charge applies however briefly you stop, so factor it into the fare or the favour.
Using the free options without getting stung
Allow 15–25 extra minutes over the barrier price, and watch the small print we've verified on each airport's own pages: at London Stansted the Mid Stay's first 60 minutes are free but re-entering within an hour costs £48 (and the Express Set Down charges £28 for re-entry within 30 minutes); Birmingham's free car park has a no-return-within-one-hour rule; Manchester's free JetParks 1 shuttle runs one way only — car park to terminal — so it can't collect arriving passengers; Edinburgh's free Long Stay period is a signposted 10-minute walk with no shuttle; and Leeds Bradford's One Hour Free Zone charges a £68 minimum for re-entering within an hour. Each airport's guide covers its own rules — and for collecting rather than dropping, see pick-up charges at every UK airport.
Free drop-off is disappearing
The list of genuinely free airports gets shorter, never longer. London City was the last London airport where dropping off at the terminal cost nothing — until 6 January 2026, when it introduced £8 for 5 minutes. London Southend kept its charge but withdrew its free alternative altogether, leaving the £8 Express area as the only set-down. And where free options survive, the terms tighten: re-entry charges, one-way shuttles and no-return rules now police most of them. No airport in our index has moved the other way — once charging starts, it stays, and it rises (the recorded increases average about 39%). That makes Cornwall Newquay and Humberside genuine outliers worth treasuring while they last.
How much time do you actually need?
Be honest about the goodbye. A kerbside stop — bags out, hug, gone — fits inside 5 minutes; add a roof-box, a buggy or an elderly relative and you're quickly at 10. That matters because 13 of the 27 charging airports sell you a window of 10 minutes or less, and the overstay tiers bite hard: an extra ten minutes at London Gatwick is £1 per minute, and London Stansted jumps from £10 to £28 the moment you pass 15. The free alternatives run the other way — most give 30 minutes to 2 hours, which is why they suit anyone who'd rather walk the last few hundred metres than watch a clock. If your drop-offs routinely run long, pick the airport's free option not to save the fee, but to buy the time.
Free drop-off: your questions
Which UK airports have free drop-off?
Only Cornwall Newquay and Humberside still offer free drop-off at the terminal itself (10 and 15 minutes respectively). Most other airports keep a free alternative away from the terminal — typically a long-stay car park with a free period and a shuttle.
Is there free drop-off at Heathrow?
Not at the terminals — Heathrow charges £7 per entry. But its Park & Ride car parks offer free drop-off with a free bus transfer to the terminal.
Is there free drop-off at Gatwick?
Not at the terminals — Gatwick charges £10 for up to 10 minutes. Its Long Stay car parks are free for up to 2 hours with a shuttle to both terminals.
How do free airport drop-off alternatives work?
You park in a designated car park away from the terminal — free for a set period (30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the airport) — and your passenger takes a free shuttle or a short walk. Allow 15–25 extra minutes versus the terminal forecourt, and check re-entry rules: some airports charge for returning within the hour.
Method & corrections
Every figure on this page is checked against the airport's own published charges and stamped with the date we checked it. We re-verify the full dataset quarterly, and after any reported change — see how we work and who maintains it.
Spotted an error? Email hello@airportdropoffcharges.co.uk — corrections are made visibly and dated. The dataset behind this page is free to reuse with attribution: JSON · CSV (CC BY 4.0).