Park and ride: cheaper parking at Belfast City Airport when catching the bmi bus to Heathrow

If you frequently catch bmi’s bus between Belfast and Heathrow, then there’s good news.

To avoid the extortionate rates charged in the short term car park at St Georges Belfast City Airport, most flyers park in the long stay and walk up to the terminal – hitching a lift if the wee bus happens to be nearby.

Now, bmi have negotiated a deal with the airport to allow diamond club gold and silver members to park in the closer short stay car park but just pay the cheaper long stay car park rates.

The downside is that you can’t just stick your credit card into the machine at the car park entrance and then on the way back out again. You need to take a paper ticket, not lose it during your travels, and present it at the airport information desk along with your diamond club card before leaving the terminal and heading back to your car.

There’s nothing in the bmi news story to say that you have to show your ticket or prove you’ve flown with bmi to get the discount. So it bmi siler/gold card holders may also benefit when traveling via Air Berlin or Flybe. Besides, frequently people travel out on one route, and return on another with a different airline.

So you get a shorter walk in the cold, but traded for spending extra time queuing in the terminal to pay - no such thing as a free lunch!