Louise,

Thanks for that but as you mention we only now fly abroad.

Easyjet announces plans to stop flying from East Midlands Airport ... click here for further information from the airline.

For our Easyjet Q&As topic, click here.

David

We will be taking our car to Spain on the ferry next year. As we will be away for about 5 months when (if !) we pop back to the UK will want to hire a car from EMA for a few days before returning to Spain.

Has anyone hired a car from EMA ? Can you recommend any company who have given you good service and importantly if anyone has had any issues from any of the onsite hire companies.

The airport have 'teamed up' with Europcar and they are not the cheapest but of course cost isn't everything. Hertz seem to be reasonably priced. Anyone any thoughts please.

Thanks

TFS1,

I can't comment on Hertz specifically at EMA, but we use Hertz at work for any hire cars and I can't say I've had a problem with them when I've used them. The cars are always new models and in good condition so I'd have no problem recommendeing them. We used a franchise of Europcar in northern Finland last December and again, no complaints with them. Most of the major hire car companies offer good service so it comes down to prices really.

Darren

Thanks Darren. Hertz seem to be the one to go with.

Chris

I have booked a couple of early morning flights back to Spain (leave EMA at 0710) and had planned to have a hire car while Im back in the UK and return the car to EMA prior to going back to Spain.

I have noticed that the carhire offices in EMA will not be open when I want to drop the car off at around 0600, they all tend to open around 0730 - by then I will be in the air - hopefully !

Does anyone know what the procedure is regarding return of hire cars when the carhire places are closed - I cant be the first to have this problem. I'm sure different companies probably have different ways to deal with this.

Some talk about adding a charge to accept the car if it is outside the normal office opening hours.

Many thanks

Chris

Probably best that you call your intended car hire company to be clear on out of hours drop of before booking. Usually there is just a key drop off box.

Nivsy

Hi. Have been getting quotes for carparking for our holiday in July. Just scanned through previous posts on here and it was mentioned that carpark 1 is around 10 min walk from the terminal. Does anyone know if you can be dropped off nearer the airport terminal with cases (and kids!) and then the driver go and park?

The short stay car park opposite the terminal allows 10 minutes free parking.

Nivsy

Car Park 1 is a 'stones throw' from EMA departures and maybe a 10 minutes lazy stroll with kids, loads of cases and going via car park 2 and stopping off on the way for a bit of plane spotting !

It takes less than 10 minutes to get from carpark 7 on the bus and thats the furthest carpark away !

However, if it were me I would drop them all off at departures and go to Car park 7 if onsite - well what I would actually do is to go to Airparks, just offsite and make use of the discount code I gave some time ago.

This option would save money but not necessarily be the most convenient option for those with families who want to do everything together.

.....but that's my opinion and we havent had to drag kids/cases to the airport for many many years (thank God!) but have several young grandchildren and know the difficulties they bring when you want to do everything possible to make sure the start/end of your holiday runs smoothly.

Chris

Nivsy,

You are spot on - spoke to a couple of carhire companies at East Midlands Airport and they have a keydrop box and they then check the car back in when their office opens.

Problem solved, although I do normally like to hand the car back myself to make sure there are no unexpected issues regarding 'damage', fuel etc etc.

Chris

ps I'm have an issue at the moment regarding carhire, having dropped a car off at Valencia airport last week Im still trying to get a refund of the petrol - sometimes it doesnt always go according to plan.

Thanks for the replies. Think we will go with the Car Park 7 option to save a bit of cash. It's about a tenner more than Airparks but would rather go with this as according to the website we don't have to leave the keys with them. Thanks again for the advice.

Not sure if this has been posted before but have found a link via Matalan website for a discount for carparking. If you are a cardholder you can get a 15% discount at various car parks including East Mids Car Park 7 - 2 weeks end July/beginning of August coming in at £49 just £1 more than Airparks plus there's no need to leave keys.

re: parking in Car Park 1 @ EMA, I booked online 6 months in advance specifying car park 1, when travelling to Orlando Aug 07. Arrived at the car park to find it was full! Had to drive to Car Park 7 which was even then a struggle to find a space. Don't know if it's been improved since then but I resolved to only use the offsite parking after that, or get a taxi

EMA opened Car Park 6 last year - a massive car park, oddly enough its next to carpark 7 !

Chris

Does anyone know if EM airport is smoke free and is there is a designated area if so

There is a smoking area airside at the 3 cities bar.

The smoking area airside is in a kind of chicken run just outside the above mentioned bar
As far as I am aware the only airport in the UK that doesn't mind us lepers

Manchester Airport T2, gate 300, is also an airside area for smokers. Pity if you are flying from T1 or T3 !

Chris